Ceiling at Nationals

[jander14indoor]

More the other way around.
We were not going to allow tethers.
Seperately, we recognized helicopters have more problems with girdered celings than Wright Stuff so we suggested (not required) smooth ceilings.
And whenever I've had a choice I've taken a shorter smooth ceiling over a taller girdered one. But when I had no choice of the room, the students just had to deal with it.

Advice, plan on the nationals having the ceiling shown. If something causes the ceiling to be 'fixed' you aren't hurt. But if, as is more likely, the ceiling stays as shown, you are prepared.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[Luo]

Mounds View's helicopter got stuck in the rafters, which was pretty frustrating for our helicopter people who had put so much effort into their Chinook, but we realize it was out of our control and is just one of the unlucky things that can happen to any team at any Science Olympiad competition.

[Phenylethylamine]

Mounds View's helicopter got stuck in the rafters, which was pretty frustrating for our helicopter people who had put so much effort into their Chinook, but we realize it was out of our control and is just one of the unlucky things that can happen to any team at any Science Olympiad competition.

So did Ward Melville's. More frustratingly, it wasn't clear exactly at what time it got stuck, so our time was stopped when it went out of sight on the ceiling (after having been launched in the hallway on the side and then having moved along the ceiling into the larger room)... They then got it down with a balloon (?) and were told to take their second launch, but given that the helicopter was in multiple pieces at that point, it wasn't quite feasible so if anyone was watching the awards ceremony and wondering why our Heli competitors looked less than thrilled with sixth place, that was it.

Oh well. It's a high-variance event. It's just too bad; I wanted to see them get that first-place medal (or second, rather, since Troy pulled off that crazy lucky – and skilled, don't get me wrong – three-plus-minute flight).

[chia]

Mounds View's helicopter got stuck in the rafters, which was pretty frustrating for our helicopter people who had put so much effort into their Chinook, but we realize it was out of our control and is just one of the unlucky things that can happen to any team at any Science Olympiad competition.

Story of my life :T
I really wish there were some way I could have watched some of those flights... Helicopter has been my favorite flight event and I'm sad to see it go I would have loved to see Troy's and other flights which placed.

[lucwilder42]

Mounds View's helicopter got stuck in the rafters, which was pretty frustrating for our helicopter people who had put so much effort into their Chinook, but we realize it was out of our control and is just one of the unlucky things that can happen to any team at any Science Olympiad competition.

Story of my life :T
I really wish there were some way I could have watched some of those flights... Helicopter has been my favorite flight event and I'm sad to see it go I would have loved to see Troy's and other flights which placed.

Chalker7 took pictures of everyone with their copters, so hopefully he'll post them.

[chalker7]

Mounds View's helicopter got stuck in the rafters, which was pretty frustrating for our helicopter people who had put so much effort into their Chinook, but we realize it was out of our control and is just one of the unlucky things that can happen to any team at any Science Olympiad competition.

Story of my life :T
I really wish there were some way I could have watched some of those flights... Helicopter has been my favorite flight event and I'm sad to see it go I would have loved to see Troy's and other flights which placed.

Chalker7 took pictures of everyone with their copters, so hopefully he'll post them.

I'm not allowed to post the pictures, they were taken only for (potential, we had none) arbitration and reference purposes at the explicit request of Gerard.

I can say that I was highly impressed with both the variety of designs and the overall quality of construction every year. Also, kudos to everyone for dealing with the ceiling situation and the (admittedly less than ideal) compromise launching area in a civilized and respectful manner. I wasn't happy with it either, we worked with UCF to try and get the side gyms but they were under the control of a different department from the Venue and it just wasn't going to happen. For what it's worth, 5 of the top 6 teams launched from the hallway area.

[Lily Essence]

The only quip I had about the hallway venue vs gym thing...

Did teams that fly from the smooth ceiling get a sort of "additional time" if their helicopter flew over the side of the balcony and went down to the gym floor? I feel like the time would have stopped when it went past the horizontal plane marking the balcony floor... if this is the case, then please ignore my post. Else, I would've been just a little disgruntled that I may have been able to add a few more seconds to my flight and medal by launching off the side since my helicopter doesn't fly high enough to get stuck the ceiling...

[chalker7]

The only quip I had about the hallway venue vs gym thing...

Did teams that fly from the smooth ceiling get a sort of "additional time" if their helicopter flew over the side of the balcony and went down to the gym floor? I feel like the time would have stopped when it went past the horizontal plane marking the balcony floor... if this is the case, then please ignore my post. Else, I would've been just a little disgruntled that I may have been able to add a few more seconds to my flight and medal by launching off the side since my helicopter doesn't fly high enough to get stuck the ceiling...

Yes, but with several reservations.
First, the rules state that time stops when the helicopter touches the floor, is supported by anything other than the rotors or the officials otherwise determine the flight to be over. This is not the AMA and there is already enough subjectivity in determining when a helicopter gets hung up, I didn't want to add another level of subjectivity about determining when a slowly descending helicopter passes the plane of the floor.
Second, the rules explicitly prevent steering. Thus, if any team willfully caused their helicopter to move into the open area, that would have been a violation and an illegal flight. The teams that flew in the hallway were warned about this behavior and the timing crews were vigilant about it.