2011-2012 Rules

[illusionist]

I have not built one, but now I definitely will do so!
This is how I plan on building mine:
Simply hook the tether to a wire that is placed in a bearing on the bottom of the helicopter. The bearing will allow the wire to rotate freely, thus allowing the tether to stay stationary will the helicopter spins. If you do choose to use a tether, I'm assuming you would have to put both rotors near the top of the helicopter, or put the fixed rotor on the bottom of the helicopter, so that the bearing with the wire and the tether attached will be able to be attached below all other parts of the helicopter.

[illusionist]

Couple findings:
1) Please disregard parts of the post above. The bearing can be mounted on the weighted end of the tether. That way you can just glue the tether right onto the bottom of the helicopter. The weight could be a 6-inch piece of 2x4 wood, with the bearing attaching it to the tether.
2) The tether does wind up, but it is not significant. You will need to remove those winds between flights, or every other flight. The bearing greatly minimizes this, but if you want to, you can remove the winds.
3) Flight times are not very greatly affected. I have lost about 10 seconds, which can be recollected by changing designs.
Overall, I have had a successful first flight with my tether system.

[jander14indoor]

Again, usual caveats about rules clarifications, blah, blah, not the place, blah, blah, etc.

At first blush since nothing in the rules allows or describes a tether it might be legal, but would result in a flight time of ZERO or nearly so!!
Here's my logic. Anything attached to the helicopter is part of the helicopter (since nothing says it might be excluded).
Then, under rule 3.k about timing: "Time Aloft ... stops when any part of the helicopter touches the floor..." So, under current rules, as soon as the tether hits the floor, timing is DONE!

Now, that's not to say the rules couldn't be changed for next year, but I think it would be a MAJOR clarification or change in the scope of the rules to allow any sort of tether this year.

Personally, I don't see the point, students are beating 2 minutes without, I think it would be better to find smooth ceiling sites than to add the complication of making a tether work to students already having problems flying!! If you are breaking too many rotors practicing, do some STATIC testing to figure out the bulk of the parameters of your rotor design and rubber match. Then just fine tune on a free flying copter.

One person's OPINION only.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[wlsguy]

The problems with helicopters getting caught could be avoided if the event supervisors and tournement directors would just run the event in rooms without "helicopter catchers" (i.e. gyms). The times in a typical classroom are very similar to a big gym (abet not as entertaining for the spectators).

Maybe a statement in the rules like "tournement directors and event supervisors should attempt to run the event in rooms free of ceiling obstructions".
Just a thought.

Also, the helicopters seem to be immune to the wind currents that plague wright stuff. We ran the entire event with the doors open at the WLS competition without any noticable effect. The statement about minimising air currents may be unnecessary.`

[Frogger4907]

he statement about minimising air currents may be unnecessary.`

I disagree at my regional and when I test fly mine on my own vents, blow those things around especially with a light copter,

[Flavorflav]

The problems with helicopters getting caught could be avoided if the event supervisors and tournement directors would just run the event in rooms without "helicopter catchers" (i.e. gyms). The times in a typical classroom are very similar to a big gym (abet not as entertaining for the spectators).

Maybe a statement in the rules like "tournement directors and event supervisors should attempt to run the event in rooms free of ceiling obstructions".
Just a thought.

Also, the helicopters seem to be immune to the wind currents that plague wright stuff. We ran the entire event with the doors open at the WLS competition without any noticable effect. The statement about minimising air currents may be unnecessary.`

How could you get the same times in a classroom with a 9' ceiling as you do in a gym with a 25' ceiling?

[illusionist]

If you use a probe on top of your helicopter, it hits the ceiling and spins in place. I have gotten longer flight times in my 9 foot ceiling home, compared to a 20-some foot gym (mainly because of rafters, basket ball hoops, lack of a smooth ceiling, and other troubles)

[aubrey048]

If you use a probe on top of your helicopter, it hits the ceiling and spins in place. I have gotten longer flight times in my 9 foot ceiling home, compared to a 20-some foot gym (mainly because of rafters, basket ball hoops, lack of a smooth ceiling, and other troubles)

Agreed. At my house my best flight time was around 45-50 seconds. (Sadly no one else was watching though!) At my regional competition we scraped by with sixth place, our flight time a mere 22 seconds.

The first place guy got his stuck in a light fixture in the ceiling, which actually helped his flight time. It came down eventually, around 49 seconds later. I was so upset knowing one of my past flight times could have been a real contender against this guy!

Ah well. There's always next year! ^^

*begins coming up with game plan*

[illusionist]

Same thing here, except a lot, lot worse. I got 1:38 at home, and 0:28 at competition. I have absolutely no idea what happened to my helicopter.

[new horizon]

If you don't want to hit a girder, you can dewind a few times and reduce the launch torque so that your helicopter doesn't ascend to ceiling. But remember that the event is relative toward your competition and the fact that girders hinder everyone. If you are going to launch a helicopter at full torque at a ceiling with girders you should be fully aware that your 8 hours of building may be completely wasted in a matter of 30 seconds. That's life.
And what would you say about the people who wind up to maximum torque and use a tether to steer the helicopter below the girder? That's almost cheating the luck/chance aspect of the event, not to mention it would be no fun.