Wright Stuff B

[freed2003]

What time would you need to medal at most states? Is SoCal competitive in wright stuff?

[JasperKota]

What time would you need to medal at most states? Is SoCal competitive in wright stuff?

SoCal in general is a very competitive state, and I've heard a time of well over 3 minutes in that area. Builds are always unpredictable though, you don't know if their wing spar will break last minute or their covering completely rips.

You need to know more information than just flight time...

What was ceiling height? Was it a no-touch flight or did the plane hit several times (and get lucky)?
1:30 is still a reasonable time and will be upper mid range at most competitions I have experienced.
It will all depend on the ceiling (and technique of the competitors).

I have witnessed a couple 2:50+ flights in a 35' gym with several ceiling hits. Our team has also managed 2:59 in a 26' ceiling without touching. That being said, I think it will be a challenge to get over 3:30 regardless of the ceiling height. Our partial motor testing has yielded 1:47 (no touch) on a 0.75g motor in 26' ceiling which would simulate a 52' height and yield a time estimate of 3:34

With a 23-24 ft height gym, at a State level competition, what would a medal-contending time be? I have two more practice sessions before states, so I doubt I can drastically improve my times before then, which is ranging around 100 to 115 seconds.

[freed2003]

At San Diego they had a 25 feet tall building and the winning time was 2:27 and second placesplaces was around 2:17

[calgoddard]

The 2017 WS competition for the San Diego SO region took place in the smaller gym at Carlsbad HS.

You can view a video of the gold medal flight by clicking on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAd5i51i04s

I watched that flight in person. The height to the lowest obstruction in that gym was no more than 20 - 22 feet.

The San Diego SO region is extremely competitive in the flying events every year. Because there are almost 200 Division B and Division C teams, the San Diego regional Division B and Division C competitions are held on different dates (two weeks apart) in February at different locations.

Approximately 80 teams competed in the 2017 San Diego Division B regional WS competition. The winners of the flying events at the San Diego regional competitions usually go on to win the flying events at the SoCal State SO competition held in April.

[calgoddard]

See my last post.

The height to the light fixtures in the smaller gym at Carlsbad HS where the 2017 San Diego regional WS competition too place was no more than about 20 - 22 feet.

The height to the bottom of the audio speakers in the middle of the gym was much lower.

The winning team was from Black Mountain MS.

[JasperKota]

Thanks for the informative responses. It was interesting to see their other video, assuming it was their first official flight or a trim flight at regionals, where they had 45ish seconds due to crashing into obstructions, then learn from that, and end up with a fantastic winning flight.

Good luck to those who are competing at states this weekend or the next!

[freed2003]

What time do I need to mdeal at socal? So far my best is only 105 seconds

[jgrischow1]

So our kids' plane was consistently doing around 1:10-1:20. Not spectacular, but competitive enough to get 3rd in our Region. We practiced a few times afterwards in a room with a higher ceiling in anticipation of States and were getting similar times. Fast forward to State on Saturday and nothing worked. Plane either stalled or didn't climb and went into the ground. The kids adjusted the CG and the incidence and the same thing kept happening. Stall, adjust, fly into ground, adjust, stall, etc. Again, this is on the same plane that was flying level and stable two weeks prior. Any ideas what happened?

Plane is FF model from 2016 adjusted for this year's rules, so chords are a little shorter than they could have been. Clocked in around 7.51-7.54 grams. Used Ikara prop trimmed to dia with no pitch adjustments. Using .081-.094 rubber as close to 1.5 g as possible. Winds near breaking close to 1200.

[wlsguy]

So our kids' plane was consistently doing around 1:10-1:20. Not spectacular, but competitive enough to get 3rd in our Region. We practiced a few times afterwards in a room with a higher ceiling in anticipation of States and were getting similar times. Fast forward to State on Saturday and nothing worked. Plane either stalled or didn't climb and went into the ground. The kids adjusted the CG and the incidence and the same thing kept happening. Stall, adjust, fly into ground, adjust, stall, etc. Again, this is on the same plane that was flying level and stable two weeks prior. Any ideas what happened?

Plane is FF model from 2016 adjusted for this year's rules, so chords are a little shorter than they could have been. Clocked in around 7.51-7.54 grams. Used Ikara prop trimmed to dia with no pitch adjustments. Using .081-.094 rubber as close to 1.5 g as possible. Winds near breaking close to 1200.

Was this at Ohio State? I watched much of the day and several teams added winds (and torque) to try and reach the 48' ceiling. In some cases the torque was too much and the motor stick was bending and caused flights to fly into the ground. I'm not sure if this was your flights but it seems to be a common problem when flying in high sites.

[jgrischow1]

So our kids' plane was consistently doing around 1:10-1:20. Not spectacular, but competitive enough to get 3rd in our Region. We practiced a few times afterwards in a room with a higher ceiling in anticipation of States and were getting similar times. Fast forward to State on Saturday and nothing worked. Plane either stalled or didn't climb and went into the ground. The kids adjusted the CG and the incidence and the same thing kept happening. Stall, adjust, fly into ground, adjust, stall, etc. Again, this is on the same plane that was flying level and stable two weeks prior. Any ideas what happened?

Plane is FF model from 2016 adjusted for this year's rules, so chords are a little shorter than they could have been. Clocked in around 7.51-7.54 grams. Used Ikara prop trimmed to dia with no pitch adjustments. Using .081-.094 rubber as close to 1.5 g as possible. Winds near breaking close to 1200.

Was this at Ohio State? I watched much of the day and several teams added winds (and torque) to try and reach the 48' ceiling. In some cases the torque was too much and the motor stick was bending and caused flights to fly into the ground. I'm not sure if this was your flights but it seems to be a common problem when flying in high sites.

Yes. Possibly, but I don't think so because on Sunday I went back to our gym and tried flying with 300-1000 winds and was getting similar issues.