Wright Stuff C

[Raleway]

Based on my experience with flying events over 5 years, the common interpretation is whatever you bring with you to the check-in table is allowed. That is to say, once you go into the official testing area, you will not be allowed to leave it. If you left your backup rotors in your bag that's on the outskirts of the gym, you will not be allowed to retrieve it. If you, however, have the rotors with you or extra motors and whatnot, you will be allowed to use them. This includes all misc. materials. At MIT, this rule interpretation was followed and I expect it to be pretty commonplace. The reason for not being able to get materials outside the official testing area is for the rule that disallows contact and communication from others.

[Rossyspsce]

Based on my experience with flying events over 5 years, the common interpretation is whatever you bring with you to the check-in table is allowed. That is to say, once you go into the official testing area, you will not be allowed to leave it. If you left your backup rotors in your bag that's on the outskirts of the gym, you will not be allowed to retrieve it. If you, however, have the rotors with you or extra motors and whatnot, you will be allowed to use them. This includes all misc. materials. At MIT, this rule interpretation was followed and I expect it to be pretty commonplace. The reason for not being able to get materials outside the official testing area is for the rule that disallows contact and communication from others.

Ok, so it is up to the discretion of the ES but if switching parts out, will reweighing be required

[klastyioer]

Based on my experience with flying events over 5 years, the common interpretation is whatever you bring with you to the check-in table is allowed. That is to say, once you go into the official testing area, you will not be allowed to leave it. If you left your backup rotors in your bag that's on the outskirts of the gym, you will not be allowed to retrieve it. If you, however, have the rotors with you or extra motors and whatnot, you will be allowed to use them. This includes all misc. materials. At MIT, this rule interpretation was followed and I expect it to be pretty commonplace. The reason for not being able to get materials outside the official testing area is for the rule that disallows contact and communication from others.

im not sure if its the same for everyone
personally i would assume spare parts arent allowed at official competitions
but u do u

[Raleway]

The issue of weight is already present even without switching out parts due to clay. I've never had an issue with switching props since I already decided on a prop beforehand. Should it break, then teams should be able to use a replacement and reweigh the plane outside their flying time (repairing time is still counted as part of their 3+8 minutes I believe).

[Rossyspsce]

The issue of weight is already present even without switching out parts due to clay. I've never had an issue with switching props since I already decided on a prop beforehand. Should it break, then teams should be able to use a replacement and reweigh the plane outside their flying time (repairing time is still counted as part of their 3+8 minutes I believe).

Repair time is included in your 3+8 but you present a point on whether or not reweighing is needed and if the time to weigh is outside of your 3+8

[Rossyspsce]

Sorry for double post but anyone know approximate ship time for TSS from somewhere like volare or other vendors?

[coachchuckaahs]

I ordered a new pound of TSS from FAI Model Supply, and it arrived in about 4 days, just this week.

Coach Chuck

[coachchuckaahs]

This is a tough point IMHO, because technically, what has been tech inspected is your plane, with prop attached. I would agree that, as a minimum, changing a component would require re-weighing. If it is a measured component, such as wing (this year), or prop (last year), the new part would also have to undergo tech inspection. Since repairs are allowed, but extra time for repairs is not afforded, I would interpret any such needed re-tech as either on the clock, or fly it at your risk and then re-tech after your flights conclude. Of course at that point if you violated, that flight would be tiered.

Two years ago in heli, possibly due to a wrong template size, many heli's were failing rotor diameter inspection. One set of ours passed, and was one of the only ones at the event that passed. My kids chose to fly with that and not have a backup. Well, the motor stick blew up on the first flight. They asked if they could move those rotors to their second (not a spare, second official heli) and they were allowed. However, they had to re-weigh while on the clock.

Additional tech-controlled parts cannot be pre-tech-inspected, So I would say this is a risky area. Swapping parts between your planes should be OK, but may require weighing.

We always have spare props, and if they differ, possible alternate rubber for those spares. Fortunately, we have not needed to replace a prop during an event, but my kids know that at a minimum weighing will be needed.

I would suggest a FAQ.

