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Yay!! Wright Stuff will be in Div. B this year! It looks so fun!!!

I'm having mixed feelings about WS being gone from C. Although I never did the event, I did help out a lot for the past two years. This past year the guy doing it screwed it up pretty bad.. but that's nothing new, we have never been able to be any good at the event. That's the good part, we suck at it, and its gone The bad part is that it was a challenge that I had a feeling would be overcome this coming year.. but now I'll never know

I wasn't in S.O. in middle school, but I know it was an event when I was in middle school because I knew some people that worked on it. I'll be a senior in high school next year, so it's nothing totally new (although new for you guys I guess).

WS is a fun event. My advice: Practice, Practice, Practice.

I am planing on doing a total overhaul of the WS wiki sometime in the next month or two. Although i totally sucked at nationals this year i actually do know what im doing most of the time in that event. There are a lot of little things you can do to increase flight time and that you need to do to fly at all in the first place. My advice is to build alot of planes and practice as much as you possibly can.

And while the rules are changing this year (size of the plane and amount of rubber) this is one event you really DON'T need the latest rules to do meaningful practice over the summer. Just use last years rules. Learn to build light, learn to trim, learn to adjust rubber and prop.

If you can do 80 to 90% of last years winning times (2:30 to 3:30 in a 25 to 35 foot gym) you are 80% or more of the way to a successful plane under ANY rules we throw at you.

And if you can't practice indoors, move outdoors. Build the plane a little heavier to handle winds and add a little rubber. Practice flights to target specific heights instead of max height like outdoor competitors normally do. You will still be way ahead of the game when you get the rules and into a gym.

And for the high school students missing Wright Stuff, might I suggest a real challenge? F1D anyone? We still need junior team members for the next international competition cycle, and WS has provided the World champion and winning team for the past six years or more now.

Good luck,

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

I'd love to build a WS-type plane that will go outside.

I think I'll do one this summer just for fun. I'm thinking probably basswood, thicker tissue paper, a stiff prop, and obviously much thicker rubber to make up for the extra weight.

Hmm, I've been doing this event for 6 years now. It'll be my last year of SO next year, so I won't be building a plane next year. Then again, I didn't really build a plane this year either; I just used the one I built last year. Actually, the MS and the boom were rolled freshman year, so basically I haven't done anything special with WS for a while now.

It bears mentioning that it was WS that got me interested in SO.

I did learn a heck of a lot from it. My interests have diverged from indoor free flight now, but WS taught me so many lessons. I learned to recognize waste in structures. I found out what happens when you go way hardcore and extreme with something after seeing the best planes. I had the joy of gluing my own fingers together and then formulating my own glue (seriously). I got to work with big sheets of balsa, biplanes, RoGs, rolled tubes, pushers, condenser paper, Esaki, and mylar. I can now recognize glues by smell (and taste, but that's another story). I think of airplanes when I see that VitaminWater truck with "the wright stuff" printed on its side.

I'll miss you, Wright Stuff.

(that sounded pansy )

Since I retired my avatar recently along with the death of WS, in exchange for the logo of my robot team, here it is again for "nolstalgia."
Going backwards...




Actually, there was one even before that last one, that was animated far better than any of these, but I can't find it anywhere.

gh wrote:It bears mentioning that it was WS that got me interested in SO.

Me too.

WS has provided the World champion

Lets be little more specific Mr. Anderson it was Northmont S.O. team that has provided
last three World Champions, right?

Gosh, is Wright Stuff more frustrating then BLG?