Duration

[twototwenty]

Times & Tips

[museicorn]

What is considered to be a good time for a helicopter? Also, does anyone know what the last winning national time was?

[chia]

Couldn't tell you about the nationals time, but I'd say a time of 1:30 by regionals and 2:00 by states would put you in pretty good standing. There has tended to be a bit of a gap between teams that can manage a 1:30 flight and those that break 2 minutes, without much in between. It may also depend a bit on how the rules define a good testing space and where a competition is held (ceiling height), but it's absolutely possible to get a great time on even an 8 foot ceiling.

[AlphaTauri]

The winning time at Nationals was 9:33 from Troy (3:11 flight time without the 3x chinook bonus).

As for "competitive times", I'm assuming that the rules are the same as the Div C rules last year, but I agree with chia. 1:30+ for regionals and 2:00+ for states is decently competitive, depending on the region/state. I won my Regionals with around 1:30, Athens won my states with ~3:00; I remember hearing that WM had a 2:00 chinook (so around 6:00 with the 3x bonus).

[twototwenty]

It is probably unlikely that the chinook bonus will still be in this years rules, or at least not have a 3x multiplier...perhaps chalkers/jander can confirm or deny this? All I am saying is, it will be unlikely that having the equivalent of a nine minute flight is something you should be worrying about. Depending on how competetive the competitions you attend are, a 1:30 flight or above can be competetive for regionals (1:29 got me 2nd at mine last year), and you probably want above 2 minutes for states in order to not drag your team's score down, as Alpha and chia have already said.

[retired1]

I hope that the 3 X multiplier is gone for B level competition. It is very limiting. Chinook or be non competitive. A 3:11 actual flight for a chinook is truly amazing. A 3 min flight is possible for a well balanced and light regular chopper.

Dave from Freedom Flight Models told me that some people could not get 1 min from his kit, but good builders could get over 2.5. Our teams' mod of that kit got right at 3 min. If chinook bonus is back, look for him to have a chinook based on Roy White's demo at nationals. It is on U-tube.

As a B event, I would expect there to be a great difference in flight times, even at nationals.

[AlphaTauri]

It is probably unlikely that the chinook bonus will still be in this years rules, or at least not have a 3x multiplier...perhaps chalkers/jander can confirm or deny this? All I am saying is, it will be unlikely that having the equivalent of a nine minute flight is something you should be worrying about.

I agree. I doubt that the rules will involve a chinook bonus the first year heli is a Div B event, however, I would not be surprised to see it (or something akin to it) back in the rules for next year.

I hope that the 3 X multiplier is gone for B level competition. It is very limiting. Chinook or be non competitive. A 3:11 actual flight for a chinook is truly amazing.

In my opinion, teams like Troy and WM are the exception rather than the rule. Chinooks are rather difficult to build, and generally they don't fly very long because of the additional weight - I believe I remember conversation from last year on the boards saying that a 1:00 chinook was impressive - but there are a few teams who can pull off good enough times to compensate. So in general, I wouldn't say it's "build a chinook or be non-competitive", since a good single-axis heli can give an average chinook a run for its money, and not many teams can build chinooks that get the aforementioned insane flight times.

Dave from Freedom Flight Models told me that some people could not get 1 min from his kit, but good builders could get over 2.5. Our teams' mod of that kit got right at 3 min.

Ah yes, I personally used the Freedom Flight kit last year, and my competition times were ~1:30 and ~1:40, both with a heli in somewhat less-than-optimal condition (it was scotch-taped and reglued quite a few times after it collided with walls and things during testing thankfully it didn't get caught in the chandelier...that would've been a nightmare and after the bus ride to competition shook it up a bit). It may be worthwhile to note that I have never done an aviation event before, so competitive times are easily achievable with the FF kit.

[retired1]

With the couple of hours of the national that I watched, there were at least 3 chinooks that got well over a min which with the 3x bonus would have been 4 to 6 equivalent. So, I think that if the 3x bonus is in effect, all of the medals will go to chinook builders.

[jander14indoor]

Usual caveat, read the rules, this is not official, etc.

I'm pretty sure no chinook bonus.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[mrsteven]

Back in the first year of helicopters for div C, 2 minutes gave you a medal in nearly every state, if not them all. I know IL and OH a little over was top 3. I got 2:09 the first year gave me 2nd with first being 2:12.
Then with the chinook (which is certainly not coming back, my guess) I had 1:45 timed at state x3 = 5:15 time score. Easily first place with the next helicopter shy of 3 minutes in IL

if you get 2:00 youre in good. Anything above that is security of a medal, given the helicopters are still around 3-4 grams and realitively small rotor span