National Free Flight Society

SEN 2291

 

  1. 20 second attempt rule – safety issue?
  2. 20 second serve

 

20 second attempt rule – safety issue?
From: Tony Mathews

Some years ago I had a conversation with Victor Stamov about the 20 second
attempt rule. As readers will recall, for a few years it was abolished for
F1A only (seems some people were upset about some flyers using RDT to savea crashing model and being “rewarded”  with a reflight). Victor had two
points which are still valid. 1) Suppose you have a $4000.00 (+?) flapper
model and it is about to crash after being released in a bad attitude. If
there is no 20 second attempt rule at all, you will either hit the RDT
button to save the model, or take the risk that it might recover and give
you a lucky max after finding the magic 3 meter high thermal. 2) LDA and
flapper F1A models can achieve dangerously high speeds and letting such a
model crash into a crowd is potentially lethal.

So allowing a 20 second attempt but not allowing RDT to be used is
potentially dangerous. Nobody should have to think about whether they
should press the button or not. They should push it automatically without
hesitation. Allowing a 20 second attempt and RDT means that you will always
push the button. So in effect, it’s safer to allow it than to ban it!
In fact, I’m surprised that someone hasn’t suggested that all LDA and
flapper models should have a mandatory automatic RDT using the altimeter
and accelerometer such as the M&K system (used for training). I’ve seen
such a system automatically deploy and save several of Jama Danier’s models
in training with a rapid RDT faster than a human could have been expected
to react. Since the models would have crashed nearby for all I know this
system may have saved my and all the other bystander’s lives as well!
A similar argument could be made for F1C. Although the engine cut before
RDT is a discussion that is front and center in this year’s rule
proposals…

Please keep the 20 second attempt rule.

Tmat

20 second serve
From: Lee Hines

RE 20 sec attempt rule:It should be kept.If Roger Federer & Djokivic get second serves in Grand Slam tennis matches, that is classic precedence & reason to rest this case as is.

Leeper,Former F1A flyer, & current E-flyer

SEN Status
Our new web site is online with archives of SEN going back to 1997 plus many items about FAI Free Flight. It can be found at http://sen.faifreeflight.org

Existing SEN subscribers can update their preferences by following the update your preferences link at the bottom of this page.

New users can sign up at  this link http://eepurl.com/crOnvj
or at the SEN website

 
…………..
Roger Morrell