National Free Flight Society

SEN 1907

Table of Contents – SEN 1907

  1. Looking for Towline
  2. SW FAI Challenge
  3. Mongolia and the USA Team Selection

High Strength Spectra Towline source

I am looking for a supply of high strength 200lb towline for F1A LDA models, the current stuff I use is clearly not up to the job. I have been advised that PowerPro High Viz Yellow 200lb Spectra is the recommended line to use. However, I have been trawling the web to find suitable sources and it would appear that the 200lb line is no longer available, any offers of alternative sources would be greatly appreciated to allow purchase. Ideally I would like high viz color to assist in post flight line recovery.

Kind regards

Julian

julian.pennington

18th SOUTHWEST FAI CHALLENGE
Sunday, October 19 & Monday, October 20, 2014
BOULDER CITY, NEVADA

(Reserve Day Tuesday, October 21, 2014)

SPONSORED BY THE SAN DIEGO ORBITEERS AND THE BOULDER CITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

AN AMERICAS CUP EVENT

AMA SANCTION #14-1082

this event was made possible by the GENEROUS efforts of jill rowland-lagan, ceo of the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce. Please patronize Boulder City motels, restaurants and businesses and tell them why you are there.

For Classes: F1A, F1B, F1C, F1G, F1H, F1J, F1P, F1Q, P-30, E-36 and Vintage FAI Power

Sunday October 19th: F1G, F1H, F1J, P-30, E-36 and Vintage FA1 Power

Tie-Breaker “Espresso Fly-Off” (No Max): F1G 7:15-7:25; F1H 7:30–7:40; F1J 7:45–7:55, Vintage FAI Power 8:00-8:10

(5) 45 Minute rounds commencing at 8:30AM

F1G, F1H and F1J, 120 Seconds, All Rounds

Vintage FAI Power, 180 Seconds, All Rounds

E-36 and P-30 8:00AM to 12:00PM, No Rounds, AMA Rules

Sunday Flyoffs

No earlier than 12:45PM (30 minutes after close of Round 5) flyoffs will begin. For F1G, F1H and F1J, the first flyoff round Max will be 240 seconds. The second flyoff Max, if required, will be 300 seconds.

Vintage FAI Power Flyoffs will use the same engine runs, with a 240 second Max for the first flyoff and a 300 second Max for the second flyoff.

For all Sunday events, if a winner is not determined at the conclusion of two flyoff rounds, the Espresso Flyoff times will be used to determine final placing.

Monday October 20th: F1A, F1B, F1C, F1P, and F1Q

(7) One hour rounds commencing at 8:00AM for all events

Round 1: F1A, 210 Seconds, F1B and F1C, 240 Seconds, Rounds 2-7: 180 Seconds

F1P, 180 Seconds, All Rounds

F1Q will be flown in rounds in accordance with current FAI rules. Contestants may use an approved energy limiter or may compute the allowable motor run and post the value on the model. 180 seconds all rounds.

Monday Fly Offs will begin no earlier than 3:30PM

Awards

Perpetual Trophies to winners in F1A, F1B, F1C, F1G, F1H, F1J and FIQ

Glassware 1st through 3rd place for all events, including F1P, E-36, Vintage FAI Power and P-30. Cups to the Winners of “Espresso Fly-Offs”.

Entry Fee: $30 for first event entry, $10 for each additional event entry. $10 for P-30 and E-36. No entry fee for Juniors or Espresso Flyoff

Contest Directors:

Bill Booth Jr. Bob Beecroft

5092 Nighthawk Way 3488 Linda Vista Terrace

Oceanside, CA 92056 Fallbrook, CA 92028

(760) 842-1079 (760) 723-2499

booth TheAeroSmith

Directions to El Dorado Dry Lake:

On Hwy 95 approximately 7 miles south of Hwy 93. Access through the Desert Tortoise fence is on the west side of Highway 95 on the north edge of where the power lines cross the highway. The flying area is to the west, either in the middle (35.867N/114.943W) or on the south end (35.846N/114.961W) of the lake bed. In the early morning, the field is approximately 35 minutes drive time from the Las Vegas “Strip”. Camping on the field is permitted.

Note the F1ABC is on the Monday to fit with USA Team Selections

Mongolia and the USA Team Finals

Editorial

We are getting ready for the USA Team Selections Finals at the Boulder City, NV site and everything is going smoothly for a good event. This year the attendance is down on previous years and a surprisingly number of people are even attending the event to help others but not taking part themselves.

There are 3 reasons for the reduced participation this year:

The altitude of the World Champs. This is a concerned for some older sportsmen with respiratory issues and F1C flyers who do not like flying at altitude. One can argue that the altitude is the same for everyone so all F1C participants have the same handicap. This is clearly true but the F1C flyer needs to adjust the compression on his engine and this is a non-trivial task. I spoke with one former USA team member who said that he had taken part in previous World Champs at altitude and had had a miserable time so while he regretted not going he was not going to do it again if it was not fun.

Cost. For flyers in the USA the cost of flying to a World Champs is always a significant concern, unless it is in the USA. The AMA is reducing the financial help to all World Champs teams, no matter what category. The financial help is based on the participation in the finals so this is rather a vicious cycle with the reduced participation reducing the financial help. Mongolia looks like having record high travel costs.

Lack of knowledge of the details of the event. Mongolia is a new site and while they have held a number of major events, none were of the order of magnitude of the World Champs. We published the report by Leigh Morgan of Australia to specifically try and address some of the concerns we had heard. I thought the report was very positive. The two previous World Champs organizers provided plenty of information well ahead of time. Even though Argentina is not a site on the “World Cup circuit” most people knew that Daniel Iele and his team were experienced organizers and what expect. They provided information well ahead of time. The same in France, that part of the country has hosted many model airplane contests at all levels so some of those taking part already had their favorite place to stay. On top of this the organizers were very forthcoming in the preparations they had underway to provide accommodation for the additional number of people expected. It takes a significant effort for a sportsman to prepare for a World Champs so that one does well and represents one’s country well and there are a hard core of people who will do that no matter what site but this year it appears that the organizers have failed to get through to a significant set potential participants who have lost interest in the 2015 event. This preparation starts when the previous World Champs ends so it is necessary for the organizer to start educating people well ahead of the event. It is not automatic that people will come just because it is the World Champs. For example some participants who are vegan have expressed a concern about getting the kind of food they require. Maybe it is easy to do so in Mongolia but they have not been able to find out if they can so are backing off on taking part in the selection events.

……………………….
Roger Morrell