Ryan Jensen holds the Invictus prior to a successful run in EF-1 at the AMA Nats 2012
Growing up surrounded by model airplanes, I
was always content with having something to
do with my idle time, something to share with
my dad, and for us to do together. Weeknights
were filled with the smell of epoxy and
monokote, weekends at the flying field. The
people there were other kids and adults whom
I assumed shared the same passion I did.
Gradually however it became a raging
obsession. Not something I did in my idle time
with my father anymore, although we still did
that, but a consuming fire that has affected
everything I do in life up until this very day. It
has fostered a love of aviation that I would
love to explore from a pilot’s seat, but my lot in
life seems to be models and I’m ok with that. I
know it sounds like some corny metaphor, but
the truth is that if I’m not doing something with
an airplane, be it reading a book, sketching a
new design, building, even thinking about
them, I’m not happy. Sometimes I feel guilty
when my wife who has been stuck at home all
week wants to go out, and I would be just as
happy to be stuck in the garage all weekend.
I’ve learned to control those urges, and am
quite happy to do so; I have a wonderful life
and family. Only much later did I find out that
most other folks weren’t all consumed like I
was, but rather simply did it for the fun, some
only dabbled slightly. It was confusing a bit at
first when I was younger, but I understand
completely now.
Over the years I also found that I wasn’t
content with building and flying the things as
they came out of the box. I wanted to change
stuff and make it my own. I have always been
interested in the technical aspects of how and
why planes behave the way they do. I was
and still am a voracious reader. I always read
the specs of the latest planes, the airfoils
used, why the moments were particular to its
handling characteristics etc. Math is a struggle
for me, however when applied to model
aircraft, it is a medium that I can use that
made sense and I can learn with. It drove me
to learn everything that I could about airplane
design. I learned CAD solely so I could draw
airplanes. I made a hotwire cutter to cut my
own wings. I learned how to vacuum bag them
to make them stronger and straighter etc.
Eventually this all led to investing in a laser
cutter so my creativity could be realized with
as little delay as possible.
I love to fly anything, but racing and speed
planes have always held something a little
extra for me. The planes mark the epitome of
efficient aerodynamic design; nothing more
than what is absolutely essential can be
tolerated in a winning aircraft design. I’ve
studied every picture, article and plan I could
find. Recently a new racing class has formed
to loosely re-create the long defunct Formula
One class but with the fire breathing high nitro
two strokes replaced by a simple and reliable
electric set up. What has attracted me to the
class is that they look like reasonably scale
approximations of the full scale IF-1 planes
that race at Reno, another passion of mine.
EF-1 as it’s called is a grass roots effort
designed to be a feeder into the faster nitro
powered classes, and to attract back some
pilots who may have stopped racing for one
reason or another. I designed a model of Jon
Sharp’s Nemesis, the winningest racer in
history, and decided to race.
Still after all these years, that fire still burns in
my soul. I see the coverage of the big events
in the magazines and all I want to do is be
there, do the same things, participate in some
way. Reading about the National Aero
Modeling Championships or NATS, it always
seemed to be the biggest and most coveted
contest. It lasts more than a month, and
covers every conceivable facet of the
modeling world. Free flight, scale, racing,
control line, aerobatics, gliders and on and on.
Such a variety of cool stuff all in one place
boggles the mind!
...
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