National Free Flight Society

SEN 2354

  1. F1E
  2. Cal Cup
  3. Kotuku
  4. Sierra
  5. Derek’s Words

F1E Section
3 Events run on Holloway Hill at Lost Hills…. At least this hill is not lost.

California Cup F1E
This event was postponed from February

California Cup
PLACE   NAME            CTRY R1  R2  R3  R4  R5  R6  R7  SUMPT
F1E                          150 180 180 177 180 180 180
1     Mike Richardson USA  150 130 105 150 180 134 180 589.75%
2     Ian Kaynes      GBR  150 180 180  77  86 135 165 557.95%
3     Bob Sifleet     USA   35 138  77 177  94 180 180 495.00%
4     Dave Parsons    USA  113 140 180 175  78  61  62 463.65%
5     Peter Brocks    USA  150 180 133  16 107  51 157 457.93%
6     Fred Terzian    USA  137  61  91   9   0 159 155 355.31%
7     T. Ioerger      USA   18 136 129   3   0   0   0 160.92%

Kotuku Cup F1E

 Kotuku 2017
PLACE  NAME            CTRY     R1  R2  R3  R4  R5  SUMPT
F1E                            150 180 180 180 180
1    Ian Kaynes      GBR      150 111 180 180 180 461.67%
2    Peter Brocks    USA      111 180 180 180 102 430.67%
3    Dave Parsons    USA      150 180 173 180  47 422.22%
4    Mike Richardson USA       87 174 143 174 161 420.22%
5    Bob Sifleet     USA      129 180 180 147  86 415.44%
6    Fred Terzian    USA       26 158 103 146 171 338.44%
7    Tom Ioerger     USA      110  87 126  32  92 260.56%

Sierra Cup F1E
Report from Peter Brocks

On Tuesday we had a good F1E Sierra Cup on the hill. All day we had a perfect wind direction out of the ENE. At the 10 am start of the 1st round it was close to being calm and was around 8 mph wind speed in the last round. There were lulls and some strong thermals, sunny with temps at the start of 70° which then went up to 85°. I set the max time to 150 seconds and then to 180 seconds for the last 3 rounds.

Head Jurist was Henning and Jurists were Allen Jack and Tom Ioerger (he did not fly because of electronic problems). There were no problems or protests. We had a nice awards, had wine, pretzels, peanuts and your ribbons.

Results
1-Bob Sifleet
2-Fred Terzian
3-Peter Brock
4-Ian Kaynes
5-Dave Parson

2017 Kotuku/ Sierra Cup – continued
From: Derek McGuckin originally in Free Flight Group on FB

2017 Kotuku/ Sierra Cup (continued)
Sierra Cup began with a north wind that strengthened through the first three rounds. The contest was paused to move the flightline to the northern end of the field. The temperature was in the mid 80’s. The wind lessened a bit in the later rounds with thermals getting tricky. Not as tricky as on Saturday but there were dropped flights. Seven F1B contestants maxed out.

No flyoff was required in F1C with Don Chesson taking first. Don was flying a traditional looking plane and beat the folders

Bob Sifleet won F1Q with his nice flying plane

Three made the flyoff in F1A with Brian VanNest taking first.
I had maxed out in F1B so it was time for the 5 minute flyoff. There was a breeze so the planes were going to go pretty far. At the horn I wound a fine April 2016 motor that got to the torque and turns I was looking for. I launched at around the three minute mark of the 10 minute window along with several others. The plane climbed nicely for me (not as high as the best but a good solid climb) started the chase and lost site of the plane over the RV parking area. I lost tracker signal so thought the plane was on the ground. I rode back to the line to get a better line and found out that I was clocked off at 4:01 minutes with the plane lost behind the line of RV’s.
I rode past the RV’s and picked up the signal. I found the plane by the memorial marker in the field south of the entrance road. I don’t think the plane did 5 minutes so was happy with the recorded time. Roger Morrell had made the 5 minutes and was a bit further south than I was. His plane was higher and the timers could see it till it Dt’d. Next time I need to get my plane HIGHER????

