December 24, 2008

Sales of "The Saga of TAM-5" have been resumed by "popular demand."  Actually, two requests were in the pipeline when we* heard that the TAM-5 records had been "retired."  Both people said they wanted the DVD regardless of the FAI situation.

Some of the facts concerning the FAI's decision to retire all records in the F8 category have come to light.  The FAI replied to our inquiry with details of the spring 2008 meeting of CIAM, the committee that handles aeromodeling records. They decided that UAV records do not belong in the aeromodeling area and recommended that the two records set by TAM-5 be transferred into a new category of UAVs under five kilograms (category U-1.a).  It remains to be seen whether this actually happens.

So ... the saga continues ... .

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December 9, 2008 -  (You can disregard the following announcement.  It is being left to maintain continuity.)

Until further notice, sales of "The Saga of TAM-5" have been discontinued.  We* regret having to take this step as  we do not understand the events which led us to this decision.

A few days ago, we received an email from a gentleman in Australia hich stated

"It appears a change is being made at FAI and your record is gone??  It was there a couple of months ago.

"The FAI have voted that UAV have no place in CIAM.

"That's a shame to see this record removed."

Needless to say, we were very surprised, since we had recently checked the F8 category, which listed the TAM-5 records along with two others set using an electric airplane, making a total of four records.

We checked with one of the TAM-5 record-holders who said he had no knowledge of what had taken place, let alone the reasons for it.  We sent an inquiry to the FAI (using the email address on their website) and have not yet received a reply.  Further search revealed a section on the FAI website for "retired" records, but no explanation of why the F8 records were retired.  (However, the rules governing F8 still appear elsewhere on the FAI website.)

"Retirement" of the records by the FAI in no way diminishes the fact that the TAM project succeeded.  We asked our Australian correspondent for the source of his information and learned it was passed along to him by a representative to CIAM.  We will not speculate here about the reasoning behind this evident change in philosophy at the FAI.

CIAM struggled to deal with the reality that new technology was being applied to aeromodeling.  As discussed later on this page, the TAM-5 records were originally placed in the F5 category (in October, 2003), then shifted to a new category F8, and now retired.   Is this the end of the story?

We are disappointed that the FAI has taken this step without a more public explanation.  It appears there was no notice, advance or otherwise, to the people whose records were "retired."

We would be pleased to hear from anyone who can fill in the gaps of information.

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*The editorial "we" refers to the current webmaster of this site, who worked closely with Maynard Hill for several years as the team Maynard directed sought to fulfill his dream of an aeromodel flight across the Atlantic.

News:  updated April 30, 2007

The Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) which certifies world records for many classes of flying machine, amended its rules in 2006, creating a new category called F8: Autonomous Flight.  The records set by TAM-5 were moved into this new category.  (All records in category F8 were "retired" in late 2008.  Here are links to the "retired" TAM-5 records:  Duration  Distance)

As a consequence, the FAI reinstated the record in category F3 for Duration and Distance in a straight line were restored to their prior holders.  Our congratulations to Ron Clem whose Distance record is back on the books.  Maynard Hill's prior duration record was also reinstated. 

We are pleased that our efforts have been acknowledged in this way.  TAM-5's achievement will serve as the benchmark for this new category of record.  It will be interesting to see how long the records stand!

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On August 11, 2003, model aviation history was made by a team of volunteers led by model aviation legend Maynard Hill.  "The Spirit of Butt's Farm," also known as TAM-5, became the first aeromodel to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, setting two world records in the process.  These were Maynard's 24th and 25th records!

TAM-5, Now in the AMA Museum in Muncie, Indiana

 

 

 

From left to right:  Joe Foster, Les Hamilton, Beecher Butts, Maynard Hill, and Ron Bozzonetti. Beecher is wearing his flying helmet and the group is standing in front of his 2-engine ultralight.    Beecher owns a horse farm in Sunshine, Maryland, and allowed us to use his field for many of our test flights.  Beecher, at 88, was still flying his ultralight. Photo by Tweed Cottrell, about 2001.

 

 

 

We are proud of this accomplishment, because we came to appreciate just how difficult it was.  TAM-5 (Trans-Atlantic Model Number 5) made it across with a couple of ounces of fuel remaining, in a flight lasting 38 hours and 52 minutes.  The last hours of the flight were "white-knuckle" for all of us, because Maynard had estimated the maximum run time would be 38 hours.

Joe Foster (the autopilot designer and take-off pilot) and Dave Brown (the landing pilot) were named along with Maynard as the record holders.  But the job could not have been done without the help of many other people.

We are grateful for the many messages of congratulations, and the compliments of those who have purchased the video offered on this site for the past several months.  The video has been purchased in Australia, Germany, Greece, Japan, The Netherlands, and Spain.  It's not a best seller, but it's an entertaining bargain for people interested in the TAM project.

 

	April, 2007	DVD+R and DVD-R now available
	August 8, 2004	PayPal Now Available
	July 8, 2004	Video Ordering Information
	May 15, 2004	NAA Honors TAM Team - Again - on April 26, 2004
	March 23, 2004	VIDEO OFFERED FOR SALE -  revised May 15, 2004
	February 2004	FINAL REPORT - STAR NEWS issued - STAR disbanded
	November 30, 2003	Publications List - revised May 17, 2004
	November 12, 2003	Timeline updated
	November 5, 2003	FAQs updated
	November 2, 2003	Read "Two Sunsets and Still Flying" by Maynard Hill
	October 23, 2003	World Record Applications Approved!!
	September 5, 2003	TAM-5 back home in Maryland
	August 13, 2003	Maynard's Message after Successful Flight
	August 11, 2003	Message to Crew - 0800 UTC 11 Aug
	August 11, 2003	Message - 0000 UTC 11 August
	August 10, 2003	Message - 2040 UTC 10 August
	August 10, 2003	Message - 1708 UTC 10 August

 

 

Site updated - April 30, 2005

 

 

Click on the links below for  more information

 

 

Click button to see the Tam 4 data

Background information about the TAM project

Important dates and events

Contact us.  AOL users please note:

our email address is 'TAM_Video@verizon.net'

 

A special thanks to:

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