Future Aviation Events

[chalker7]

For the chapstick demensions, could you (national event supervisors) find what seems to be a good average of several caps of the same brand and type to put in the rules, and give an allowable deviance in the actual chapstick cap used of the individual event supervisors? It might also be good to include a line in the rules like "competitors are strongly encouraged to make their noses larger then the required size".

If there is a wide variety, we'd probably just go with the largest one. We can't publish a variety, we need a single set of numbers. If we had a variety of options, 95% of the questions submitted through the FAQ's would be some variation of "Which type will be used at what tournament?"
As for the second part, that is what we tend to refer to as "coaching through the rules." It's not the purpose of the rules to act as coaches, they are intended to set up guidelines for competition. If we were to include said line, we might as well also say "competitors are strongly encouraged to make their wingspan less than the maximum allowed," "weigh more than the minimum allowed mass," etc.

[twototwenty]

I didn't really mean put a variety of demensions in the rules, but instead find the demensions of several caps and put the average demension set in the rules...but using the biggest demension set would of course work fine as well.
As for the "coaching in the rules", my thinking was that line would be for lessening construction violations and thus preserving "the spirit of the competition", not to actually provide a building suggestion, but I see your point. Anyhow, I don't think that line would be necessary at all anyway, if the biggest known cap size would be used.

[eta150]

I talked to the PA state supervisor for copters today and he said that the decision is still pretty much up in the air between capacitor-powered wright stuff and catapult launch glider. The problem with the gliders, he claimed, was that the best designs are a little too exotic for high-schoolers, and that running it would be a nightmare with a ton of new safety equipment.

[twototwenty]

Personally, I am all for elastic launch glider, because every team can build the simple simon type of design, more or less, and hopefully get it to work, but unlike some of the other aviation events, there are a wide variety of designs, so competitions won't be down to small differences in the gliders' build. It leaves the door open for much more ingenuity.

[jander14indoor]

Yeah, and people said students making propellors was too hard for students, but I think helicopters put paid to THAT idea.

Never underestimate the capability of students to make sophisticated designs, the pressure (and rewards) of competition seems to bring out high performance.

My prediction, if elastic launch glider makes SO, we'll see AMA records in glider start falling to SO alums in 2-4 years.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[fishman100]

How would one measure the angle of incidence? I'm a little hung up on that. Also, I know that either the wings or the stab needs to slightly slanted in order to make the glider turn, but would it be better to slant the wings upwards/downwards a little in addition to the left/right slant?

[twototwenty]

Actually, I think (and note, I am not experienced in this event, only interested in it, so I easily could be wrong) that you can also make the glider turn by offsetting the centerpiece of the tail to one side.
Also (and the fact that I don't know this further proves my lack of experience) isn't stab the same as tilting the wings right/left?

[thsom]

Actually, I think (and note, I am not experienced in this event, only interested in it, so I easily could be wrong) that you can also make the glider turn by offsetting the centerpiece of the tail to one side.
Also (and the fact that I don't know this further proves my lack of experience) isn't stab the same as tilting the wings right/left?

actually, twototwenty, you are correct. However, my main problem is trying to get the glider to.. well.. glide! After being launched the glider just nose dives and doesn't work. However, if thrown by hand at ground level, it will glide well.. I'm not quite sure what to do.

[twototwenty]

Just an idea off of theory here - Pehraphs your glider, when turning to point nose-down at the top of its parabola, doesn't have enough wing area and thus not subject enough air resistance when is parallel to the gound to catch itself and begin its glide; in short, maybe your glider's wings are too small. Just a possibility.

[science8]

Hi guys,
What are your best times with the elastic launch glider? Im having some troubles with it.