Duration

[jander14indoor]

I don't know about Wright State, but at a local region here in Michigan the top times were above 2 minutes in a racquet ball court, smooth ceiling. Two teams did it, one went to nationals last year, the other didn't. We'll find out if either goes to nationals tomorrow. If you want to win nationals you should be shooting for at least that good.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[jander14indoor]

Chord, technically it is the distance between the leading and trailing edge of an airfoil. For the common X-form rotors this is the same as the angle between the rotors. But the correct thing is the distance leading to trailing edge as the air flows across the surface.

Pitch is the theoretical distance the rotor would move forward if it were a screw moving through the air with no slip in one full turn. Not related to the chord except again in the common X-form rotors. It is the angle of the surface to the axis and changes as you move from the axis to the tip of the rotor. For the X-form rotors this is set by the distance along the axis between the spars and the angle between the spars when viewed from above. But only for that form of rotor.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

PS, its easy for me to be free with info, my kids are 25 and 28, I'm not part of any school, and I coach everyone since I'm an event supervisor.

[georgefredbob]

What do you think is going to be the winning time?

[jander14indoor]

More than 2:30 possibly more than 3:00.

Meads Mill just won the Michigan State tournament and won Helicopter with just over 2:30.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[cookiecandy123]

A time over 2:30 is really good! Do you guys know what design Meads Mill had? I'm just curious.

[Inergy9118]

Looked like all the rest, but the disk on top was free floating. It fell off after it hit the ceiling and the clock kept going...

[SDCoach]

Looked like all the rest, but the disk on top was free floating. It fell off after it hit the ceiling and the clock kept going...

In the San Diego regional tournament, that was ruled a DQ. Rule 4j says "timer stops when any part of the helicopter touches the floor". This would include the disk on top. Rule 3c says "The mass of the helicopter throughout the flight must be > 3.0 grams". At least they should have reweighed after the flight and if it was still heavy enough, only counted the time until the disk hit the floor. Our event supervisor didn't see it that way and just called it a DQ if anything broke off. Either way, it doesn't sound like that flight should have won state. (I'm not second guessing the event supervisor. I wasn't there and don't know the facts. I am only sharing my take on the situation Inergy9118 described)

[Inergy9118]

Looked like all the rest, but the disk on top was free floating. It fell off after it hit the ceiling and the clock kept going...

Forgot to mention the free floating disk was removable/just sat on top.

[SDCoach]

Looked like all the rest, but the disk on top was free floating. It fell off after it hit the ceiling and the clock kept going...

Forgot to mention the free floating disk was removable/just sat on top.

Rule 3a clearly states "rule 4j applies to the balsa disc".

[RBears6]

At the Texas State Tournament a team that has qualified for nationals reached 2:42 in a ceiling about 17 feet high. How are people doing in your State?