What are your guys times right now?

[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.

[jander14indoor]

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?

There is no real good way to get these planes to glide slow without power. The optimal usage of rubber is to land just as you run out of torque. I suspect you can use a thinner rubber with more turns.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[artysophia]

With about 30 winds i'm only getting 1minute or so :/ although none of my tests are very conclusive because i can't find a place with no a/c to test >.>

[bernard]

With about 30 winds i'm only getting 1minute or so :/ although none of my tests are very conclusive because i can't find a place with no a/c to test >.>

What winder are you using? Regardless of the winder, 30 winds seems like far too little, unless your site is extremely low. I've been doing at least about 1200 winds (about 140 turns on a 10:1 winder, then some backing off to my desired launch torque).

[DoctaDave]

With about 30 winds i'm only getting 1minute or so :/ although none of my tests are very conclusive because i can't find a place with no a/c to test >.>

What winder are you using? Regardless of the winder, 30 winds seems like far too little, unless your site is extremely low. I've been doing at least about 1200 winds (about 140 turns on a 10:1 winder, then some backing off to my desired launch torque).

I agree with bernard, you wont be able to get any times higher than a minute with 30 winds even on a high ratio winder. If your motors are breaking too soon (although I doubt any motor close to 2g would break at 30 winds) , try using some lube or a thinner cross sectional area.

[Less_Incidence]

I agree with all that's posted above, you just need more winds. Personally I use between 1800 and 2100 turns, but I use a thinner rubber cross section than most. Also, when you lubricate your motors as DoctaDave suggested, use armor-all tire and rubber finish. It works just as well as any lubricant you can buy.