TRIAL OF NEW COMPETITION FORMAT.

At the last Laidley meeting, people were interested in a Sunday Comp. as well as one on Thursday. They also said that a brushless motor in an ARF glider would be helpful to non builders. On Thursday 30-7-09 and Sunday 2-8-09 we flew the July Comp. with the 2 groups. There was no restriction on model types and 3 flights were run each day. A total of 9 competitors took part.

The Trial Comp. rules were

  • A 6 minute flight, with 1 minute motor run at the start. Motor off when the CD calls, and no further motor run allowed.
  • Glide and attempt a spot landing at the end of 6 minutes.

Scoring:

  • One point for every second flown with a maximum of 360 points. Every second over 6 minutes is deducted from 360. eg. A 6 minute 6 second flight will score 354.
  • Landing scores are --- 100 points inside a 5 metre radius from the spot. 50 points inside a 15 metre radius and zero points outside the 15 metre.
  • Percentage Points. Each flight is scored independently. The pilot with the highest flying and landing points is awarded 1000 percentage points. Percentage points for the other competitors are calculated as follows : pilot’s score x 1000, then divided by the winner’s score.
  • Obviously, the landings are crucial to getting a high score, with 100 points for an inner equal to 1 minute 40 secs. Of flying time.

Speed 400 Flying Competition Rules

This is a Competition for:

  • Fixed wing aircraft of up to and including 2 metres wing span.
  • With one Electric motor limited to a 400 size brushed direct drive or geared.
  • No brushless, rare earth or non-ferrite motors permitted in competition.
  • Battery pack limited to NiCad/NiMHi 7 cells 8.4 volt or LiPoly 2 cells 7.4 volt
  • Controls permitted are: Rudder, Elevator, Speed control, ailerons, crow brakes and/or flaps.

Competition parameters:

  • The competition comprises three flights per pilot per day.
  • One minute in total of motor run permitted for each flight. Motor run time is cumulative in any combination (eg 30secs +20secs +10sec or 20 secs + 20 secs + 5 secs or less, etc as the pilot may determine) There is no penalty or bonus for less than one minute of motor use, but a penalty plus points will be deducted for any use above one minute.
  • Five minutes gliding required on each flight without use of power. (i.e. flight time total of 6 minutes)
  • Landing is required to be within a 30 metre diameter circle for all classes of aircraft.
  • Every pilot to be accompanied by a timer to record flight times, motor runs, glide time and landing position in proximity to circle. A scoring sheet is provided for this.
  • Each pilot must fly three flights on one day using the same battery (no recharge permitted between flights)
  • No change of aircraft or equipment. (Minor repairs and adjustments may be made between flights). If aircraft is not immediately re-flyable (without repair) the flight responsible for the damage is forfeited. Models damaged by a collision with another model already in the landing circle will be exempt at discretion of the CD.

Rules of the competition:

  1. Only club members may participate.
  2. The competition director will run the event backed up by a deputy comp director where necessary.
  3. The Comp Director may fly in the competition as a contestant, but will hand over the running of the comp to his deputy while doing so.

  4. Every competition flight to be timed and witnessed by a timer drawn from club volunteers.
  5. The timer must have two reliable stop watches to time separately motor runs cumulatively and glide time in total.
  6. Timer to record all data on score sheet and initial per flight.
  7. Landing circles to be clearly marked on grass: 30 m in diameter, with a measuring rope of 15 metres marked in metres to judge the landing bonus.
  8. Landing within the circle means coming to rest with the nose of the aircraft measuring 15 metres or less from centre of circle. The touch down spot is not relevant; the aircraft must be fully at rest.
  9. Several aircraft may be flying in the competition at the same time, do not enter the landing area to collect your model if another model is on finals.
  10. Normal RSSF and MAAQ safety rules apply. All flying to be South of the 30 metre line in the operations area generally and landing circles to be located away from the immediate vicinity of club shed and road.11.
  11. The Competition director is in charge of all flying. He may disqualify a flyer who in his opinion or the opinion of the RSSF management committee (is):
    • Flying in a dangerous or reckless manner likely to cause an accident.
    • Flying outside permitted operational areas as shown in RSSF club flying rules.
    • RSSF flying rules are those printed on the back of membership form and agreed to by all members. Operational areas are shown on the field map diagram.
    • Comp director will give pilot one warning to observe any of these competition rules and if correction is not quickly made, pilot will be shown red card i.e. disqualified.
    • Has crashed or landed his/her aircraft heavily so as to cause damage to flying controls or stability making further flights dangerous.
    • Any other breach of these competition rules
  12. In the event of disqualification a contestant must retire from the competition but may enter on another occasion if he so wishes.
  13. After disqualification, any points scored to that point in earlier flights will be accepted towards a grand total if relevant.
  14. Between flights, competition aircraft to be left in holding area designated for the purpose (unless undergoing minor repairs or adjustments.
  15. The competition director’s decisions are final.

Competition scoring:

The Flight

The glide component of each flight is five minutes or 300 seconds, plus one minute motor run or 60 seconds. One second in the air represents one point. Exactly 360 seconds of flying = 360 points.
  • For each second under 360 seconds the time = points. i.e. 215 seconds =215 points
  • For each second over 360 seconds one point is deducted. i.e. 390 seconds = 330 points

Motor run:

Up to One minute motor run is permitted per flight without penalty.

  • Less than 60 seconds of motor use per flight, has no benefit to score but carries no penalty.
  • A penalty of -30 points will be extant for any period of motor overrun, plus an additional one point deduction for every second of motor run over 60 seconds.

Landing within the circle:

Aircraft without brakes, flaps or any form of air braking score 50 points for landing and coming to rest with nose of aircraft measured at less than 15 metres from centre of circle or 100 points for coming to rest within 5 metres of the centre point. Failure to land within circle (as defined by measure) results in nil points awarded for this section. i.e. you fail to get any landing points.

Aircraft equipped with brakes, flaps and any other form of braking score points depending on distance from centre of circle to nose of aircraft:

  • Within 2 metres radius measured from centre of circle to nose 100 points
  • Within 5 metres radius measured from centre of circle to nose 75 points
  • Within 10 metres radius measured from centre of circle to nose 50 points

All measurements are taken from nose of aircraft where it has come to rest completely stopped, not where it might have touched down initially. (Furthermore, Aircraft which have not completed at least 60 seconds flying time will score no landing bonus points)

Points Calculation

The flyer with the greatest points score in any “slot” will score 1000 points, other flyers in the same slot will score a percentage of the winners score, calculated as follows:-

Flyers score X 1000

Winners score

This system evens out thermal/sink activity that may benefit or not a particular slot.

Slot: The name given to a group of flyers flying at the same time.