[NSRCA-discussion] FAI flight time rule

[Dave]

Jeff,

 

10 minutes for schedules with 23 maneuvers is not much different than 8
minutes for schedules with 19 maneuvers (including takeoff and landing).
With the older P schedule, it was not difficult to exceed 10 minutes if the
takeoff and landing sequences were very large and slow (1 minute for takeoff
seq, 45 sec to land - pretty easy to save 30 seconds on these alone), and
the sequence was big and relaxed.  Now, the Prelim sequences are 19
maneuvers (as are the finals sequences) - which means about 90 seconds less
airtime - so dropping the clock from 10 to 8 minutes is not a biggy.

 

My understanding is that the Prelim sequences were shorted to shorten the
duration of the Prelims at the Worlds - 2 minutes x 4 rounds x 100 pilots
makes a huge difference.

 

Regards,

 

Dave Lockhart

DaveL322 at comcast.net

 

 

  _____  

From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
[mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Hill
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 11:33 PM
To: NSRCA Mailing List
Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] FAI flight time rule

 

While reading up on the new FAI rules I came upon the following paragraphs
regarding flight time:

 

from Section 5.1.11

If there is a frequency conflict, the competitor must be allowed a maximum
of one 

minute for a radio check before the start of the 3 minute starting time. The
timer will audibly notify 

the competitor when the minute is finished and immediately start timing the
3-minutes starting time. 

 

The starting time ceases when the model aircraft commences its take-off
roll. The timing device is re-started when 

the model aircraft commences its take-off roll, and time will stop when the
model aircraft first 

touches the runway after completion of the flight. The total flight time
allowed is 8 minutes. 

 

from Section 5.1.12

 The competitor has eight minutes to complete the flight; timing to start
when the flight line 

official gives the signal to the competitor to start his model aircraft  and
ending when the model 

aircraft first touches the runway after completing the flight. 

 

5.1.11 seems to say that the competitor gets 8 minutes from the time the TO
roll starts. 5.1.12 says the competitor gets 8 minutes from the time s/he is
told to start the model aircraft. 

 

If it is 8 minutes total that seems short to me because someone could spend
3 minutes of the time getting the engine started and only have 5 for the
flight. I know sequences are shorter now, but, we've had pilots exceed 10
minutes at the Nats so I would think 2 fewer minutes would make even the
shortest sequences tough to do. 

 

Any rules gurus out there want to comment? Perhaps electric fliers are
getting a break after losing out on the batteries-as-fuel issue. 

 

Jeff Hill

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.nsrca.org/pipermail/nsrca-discussion/attachments/20080515/2b3fd9fc/attachment.html