SEN 1929
SEN 1829 – Table of Contents
- Phedon
- Weak Link
Phedon Tsiknopoulos
Rumors have been circulating about Phedon dieing in a house fire. I
tried emailing and phoning Phedon but no response. Today, I drove over
to his home (not too far away), spoke to his neighbor and confirmed that
he had past away. The fire had gutted Phedon’s house and part of the
neighbor’s. The neighbor didn’t have any info re: the cause of the fire.
He did say there is no family claiming or wanting to claim what’s left.
Phedon was a very precise aeromodeller, usually found flying indoor
gliders. He established several glider records, I believe in Cat. 1 and
2. He also flew other events. Back in the 70’s he earned a spot on the
USA F1B team (which he later declined). He kept very much to himself.
Professionally, Phedon had worked for Mattel toys as a model maker and
had been issued several patents.
– Norm Furutani
News link from Steve Brown:
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/07/06/man-found-dead-following-house-fire-in-hawthorne/
SEN Item – F1A Towlines
from Martin Dilly
As the aim is to limit the launch height by limiting the towline tension, a weak link in the line ? Contest organizers supply a short length of monofilament of a standard breaking strain and preferably colored. It is shorter than length A-B near the top of the towline. It forms a weak link and if broken when checked by timekeepers the flight is an attempt. This enables people to still use existing towlines. If an actual towline breaking strain was specified, testing lines would be like testing flashbulbs, – if it breaks it passes.
Martin
(Martin gave us a sketch but we don’t do pictures yet in SEN)
……………………..
Roger Morrell