Q-98: I recently had a situation where my RC pilot instructor told me
at the flying field that I had a warp in my wing and that I should remove it
before he would allow me to fly. That was the end of my flying for that day,
before I even started.
I learned my lesson and will be more observant in the future. But looking back,
is there any way I could have saved my day of flying?
A-98: I have a suggestion, but you have to be careful about how you go about
it. I recently had a similar problem while attempting to fly a new model to
obtain some flight shots for a review. But my flying partner Tom Hunt (founder
and director of the annual Northeast Electric Aircraft Technology Fair) always
has many practical ideas up his sleeve.
Before I could say anything, he started his minivan's engine. The next thing I
knew, he was kneeling by the rear of the van, holding my model's wing at a
particular angle and letting the hot engine exhaust soften the covering
material.
You don’t get a great deal of heat this way, but it is enough to get the job
done for at least one flying session. But remember not to get too close to
that exhaust pipe, for obvious reasons.