What are your guys times right now?

[bjt4888]

someusername,
I'll completely agree with Jeff Anderson's last suggestion. Fly it again at the same torque/winds setting and see if it is repeatable and safe (that the banking is not too extreme, threatening a spiral in to the floor. A moderately banked first turn during the climb, which minimizes the amount of the initial climb, is the most desirable characteristic for the early portion of the flight. The typical best flight profile for the international class F1D for category 1 ceiling heights (up to 8 meters or 26.4 ft.) is to have about a 10 degree bank and almost no climb in the first circle of the flight with the wing gradually leveling out and a slow climb rate to the ceiling in subsequent circles. This flight pattern indicates that the airplane has just enough left wing washin and not too much (too much increases drag without benefiting flight time). This initial banking flight profile also makes very good use of the available ceiling height. The students i am coaching are attempting to achieve this early climb bank by reducing left wing washin along with a (hopefully) increased amount of torque (and increased winds/reduced backoff) to increase flight time. The goal we are shooting for is 3 ft or less climb in the first circle with a then gradual climb of about 1:30 to the ceiling (24 ft to 28 ft ceilings).

Good job!

Brian T.

[i8maps]

I had a flight earlier that lasted 3:36 with a non flaring propeller and 1500 winds on a .091 rubber. The problem I had was at the beginning of the flight, the plane seemed to go up then it started to descend as it began turning and was rolling slightly to the left. Then after about a turn and a half it started to climb again and the roll stopped. As this was not the first time I have had problems like this, I was wondering if the problem may be the motor stick bending from the rubber band. Any ideas?

How high is your ceiling? It is likely to be the motor stick bending, in which cause their are certain types of reinforcements you can add, such as certain kinds of strings (kevlar string actually works for this). You've probably thought about this already, but what are the air flow drafts like in your gym? We have two gyms at my school and I've found that in one of them the plane does a very similar thing to what you are describing because of the drafts forcing it around and almost bending the plane. In the other gym it is completely fine.

[Chris_L]

What are some of the top flight times from people in gyms >24 ft? Just wondering to see how competitive state will be for me.

[someusername]

I had a flight earlier that lasted 3:36 with a non flaring propeller and 1500 winds on a .091 rubber. The problem I had was at the beginning of the flight, the plane seemed to go up then it started to descend as it began turning and was rolling slightly to the left. Then after about a turn and a half it started to climb again and the roll stopped. As this was not the first time I have had problems like this, I was wondering if the problem may be the motor stick bending from the rubber band. Any ideas?

How high is your ceiling? It is likely to be the motor stick bending, in which cause their are certain types of reinforcements you can add, such as certain kinds of strings (kevlar string actually works for this). You've probably thought about this already, but what are the air flow drafts like in your gym? We have two gyms at my school and I've found that in one of them the plane does a very similar thing to what you are describing because of the drafts forcing it around and almost bending the plane. In the other gym it is completely fine.

my gym is about 30 ft high and has pretty bad AC after about 15 ft. up was starting away from any vents, and it does the failed launch in several different gyms with little to no AC as well

[Loser_Like_Me]

Heyo! So my plane is currently getting about 3 minutes in a 60 foot gym…once the rubber band loses a specific amount of torque the plane begins to descend fairly quickly (it usually only takes about 30-45 seconds to descend). How would I decrease the steep decline of the plane during the descent?

[Chris_L]

Hmmmm...what size rubber are you using? and what is the weight of you're plane? How many winds? and what propeller?

[bernard]

Top times at the Washington State Tournament this weekend were about 3:52, 3:12, and 2:52. I think all these attempted the colored panel and wing bonuses. Ceiling height was about 33 feet.

[DoctaDave]

Top times at the Washington State Tournament this weekend were about 3:52, 3:12, and 2:52. I think all these attempted the colored panel and wing bonuses. Ceiling height was about 33 feet.

Are the times you posted the raw times or do they have the bonuses counted in?

[bernard]

Top times at the Washington State Tournament this weekend were about 3:52, 3:12, and 2:52. I think all these attempted the colored panel and wing bonuses. Ceiling height was about 33 feet.

Are the times you posted the raw times or do they have the bonuses counted in?

I know for sure that the 3:12 and 2:52 don't already have the bonuses counted in since I timed those myself. I also timed the fourth place flight, which I think was around 2:15 without the bonus but I don't remember for sure. I wouldn't be surprised for a raw flight of 3:52 in 33 feet since Southern California had a winning raw time of 3:40 in a 26 foot ceiling.

[Less_Incidence]

Well, since this might become a trend, here's Colorado state results. All times are with bonuses, but no teams went for the wing chord bonus.

1st place: 2:35 (My flight)
2nd place: 1:41
3rd place: 1:36

Now, let me give you the reason why times were so low. The site we were flying in was a field house with a nasty net hanging down, creating an effective ceiling of 18-20 feet. Beyond that, many planes was getting their props hung in the netting, causing some of the most competitive teams to lose or hopelessly break their aircraft trying to retrieve them. Also, the east end of the field house where we were forced to fly was mostly taken up by a pile of various track and field equipment - high jump pits, mats, and pole vault standards sticking up 12 feet into the air. Planes were crashing into these regularly. The basketball hoops in the venue were also raised up, making the widest turning circle possible about 15 feet for going above 12 feet or so in altitude. The venue could not have possibly been any worse. Div B gliders were flying in the nearby Volk gym, but there was at least one other gym on campus that was not being used at the time and had a higher ceiling without the net of death.

In the morning when my team arrived, I went to do my first test flight and realized that the air conditioners were running full blast. I was aggravated enough already by the site itself that I ran down to the ES's meeting and had some words with the CSO president and the facilities coordinator, but they wouldn't move any of the equipment nor would they move our flying site to the west side of the field house, where there was a 20'-wide area with no net and the full height of the 28' ceiling could be used. It was ridiculous. Not the ES's fault, as he and I were equally frustrated, but it still wasn't really a fair competition.

The 2:35 that I flew was made possible by adding an extension upward in the center of my wing that allowed me to scrub the net without hanging the prop. Still risky, but it worked. My best flight could have gone over 3 minutes if it hadn't hit a backboard on the descent. But teams whom I had seen fly 2:30+ previously were struggling to break 1:30. The competition wasn't much of a competition, it was almost pure luck of the draw on who would manage to miss the pole vault standards or whose prop did or didn't get hung in the net.