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SEN 2211

SEN 2211 – Table of Contents

  1. Satellite 788 For sale
  2. Reserve Days and the Americas Cup
  3. Contest Reserve Day
  4. More on the Patterson …

Satellite 788 For sale
Hi Roger,
Looking to sell my Satellite 788. New never flown. Trans orange monokote wings and stab.
Painted fuse. Comes with ST G40 rear intake and timer. Contact me for more details and photos. Beautifully finished. Not sure what it’s worth. Make best offer. I am in Camarillo CA.
626-272-0820
Dean

Reserve Days and the Americas Cup
I would like to comment on the use of reserve days at smaller competitions. It seems to me that reserve days very much favor flyers who live close to the flying venue and therefore are in conflict with the stated purpose of the Americas Cup Competitions per the following excerpt:

“The purpose of the America’s Cup Competition is to foster the development of flyers and models across North America in the FAI F1 (free flight). This coast-to-coast competition requires flyers to attend multiple contests each year in the United States and Canada in order to win.”

A situation came up at last weekend’s SW FAI Challenge in classes F1G, F1H, and F1S. On Sunday there were supposed to be five rounds flown plus flyoffs. The first round was timed to the ground with the extra seconds held to break ties if needed. After three rounds were completed strong winds developed that quickly went over the FAI limit with a forecast to continue all day. The contest was stopped.

At this point the management deliberated on how to continue. They could have used the first round scores to determine placing’s using the extra seconds timed to the ground. Instead they decided to go to the “reserve day” which of course was Monday. We all know that Monday is out of the question for most flyers because of work, school, family concerns, and in my case, airline connections to meet. (There were two East coast flyers at this meet including myself). In the case of class F1S only one flyer went to flight line on Monday.

I’m sure that flyer flew in a sportsmanlike manner to win the competition. However, can we call that scenario a sporting outcome? I don’t think so. Let’s do away with reserve days.

Dick Ivers


Contest Reserve Day
Don Deloach via Face Book asked SCAT for guidelines for the use of reserve day. This after the Sunday blow out of the mini-events at the Boulder City last week.

SCAT’s involvement is limited to the requirements of the  SCAT sponsored AmCup program. The over-arching desire is to achieve a “sportsman like result” and because the core purpose of the Am Cup is to motivate flyers to travel to contests they likely would not attend, the “reserve day” recommendation was added to the rules many years ago to maximize the possibility of completing the contest for those that travel in the pursuit of AmCup points.

The AmCup rules can be found at https://freeflight.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/02/2015AmCupRules.pdf.
The 2016 rules used the posted 2015 dated rules.

1 e) For any AmCup contest that requires rescheduling or cancellation prior to the published date (which should match the AMA primary sanction date) a 30 day advanced notice is recommended and a 15 day notice is required and the organizer must make a good faith effort at widespread notification, such as a message posted on SCAT Electronic News (SEN). Special attention shall be made to avoid conflict with other AmCup contests in that region. Rescheduling of a contest within 15 days of the
Scheduled date beyond the AMA primary sanction date is not allowed. The use of reserve a day as part of the AMA sanctioned primary dates and published in contest bulletin are encouraged to maximize the opportunity to complete contests.

Wind on the Boulder City lake bed was forecast and the organizers asked  days before for guidance to which I provided the above rule with the addition of granting flexibly to the 15 days so as to have an option to fly the contest in a concurrent manner at the upcoming Patterson. Other ideas such as moving the Sunday events to Saturday were discussed. Ultimately, the CD and Contest Organizers have the final say on how a contest is run.

I understand Saturday had ideal conditions at the Boulder contest. On Sunday three rounds were completed before the blowing wind. The Contest flyer did publish Monday as a reserve day. I assume that with flyer input, the CD’s decided to complete the contest on Monday. I also understand that some long distance travelers planned to stay over Monday (to fly the reserve day or to go have fun in Las Vegas I do not know) and others had airline flights out and could not fly on the reserve day.

In conclusion, the reserve day is a recommendation. It is recommended to increase the probability of the contest being completed and so encourage those in pursuit of AmCup points to travel to contest outside their home field. The CD / Organizers have the final say on the running of the contest.

This brings to mind, my father told me as a 14 year old who started to show interest in Free Flight that I had to understand and accept three truths. The third truth is “You’ll drive all night to a contest only to sit in your car and watch the wind blow or the rain fall, if you can’t accept that, collect stamps for a hobby”.

Thermals, Jim Parker, SCAT AmCup Administrator

More on the Patterson …
We forgot to say special custom trophies with reminder who Jim Patterson was…
Plus Hot Dogs etc cooked by Linda and don’t forget we will be off summer time by them and the event will start at 7:30
…………..
Roger Morrell