Technology and Paticipation

[John Pavlick]

Troy,
 Good points. I understand what you're saying. Sorry, I'm an Engineer so
sometimes I have a hard time explaining things that appear logical and
obvious to me. All I was trying to say was that if we worded the rules so
that "Weight - Ready To Fly" really meant what it said then you would weigh
an electric with the batteries in it (charged) and a glow / gas plane with a
full tank of fuel. The way it is now, it's open to interpretation - which
fosters the type of behavior we see happening now. I'm not trying to start
trouble, just make everyone think and be more careful when we draft and / or
accept rules. In Engineering we work to a spec. When we're done with the
first prototype, the design either meets the spec. or deviates from it in
some way. This is all duly noted during the release process. When you write
a spec. you try to accomodate Marketing's interpretation of the spec. This
is called covering your a##. You have to make it immune to interpretaion as
much as possible. This is to avoid working on weekends (when you should be
at the field, not in the lab). Because of this, I've developed a fairly good
sense of what will hold water and what won't. This rule doesn't hold water.
When 3 people can read it and come up with the answer they want to hear,
then it needs to be fixed / clarified. Here's some more "out-of-the-box"
thinking:  What is the purpose of the weight limit? Safety I would think.
Why is it a MAXIMUM limit. Lately it seems we're trying so hard to build
BIG, light airplanes that some parts aren't strong enough (like wing tubes).
In R/C car racing there's a MINIMUM weight rule. Since I don't think anyone
purposely sets out to build a heavy plane, it just ends up that way (at
least that's the problem I always run into) why do we even need a maximum
weight rule. Maybe this works for "scale" models but I think it should be
different for pattern planes. Lighter weight is an advantage. Maybe, if what
you really want is light airplanes, have a MINIMUM weight rule. Everyone
will try to work towards minimum weight. End result - same as with a max.
weight rule BUT no more "unfair" advantages. Sure, some planes will be
lighter than others, but none will be shaved to ribbons trying to be
"legal". Does this make sense, or am I missing something? I understand that
we're trying to keep things "safe" by limiting the amount of potential
damage an 11 lb. airplane can cause when the wings fold, but...
John Pavlick
http://www.idseng.com
  -----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On
Behalf Of Troy A. Newman
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 4:14 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Technology and Paticipation




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