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coachchuckaahs wrote:Lotta crashes into the walls. I did not get many times, as I was in WS most of the day.

Our team won with 3:11. I had heard that Troy was right at 3, maybe slightly better than that, and they took third.

Chuck
Albuquerque Area home Schoolers

Apparently they were 2:55, we were 2:54 :<

coachchuckaahs wrote:Lotta crashes into the walls. I did not get many times, as I was in WS most of the day.

Our team won with 3:11. I had heard that Troy was right at 3, maybe slightly better than that, and they took third.

Chuck
Albuquerque Area home Schoolers

6th was around 2:40

coachchuckaahs wrote:Lotta crashes into the walls. I did not get many times, as I was in WS most of the day.

Our team won with 3:11. I had heard that Troy was right at 3, maybe slightly better than that, and they took third.

Chuck
Albuquerque Area home Schoolers

What was the ceiling height?

It was a standard racquetball court. 20 feet?

The width was an issue for many teams. We had same for region and state.

I believe biggest factor was altitude, but that was advantage for us as we live at same altitude.

Coach Chuck

coachchuckaahs wrote:It was a standard racquetball court. 20 feet?

The width was an issue for many teams. We had same for region and state.

I believe biggest factor was altitude, but that was advantage for us as we live at same altitude.

Coach Chuck

I can confirm that width was an issue - an imperfect launch caused the heli to pin itself to the side wall and slide down, resulting in slightly less than a minute. We ended up with 32nd...which goes to show just how many teams had some sort of struggle like this.

On another note, congrats on the win to your students, Coach Chuck! I honestly wasn't too surprised to see your team perform so well.

Thanks. They responded well to difficulty, borne out by much testing. The primary heli hit the wall and went to the corner on the first flight, the dreaded 1-minute wall slide. They both immediately said to each other "heli 2". The backup heli was 15 seconds off the primary, but goes up very straight. That got them the 3:11. The primary was doing 3:15 in the hotel room, landing on the bed, but the rise was a bit of a risk, which did happen.

I am proud of my kids. They worked hard, built 10 sets of rotors with various changes, and at least 6 fuselages (more, depending on where you draw the line between repair and build). They tested a LOT of rubber combos, pitch changes (by heating the blade slightly) and other factors. We logged several hundred flights with about 18 columns in our log book. We totally destroyed both Nats fuselages Monday night before Nats, and they built new ones (well, 1-1/2, one motor stick survived) in 3 hours on Wednesday before we left Thursday morning. We test flew at the hotel!

Man, I'm glad its over!

Coach Chuck

did anyone see a decrease in times at the competition? I think the air density was a factor of the lower times. At home in a 9 foot ceiling my partner and I were consistently getting times of above 3:10 however at the competition we got a time of 2:40.

coachchuckaahs wrote:Thanks. They responded well to difficulty, borne out by much testing. The primary heli hit the wall and went to the corner on the first flight, the dreaded 1-minute wall slide. They both immediately said to each other "heli 2". The backup heli was 15 seconds off the primary, but goes up very straight. That got them the 3:11. The primary was doing 3:15 in the hotel room, landing on the bed, but the rise was a bit of a risk, which did happen.

I am proud of my kids. They worked hard, built 10 sets of rotors with various changes, and at least 6 fuselages (more, depending on where you draw the line between repair and build). They tested a LOT of rubber combos, pitch changes (by heating the blade slightly) and other factors. We logged several hundred flights with about 18 columns in our log book. We totally destroyed both Nats fuselages Monday night before Nats, and they built new ones (well, 1-1/2, one motor stick survived) in 3 hours on Wednesday before we left Thursday morning. We test flew at the hotel!

Man, I'm glad its over!

Coach Chuck

Dang, 3:11, impressive time and a coincidence because I believe that is the exact same time that won the nationals helicopter event in 2012!

Did your team use the Freedom Flight kit or a homemade design? Would you mind posting a picture now that the season is over because I am really curious to see the design! Congrats to your team!

It was our own design. But we are on the road for a week. Yellowstone, then college visits. I'll see what I can do after that

Coach Chuck

coachchuckaahs wrote:It was our own design. But we are on the road for a week. Yellowstone, then college visits. I'll see what I can do after that

Coach Chuck

Congrats to you and your team! Was it a triple rotor Chinook by any chance? I was hoping to see one of those at the tournament, but it seems like everyone in my time block just had the kit. Are your students willing to post a picture of their helicopter on the Best of 2018 builds page after the trip? Hope you all have fun!