RC Definitions

ANGLE OF ATTACK - Direction from which you are hit after setting up a nice mid-air with your club mate's new plane. 

AUTOROTATION - What your car does on icy roads. 

BALSA - What dreams were made of. 

BALSA - Also: What warbird pilots have a lot of. 

BALSA STRIPPER - Lightweight female dancer, rhythmically removing covering, to show inner structure to drooling RC Pilots. 

BLIND NUT - Judge at a pattern contest.

BULKHEAD - Removable part of fuselage. Comes off on landing. 

CARPET FIBRE - When others are bragging about their high-tech composite planes and you have only the Gentle Lady you built on the floor of your two-room apartment, mutter quickly (under your breath), "Yep, this baby's reinforced with Carpet Fibre!" 

CRASH - Quick method of removing radio and engine from a model to fit them in your new one. 

CRASH - Also: Synonym for "re-kitting" a model 

CENTER OF GRAVITY - Point in which G-forces, dedicated to separating wing from fuselage, do their stuff. 

CANARD - Frequently seen at ponds. Willing opponent for dogfights. 

COMPUTER - Device that enables you to make mistakes at the speed of light. 

CYANOACRYLATE - Special glue, designed to instantly glue fingers to balsa structures. 

CYANOACRYLATE - Also : Special glue, instantly curing when parts are misaligned, will hardly (if at all) cure when parts are correctly aligned. 

CYANOACRYLATE - Also : Substance used to make eyes water profusely at critical points in construction. 

CYANOACRYLATE - Also : Stuff usually dripping on your clothes, turning them into armor and you into a modeler knight. 

DEAD STICK - Two of these can be found on your transmitter after failing to properly charge your batteries. 

DEAD STICK - Also : The potted plant your wife gave you to clear the air in your workshop after 3 months lack of water. 

DOWNWIND TURN - Sensitive item that, when posted the GSAL yahoo list will generate threads of 100 entry's and up. 

ENGINE - Device designed to make noise. Will suddenly stop making this noise when beyond glide-in distance. 

EPOXY - The stuff that has replaced the balsa after the flying season. 

FAIL SAFE - Option on PCM radio's that allows a pilot to choose whether to crash near him, or a long way away. 

FLARE - What someone has when they're good enough to show off. 

FLARE - Also: Beginner's luck. 

FLYING WING - To be seen after too tight a loop. 

FUEL TANK - Plastic bottle, designed to leak when placed in totally inaccessible locations. 

FUSELAGE - Optional interconnecting structure between wings and engine. 

FUSELAGE - Also: Receptacle into which the R/C pilot stuffs money in the hope that his plane will fly better. 

GLITCH - What you shout when you pull up elevator while flying inverted at 10ft altitude. 

GRAVITY - Force of nature designed to reduce aircraft to their component parts. 

LANDING GEAR - Structure to separate fuselage from runway after landing. Does not always succeed in doing so. 

LANDING - Comes in multiple forms
    GOOD - The plane comes in contact with the ground, and all bits are still there. (rare form) 
    AVERAGE - The plane comes in contact with the ground, and most bits are still there. (most common form) 
    BAD - The plane comes in contact with the ground, and all bits have grown in number but diminished in size. (common form) 

LUCK - Comes in multiple forms:
    PLAIN Very sparse on your side, but plenty with your flying buddies only they refer to it as SKILL. 
    TOUGH This is what you usually have. Your flying buddies refer to it as lack of skill.
    BAD Same as TOUGH. 
    GOOD What you need the most. 

MEAN AIR CHORD - That nasty minor eighth note caused when your wings snap and whack together. 

MIXTURE SCREW - Device to meter too little fuel to engine at critical moments. 

MONOKOTE - The stuff that ruins every ounce of hard work that you put into a plane to make it look nice. 

NOSEWHEEL - Implement used to remove bulkhead. 

O.S. - Initials of the two words that an r/c pilot says when he loses control going straight down. 

PATTERN PLAN - Make a copy of the plans so when it crashes, you have the patterns to build another one. 

PROPELLER - Rotating knife that cuts holes in the air, which the aircraft falls into, thus propelling the aircraft. 

PROPELLER - Also : Handy tool to cut away excess skin on knuckles. 

PROP NUT - What Glider pilots call Power pilots. 

P-51 MUSTANG - What beginners think they can use to learn to fly. 

RADIO- Expensive electronic device to randomly alleviate overcharged batteries. 

RADIO GLITCH- Documented Electronic occurrence, causing immediate and irreparable loss of control. 

RADIO GLITCH- Also : The source of any crash when there is a possibility of someone else's radio in close proximity to the plane. 

SWEPT AREA - The only part of your home not covered in balsa dust. 

WETTED AREA - After Sooner the Wonderdog finds the swept area. 

TAIL-DRAGGER - R/C pilot who has spent an hour looking for his plane in a forest. See also "glitch". 

THERMAL - Mythical occurrence of rising air - usually where one's sailplane is not. 

TRAINER CORD - Handy device for electronically instilling false confidence in rookie pilots. 

TREE - Implement used to separate Wings from Fuselage. See also "glitch". 

SINK - Non-mythical meteorological event stimulated by rc soaring contests. 

SNAP ROLL - After a nice hard high G roll, something SNAPS (usually and most likely the wing). Aerodynamic ability will slightly diminish. 

STALL - Score Gravity: 1,  Pilot: 0 . 

UPWIND TURN - Same as DOWNWIND TURN. . . . NO it isn't ! YES it is ! NO it isn't ! YES it is ! NO it isn't ! YES it is ! IS NOT ! IS TOO ! IS NOT ! IS TOO ! IS ..... etc. etc. etc. 

WING - Device that, due to it's airfoil, allows air to flow faster over the top, thereby allowing you the opportunity to pour excess funding into the resulting low-pressure area.

WING AREA - What you get more of in the car by leaving the wife at home.