Written by CP (2008); Formatted and Edited by JS (08/2008), Updated by JS (07/2009)
Christopher Poole wrote the following in 2008.
In 2006, I received a Charles Hampson Grant scholarship for $4,800 from the AMA. From Colorado Springs, CO, I graduated from Coronado High School and ranked sixth in a class of 380. Now I am going to the University of Arizona, studying aerospace engineering. My eventual goal is to fly for the Air Force, and work to push the boundaries of aviation technologies. I have been interested in aviation since childhood. My grandfather bought me an old trainer (which had been through a fire!) in 1994, but I was not old enough to fly it and did not have anyone to teach me. I instead began building gliders and wind up models of all sorts. Later, I was given a new RTF Xtra Easy trainer, learned to fly at the local club, and became obsessed with the hobby. I built a Kaos .40 kit, and started experimenting with aerobatics and aircraft design. I built and flew several foam park flyers, and a .40 size GB Dreamer biplane with a painstaking three-layer Monokote flame pattern.
More complex park flyers followed using traditional stick-and-covering construction techniques, including a scaled down micro Uproar, an Radio Control converted Fokker Dr I triplane, and a Blohm und Voss P.170. The P.170 was an unusual German bomber that never made it off the drawing boards. The aircraft features two power plants on the wingtips and one on the central fuselage. Working with a computer CAD program, I planned a design from the original threeview drawing and then filled it out with spars, ribs, and stringers. It took a year or so to complete the complex model, powered by three electric motors and lithium batteries. I finally flew the contraption and to my utter joy, it worked, proving the decades old design to be feasible! Paul Bradley detailed my Blohm und Voss project in his “Small-Field Flying” column in the October 2005 Model Aviation.
Now I have moved on to flying a scratch-built 3D electric foamy, and I am working my way into helicopters. I learned to fly choppers with a Blade CP Pro, and now have built and flown a Raptor .50. The Raptor is actually part of an interesting work project, in which I used a custom designed remotely operated camera system to take aerial photos, allowing the Raptor to assist in surveying terrain. I love taking any chance I can to explore an unconventional or unusual facet of flying.
Also in term of employment, I am currently working for a NASA-sponsored school research project examining aircraft scaling to perfectly duplicate full-scale aircraft, as well as autonomous aircraft control. These projects currently involve working with and flying large modified gas airplanes with autopilots and sophisticated instrumentation, and will eventually include up to 1/3 scale, 200 lb composite constructed aircraft. It is a bit scary dealing with these big, expensive, finicky machines, but still a blast to be working on new research frontiers.
Besides model flying, I also have my private pilots’ license, which I earned in a Cessna 172 during high school. In college, I have become involved with soaring, and earned my glider rating in Tucson, AZ. There I have been flying Grob 103, PW-6, and PW-5 high performance gliders, learning and practicing techniques related to thermaling and endurance. I am hoping to eventually start learning aerobatics in the gliders!
Pushing a rather heavy PW6 glider out onto the flight line at the El Tiro Soaring Club in Tucson, Arizona.
Scratch built/designed Blohm & Voss BV P.170 park flyer before covering.
Completed Blohm & Voss BV P.170 Preparing for flight in an ASK 21 glider in Colorado.
Narrowly avoiding decapitation by a Raptor .50 helicopter.
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