Anyway my time was good for fourth place. Roger Morrell, Charlie Jones and Blake Jensen made the 5 minute max. Mike McKeever (CD) announced a 6 minute max and it was time to fly. The wind direction had shifted slightly between rounds which became obvious when the planes were launched. I teamed up with Jim Parker to time Roger’s flight. Charlie launched first with Blake right behind him. Roger launched about 30 seconds later. Roger’s plane was gliding nicely and heading toward the orchards (remember the wind change) I said it was going to be hard to see once it reached orchard level and I was right. The plane disappeared right when it crossed the tree line. Roger made the max by one second for the win!

All three planes ended up in the orchard. Charlie found and recovered his that night. Blake found his but needed two long poles to get the plane down the next morning. One small hole in the rudder covering was it for damage. Roger found and recovered his plane Monday morning.

With the growth of the orchards I think the Lost Hills FF Model Airfield Association should consider purchasing a couple 15′- 18′ orchard ladders and long poles for plane retrieval. With a couple more years of growth and the World Champs around the corner it would be nice to be prepared, just in case??

Comments

Roger Morrell

Derek McGuckin, I also used April 2016 rubber in both flyoff rounds. In the first FO I went about 300m past the Lost Hills pillar in the ‘gap’ between the hill and orchard. My model was a recent Vivchar model with the 2 position stab hammer that give more decalage in the cruise part of the climb.

Derek McGuckin

Derek McGuckin Awesome! I was a little short of the pillar. Nice flying Roger!

Kotuku/ Sierra Cup Monday Minis (last post)

Weather forecast for Monday was for wind building throughout the day. Several people chose to head home due to the forecast so contestant numbers were smaller than expected.

Both the Kotuku Cup and Sierra Cup mini contests were flown with extended 90 minute rounds in which a contestant would fly once for each contest.

The day began with a slight drift from the north. The Kotuku Cup’s first round was a “Champagne Fly Off to the ground” with each class having it’s own ten minute window. F1G went first followed by F1H. Lost Hills famous early morning inversion layer was on the weak side with the longest flights breaking 4 minutes.

The wind began to blow a bit late in the first round and peaking during the second. It looked like the forecast was accurate and the CD’s with input from contestants decided to suspend rounds flying. Shortly thereafter the wind died. Thermal condition became tricky with pretty big boomers coming through. Net result was only one fly off was needed to decide the Sierra Cup F1S event. Jack Murphy and I lined up for the 5 sec. 2 min. max with a ten minute window. A nice bit of air came through wind we both launched. I caught the thermal and maxed. Jack had a bad launch and was down early. Jack had several beautiful 5 sec. test flights before the fly off where he maxed easily. He put up a couple more after the contest and maxed easily. Frustrating for sure!

With both contests wrapped up awards were given Results were posted in the lastest SEN newsletter.

And that was it for a great weekend. Well not quite, both Jack and I still had our F1S’s ready to go so we decided to do a 15 sec motor run mass launch for fun. I tell you a well trimmed F1S gets ridiculously high in 15 sec.! I RDT’ed mine at about 90 seconds or so and it was over 5 minutes to the ground. Fun!

A big thank you to Brian and Janna VanNest and Mike  McKeever for Cd’ing a fun set of contests. October at Lost Hills is quite nice.

Animal Sightings: 2 tarantulas, 2 rattlesnakes ( one by the Sierra Cup flightline. It was well watched as it moved away. Lot’s of pictures were taken) and one bee sting on my upper arm as I was timing. There were several bee stings during the contests. Something to be aware of if you plan on attending the Team trials and upcoming World Champs.
The predicted strong winds that never materialized at Lost Hills were the same that caused the awful fires in northern California. Lot’s of thick smoke haze On I5 as I drove home on Tuesday. They are still burning with lots of destruction and many deaths??