Wright Stuff C

[CrayolaCrayon]

Chuck, the amount of stuff there is to know about flying these things scares me.

So, Luke just called from the meet after finishing his official flights, and his performance was consistent with his all-in personality, in a logical way. He brought both of his planes, one thoroughly vetted that flies 1'35" both ways every time, and the other plane that he completed last night after work and never flew (you see where this is going).

He noted that some teams today had combined scores close to 4 minutes (wow!) and figured his vetted plane was destined to lose. He decided to try some trim flights on the new plane, was happy to have it fly 1'45" repeatedly both ways, and decided to use it for his official flights:

To the right, 1'45" right under the ceiling . A banner in the contest area concerned him so he added left rudder before his second flight (ARRRGH!).

To the left, 3/4 lap into the floor . We have experienced that in practice, so I think nerves got him *sigh*.

Anyhoo, we've got work to do. We'll use only flaring props moving forward and we need to flatten his circles, plus who knows what else that you guys aren't telling us .

I think he should stick to a fixed game plan regardless of what others are doing, and only incorporate what he sees into future plans, but he vigorously disagrees...

1:45 Beats a lot of people's combined scores right now. You're doing very well.

[lechassin]

We're in the Chicago suburbs. If today is any indication, there's some good competition locally.

I would have preferred Luke get a his practiced 2x 1'35" and not medal, but I can see why he feels otherwise. The team advancement issue is something for him to keep in mind, hopefully he doesn't hold anyone back.

In the end if I feel mastery of the planes and we have 2 minutes x2 to show for the effort, I'll be good. I'm not sure what Luke is shooting for.

[bjt4888]

Eric,

When scores are communicated amongst the students at an Invitational keep in mind that sometimes students are talking about a final score and sometimes they are talking about flight times. Probably you and your son have already encountered this.

A total score will usually include the 5% bonus for launching within 3 minutes and the the 10% bonus for the colored wing panel. These are essentially “gimmee” bonuses. So a total score of 240 seconds would likely be two 1:42 flights.

Brian T

[lechassin]

The man running the event told Luke that some flights were "close to 2 minutes", beyond that I don't know any scores.

I actually understand now why Luke decided to use the untested plane: he got several trim flights in a row around 1'53" both ways, so he figured he had a legitimate shot at 1st place, and I agree. Except for the ill-advised last-minute rudder change, which I figure was just nerves taking over, I think he did great. He said today's ceiling was higher than our school's gym, so we expect lower times in practice until we make our planned improvements.

The only damage for the day was snagging one of the planes while putting it back in the travel box, lol.

[xiangyu]

which I figure was just nerves taking over

Yeah that happens to everyone. I remember me last year at regionals where I was really nervous (my first build competition lol) and I threw the plane too hard and up which cause a hilarious stall.

Random question, does Luke have a partner? I've never seen anyone else in your videos and you never mentioned anyone, so I'm assuming he is soloing the event? That must make it extra hard...

Xiangyu

[FranklinHung]

Hey guys!

I finally fixed my o ring issue. Second question: whats the difference between biplanes and monoplanes? I've built numerous models of both before and have also read that even though biplanes have more lift, they also have more drag. In many cases, the monoplane may actually beat a poorly built biplane. In the context of this event, which design would be advantageous, assuming the building quality of both planes were perfect?

Thanks!

Franklin

[bjt4888]

Franklin,

Biplane should give you about 10% additional flight time.

Brian T

[lechassin]

Luke is solo. It's probably too late for this year but hopefully if he does well, more kids will take notice and want to try WS next year. Luke is a senior but I have an 8th grader too, so we'll stay with it and see how it plays out.

I agree a biplane with lower wing loading is better for this particular contest, but Brian, I notice you always nail the numbers. How did you get 10%?

[scioly2345]

Any tips on how to get my plane to fly in a tighter circle? It ends up turning in a really wide circle to the point where it’ll hit a wall before turning (even in gyms), so I want to try getting the circle to be smaller

[xiangyu]

Any tips on how to get my plane to fly in a tighter circle? It ends up turning in a really wide circle to the point where it’ll hit a wall before turning (even in gyms), so I want to try getting the circle to be smaller

Adjust the rudder? The bigger the angle the tighter the turn will be. You'll have to play around with it because if the circle is too tight the plane might stall into the ground.

Xiangyu