Coach Chuck

[coachchuckaahs]

We just competed in State today, and I was an assistant ES. Thought I would pass on a few observations:

• The FFM kit was the most common, and build quality ranged from excellent to poor. However, finishing a plane does not stop with the build, many nice looking planes were not trimmed to fly well at all
• The vast majority of FFM kits that flew well exhibited varying degrees of dutch roll (oscillating roll). A good fix is slightly increased vertical fin area. It does not take much.
• A VERY common issue was changing routine for competition. One team tested for over an hour before the event opened up, and put up some vary nice test flights. They again ran a test flight on the clock. They were quite capable of second place. But for their official flights they wound to a higher torque and spiraled in. The LOG BOOK is not just an exercise. It is DATA that you can use to learn and perfect your flying. In order to be useful, it must be repeatable data! That is why torque meters and accurate turn counts are important.
• A lot of decent looking planes spiraled in. Many were clearly over-torqued. Learn to back off in a repeatable manner. You MUST wind tight to maximize winds, but then you MUST unwind to desired launch torque or turns.
• A contributing factor on some poor flights (spiral in) beyond simply torque was flimsy parts that changed shape or position when exposed to higher loads. This was especially evident in the tail boom section on some kits. If that is too floppy, the left rudder on the fin will bend that part in flight, possibly inducing twist as well, resulting in unpredictable flight paths
• Log books were atrocious. Many were incomplete. Some even had the proper columns but they chose not to fill a given column out. Very few, (other than my team) had more than 10 entries. See above. The log is the magic that makes learning possible. We probably had 150-200 flights logged in our notebook, and the pages were well used
• It was also amazing how many people did not have black markings, a free 10%. As ES, I made a marker available and "suggested" some markings. Same with labels.

Overall it was an enjoyable day. I got to spend a few minutes with each team after they completed their flights to go over the flights, and suggest areas to improve. For some it was easy to see on their faces that the flights did not match their experience, and they did not know why. Helping them find the issues at least turned a downer into a learning experience.

Oh. Both my teams (B and C) won, so I'll see y'all at Nationals. No, as ES, I cannot expose raw scores, sorry. Suffice it to say there were some nationally competitive times for a 24' gym.

Now the work begins!

Coach Chuck

[klastyioer]

We just competed in State today, and I was an assistant ES. Thought I would pass on a few observations:

• The FFM kit was the most common, and build quality ranged from excellent to poor. However, finishing a plane does not stop with the build, many nice looking planes were not trimmed to fly well at all
• The vast majority of FFM kits that flew well exhibited varying degrees of dutch roll (oscillating roll). A good fix is slightly increased vertical fin area. It does not take much.
• A VERY common issue was changing routine for competition. One team tested for over an hour before the event opened up, and put up some vary nice test flights. They again ran a test flight on the clock. They were quite capable of second place. But for their official flights they wound to a higher torque and spiraled in. The LOG BOOK is not just an exercise. It is DATA that you can use to learn and perfect your flying. In order to be useful, it must be repeatable data! That is why torque meters and accurate turn counts are important.
• A lot of decent looking planes spiraled in. Many were clearly over-torqued. Learn to back off in a repeatable manner. You MUST wind tight to maximize winds, but then you MUST unwind to desired launch torque or turns.
• A contributing factor on some poor flights (spiral in) beyond simply torque was flimsy parts that changed shape or position when exposed to higher loads. This was especially evident in the tail boom section on some kits. If that is too floppy, the left rudder on the fin will bend that part in flight, possibly inducing twist as well, resulting in unpredictable flight paths
• Log books were atrocious. Many were incomplete. Some even had the proper columns but they chose not to fill a given column out. Very few, (other than my team) had more than 10 entries. See above. The log is the magic that makes learning possible. We probably had 150-200 flights logged in our notebook, and the pages were well used
• It was also amazing how many people did not have black markings, a free 10%. As ES, I made a marker available and "suggested" some markings. Same with labels.

Overall it was an enjoyable day. I got to spend a few minutes with each team after they completed their flights to go over the flights, and suggest areas to improve. For some it was easy to see on their faces that the flights did not match their experience, and they did not know why. Helping them find the issues at least turned a downer into a learning experience.

Oh. Both my teams (B and C) won, so I'll see y'all at Nationals. No, as ES, I cannot expose raw scores, sorry. Suffice it to say there were some nationally competitive times for a 24' gym.

Now the work begins!

Coach Chuck

pigeon some of the stuff they did and didnt do sounds like so crazy
who wouldnt want the bonus
and read over the rules!!! it can cost your placement if you dont