National Free Flight Society

SEN 3120

  1. Neuron Upgrade and more
  2. Altimeter Flyoffs, Dialing Back and DTing
  3. Canada Cup Results

Neuron Upgrade

Looking back we see that we did not publish update information that we got from Flying Neurons that we intended to.

So here it is :

The brand new software release for the MiniNeurone is available:
-NeuroTrack 1.1.0 App for IOS and Android
-MiniNeuron 1.2.0
-Neuron 3.3.0

Load the new NeuroTrack application (in App store or Google Play) and
Neurones and MiniNeurones will be updated automatically as soon as they
are connected.

The new features are:
-Reduction of power consumption of the MiniNeurone up to 50% compared to the
previous version.
-Display of the barometric height during the flight.
-Display of the strength of the radio signal allowing a very precise
search in dense vegetation.
-40% reduction in altimeter reading time.
– Added “end of battery” mode. The GPS is switched off but the
MiniNeurone periodically sends the last position calculated before
switching off.
-Various fixes.

Best regards
Flying Neurons

Editor: And we have installed the upgrades and they are working well.

Neurons at the Champs

Also Flying Neurons will be at the World Champs and if you order now they will bring your order  to you at the Champs . Their web site is www.flyingneurons.com

Note that is for buying more Neurons products, existing users should do the upgrades as described above.


Altimeter Flyoffs, Dialing Back and DTing

From:  Aram Schlosberg
Altimeter flyoffs, where those who max out are ranked by their altitude at the flyoff’s max, are now official in CIAM land. A recent example was Alex Andriukov, the only one to max an 8-minute flyoff at the Szabo Mikolos World Cup in Romania this May with an altitude of +5 meters at 8-minutes. It’s clear that an altimeter flyoff brings closure to a contest.
.
Fine tuning (dialing back) the altimeter flyoff max is important. For example, at the ’22 Maxmen that was held early the next morning. A 10-minute flyoff was scheduled, but it could only be flown in the late morning when the wind dropped down. However, holding a mid-day flyoff is equivalent to pulling names out of a hat in my opinion. In retrospect, a windy early morning 2-minute altimeter flyoff would have nicely balanced performance and air selection.
.
Another example is the Huron Cup for B-models flown in the evening of July 2, ’23. Again, the late evening flyoff max was set to 10-minutes. It was windy and 5 models ended up on tall trees with times of above 6 minutes. In retrospect, a 6-minute altimeter flyoff would probably have avoided the calamity.
.
The degree of dialing back the max of altimeter flyoff is the responsibility of the CD and the organizers.
.
A related issue are models without altimeters in altimeter flyoffs. If they max, they are not credited with any altitude. There is a nice work around if one uses reasonable DT sink rates for different model types.  F1A models that are DTed from 50 meters typically land in just under 20 seconds – corresponding to a 2.5 meter/second sink rate. Similarly, B-models with the same area loading (12 gr/dm^2) should have the same DT sink rate. C-models, with a 20 gr/dm^2, could use a 3.5 m/sec DT sink rate.
.
If these models DT not later than 5 seconds after the flyoff max, their altitude can be backed out from the time of their landing. For example, an A-model in a 6-minute altimeter flyoff is DTed not later than 6:05 and lands at 6:42. Its altitude at 6:00 was 16.8 meters. (Landing on a tree annuls this work around.)
.
I advocate that altimeter flyoff become a standard feature of all our contests. In addition, to allow the DT workaround so not to penalize models without altimeters. ///


Canada Cup 2023 Results

                  CANADA CUP 2023
F1A

NAME                      1    2    3    4    5    6    7   F/O F/O TOTAL Place
Risto Puhakka       USA  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  360      1620    1
Andrew Barron       USA  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  232      1492    2
Klim Stepanenko JR. EST  180  180  180  180  180  153  180           1233    3
Peter Barron        USA  180  180  180  143  180  180  180           1223    4
Jama Danier         CAN  180  180  136  180  180  180  180           1216    5
Vidas Nokolajavas   CAN  98   111  180  120  130  180  180           999     6
Peter Allnutt       CAN  34   24    0    0    0    0    0             58     7

F1B
NAME                      1    2    3    4    5    6    7   F/O F/O TOTAL Place
Ladislav Horak      CAN  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  360 355  1975    1
Patrik MacKenzie    CAN  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  360 350  1970    2
Alex Andriukov      USA  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  319      1579    3
Ron Felix           USA  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  307      1567    4
Aram Schlosberg     USA  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  300      1560    5
Tony Mathews        CAN  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  291      1551    6
Charlie Jones       USA  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  278      1538    7
Greg Simon          USA  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  194      1454    8
Dima Silin          CAN  180  180  180  180  180  180  180  68       1328    9

F1C
NAME                      1    2    3    4    5    6    7  F/O  F/O TOTAL Place
Yury Shvedenkov     CAN  180  180  180  180  180  180  180           1260    1


SEN Status

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…………..
Roger Morrell