National Free Flight Society

SEN 2377

  1. Why are our rules (always) changing?
  2. Comment on WC Jury report referenced in  SEN 2375
  3. Ike Scramble Info

Why are our rules (always) changing?
From : aram schlosberg
Instead of imagining free flight that has been around a long time as a set fossils one finds in natural museums embedded in rocks, the discipline is actually very alive and constantly evolving.
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The obvious changes in free flight were the introduction of composites and electronics that have increased performance dramatically over time. (Elite flyers reach over a 100 meters in A,B,C and Q.) Most of us now fly factory constructed models, lacking the time or the technology to produce the required accuracy/target weights.
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In parallel, we have lost the majority of our flying sites to development or agriculture. Our flying sites are far, and range between acceptable to plain horrible. (Size, water, corn, beans, nut and Cyprus trees, highways etc.) Placing the start line is critical for keeping models on the field or within retrievable areas surrounding the site. But our suspension/restart rules are silent on the poor placing of a start line or a wind/drift direction change during a round.
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Another area with multiple stumbles has been Q. It actually it started by specifying battery weights – a knockoff of AMA electric rules. Later it incorporated the notion of an energy budget and energy limiters. With a single energy multiplier we have discovered that the optimal models are large cruisers with A-wings. However I and a few others think that the energy multiplier formula should also factor in the prop diameter to get a set of different optimal models. (The beauty of electric is it’s fungibility.)
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And finally, timer shortages have become acute with a pole system. However, technology such as sophisticated altimeters and GPS tracking systems (that transmit the real time altitude at short intervals) could be factored in to actual model timing. Maybe one timer per pole would suffice. In addition it would allow accounting for the time a model is flying in a cloud or the flying time beyond an obstacle.
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Obviously, any of these points is debatable.

Aram

Comment on WC Jury report referenced in  SEN 2375From:ismail.s.sarioglu
Hi,
In World Champ 2017 report, most of the topics are mentioned.
What is missing is ; After the cancelment announcement of 1st round in F1B, we , Turkish team, tried to give an official protest but could not find the organiser, thou we run all around the field to find him. We tried to give our protest to the jury members, but they rejected to take it and asked us to give it to the organizer, who was simply hidden. The organiser HIDED in his car in the parking lot, until 5th round.

Hope, the jury wouldn’t just watch a similar comedy in EC’2018.
Best Wishes,

Ismail Sarioglu

Ike Scramble InfoInfo about the fun  Scramble event at the Ike Winter Classic is on the web site at :
http://sen.faifreeflight.org/index.php/2477-scramble-information

So can you beat last year’s winner Dominik Andrist, SUI or this year’ F1A World Cup winner Per Findahl, SWE who was second last year?  We has power guys John Buskell, CAN and  Henning Nyhegn, DEN, the wily CD  Norm Furutani, USA with a classic Veco Dakota (excellent choice or airplane BTW). USA glider guys Jim Parker and Ken Bauer took part, Jim with ½ A AMA gas job he made as a teenager and Ken with one of Tahn’s magic carpets.

Last year’s event event was commanded by none other that former Australian Military Man and Scramble record record holder Terry (007 is my kid brother) Bond.