SEN 3347

1. Tim Batiuk
2. Please Keep E20 an Evening Event
3. Is it About Time ?
4. USA Team Blog
5. USA Team Supporter

 

Tim Batiuk
From: Cathryn Mah on behalf of NYAA

Dear Roger,
We are devastated to have to share that Tim Batiuk passed away yesterday.  We wanted to share the information for Tim Batiuk’s wake next week with the SEN community.  Thank you.

Devastated. Heartbroken. These words can’t even begin to scratch the surface of what we are feeling.  It is with heavy hearts we inform you that Free Flight Hall of Famer, Tim Batiuk passed away on July 16, 2025.

From day 1, you were always by our sides, encouraging us as we learned, riding the highs and lows of competition together, guiding us on and off the field. No one else could lift you up, help shake off that self-doubt, and inspire you to fly higher (both figuratively and literally) better than you. Your smile and your laughter every single day on the field always reminded us that the #1 thing about free flight is to have fun. And boy, did we have a lot of fun together. We are forever grateful and blessed to have had you in our lives. We hope we can carry your legacy forward, both in free flight and in life, by living the values you so generously shared with all of us
Tim’s wake will be on July 23rd, from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Evans-Brown Mortuary
27170 Encanto Drive
Sun City, CA 92585
A celebration of life will also be held, tentatively ~4 weeks from now. Further details to follow.

Please Keep E20 an Evening Event

From: Ross Jahnke

I’ve flown E20 at nearly every Nats since it was introduced in 2014. Since then motors have become faster, high voltage batteries have entered the scene, and Stan Buddenbaum got involved. In 2014 an E20 needed the 20 second motor run to do 90 seconds, now some people fly the first 3 flights at 10 seconds.

Correct me if I’m wrong but an E20 is the smallest outdoor class outside of FAC events. They are hard to see & hard to time in flight and hard to find in un-mown grass. Wind and daytime thermals would make the event frustrating for all involved. We would need a 5 gram timer/RDT/GPS unit to persevere.

There is precedent. Dawn Unlimited is flown at a specific time of day, outside the typical 8:00-4:00 contest schedule, why not try a similar time restriction with E20? Start it at 5:00pm or 2 hours before sunset whichever is earlier.

Ross Jahnke

Is it About Time ?

There has been much discussion around the automated recording of flights and there are sometimes  controversial issues.  Someone suggested that we should ask participants with Neuron devices at the upcoming World Champs and supporting events  to voluntarily record their flights on the Neuron About Time .

We do not think that we should actually ask people to do this because a World Champs is run in strict accordance with the Sporting Code with a designated organizer and we should not interfere with that. However we do remind people that the Neuron  About Time system is in operation. It is not a violation of the Sporting Code for times to be recorded there. So if you feel like doing it you could. It would provide an interesting live report on the events, especially for those not able or willing to travel to Salonta this year.  Abouttime.flyingneurons.io 

USA Team Blog

Team USA Blog
Roumania
[Tiffaney]

We’re on the field and testing. Conditions couldn’t be more different than Croatia. Dry grass, hot sun and calm. Andrew has been making trips from his home in Croatia to mow and fill in big holes in the main flying field. I haven’t had a chance to use his bridges yet. Amazing amount of work. Thanks Andrew!

We located some important locations in Salonta for the team yesterday, including City Hall, where the team managers will meet. They have put up banners recognizing our presence. The park where the opening ceremonies will be held is across the street. We’ve also seen the storks that are common to this part of the world.

Testing day has presented some challenges. Breezy with a band of rain midday, then thermal breeze in the afternoon. Blake and Sheng replaced the antenna on Shlomi’s RDT, which was damaged in transit, and talked to Bernard about using his altimeter to check the launch and climb on his Wakefield. Yuda had a new model crash on launch, perhaps caught by a gust of wind. Later, Ken folded a wing joiner while launching in a windy thermal, and maybe 10 minutes later, Bernard crashed after launching his F1B. Ken found out he should be using stronger joiners, while Bernard’s prop was out of pitch. These are the issues teams run into while preparing for the World Champs. Alex bought a wagon to help transport gear from the parking spot to the flight line. Some teammembers are staying on the field, while others plan to return to put in flights at flyoff times if the conditions are calm enough.

The forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look any better. Our plan is to get out early to see if we can get in a few flights before the wind and rain. The forecast for Friday is even more grim and that’s the day we fly Q in the World cup contest. Sux because

[Bill Booth]
Wow.  A lot of carnage out of the gate.  Get it out of our system now.
[Tiffaney]

Beautiful Sunset

[Blake]
The wind actually is laying down now. Tia and Bernard had a mock fly off. Tia had a motor break and hit her in the hand, but was she able to wind a motor with a 1:30 left in the seven minute window, but went for an extra hand turn and launched about one second after the seven minute window. Bernard had gone a couple minutes earlier climbed to 107m and was at 80 something at two minutes. Tia climbed to 114m and actually DT’d a little before two minutes but would’ve been 90 something to 100m high.

More excitement in the eight minute mock flyoff. Greg joined the party with a new model that he exercised some prop start gremlins from. It was also a model that he changed the wings on and the VIT was set much too aggressively. He came over the top so did not climb that high but caught a little thermal and was it 84m at two minutes. Tia launched perfectly vertically, but the wind held it straight up for a little bit too long and she lost some altitude. Also, DT’d a few seconds early to finish at 56m at two minutes. Bernard had a nice flight but did not RDT and then did not DT at four minutes which is what the timer was set for and landed 3 km away. I’ll let you know his two minute altitude as soon as he finds the model.

[Tiffaney]

I’ve forwarded a couple reports from Blake on mock flyoffs the F1B team did during the time those flights would occur. Good learning experience.

Refilled a flat tire on our way home at 11:30 last night. We’ll see if it still has air this morning.

[Mike R]
Oh great…just what you don’t need. Think positive, in the morning all will be OK.

[Tiffaney]

We bought a can of fix a flat at a convenient gas station, so ??

Shlomi lost his phone, but luckily I took this picture of his launch, so we figured we knew where to search. Another flyer looked around while walking by and spotted it. Shlomi has attached a line to his phone case now.

Next day

We stopped and got our tire fixed, look at the piece of metal they pulled out! Very nice people, and one guy lived in Portland and knew about our city of Gresham. Such an odd world.

USA Team Supporter

From Team Manager Blake : Any donation to the US Team ([email protected]) will get you into the real time WhatsApp posting.

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…………..
Roger Morrell