SEN 2512

1. Second life for old style Nordic wings
2. Use the Interweb to get to the right demographic
3. The right demographic ?
4. Adelaide is right on target!

Second life for old style Nordic wings
From: Aram Schlosberg

As (large) Q models have evolve into using geared motors with B props and Nordic sized wings, it turns out that the old styled Carbon D-boxed A wings weighing around 180 grams are a perfect match. The steel wing joiner can be replaced with a lighter solid Carbon rod, possibly using a smaller diameter, as the model climbs at it’s glide velocity. Old styled A wings typically have wash-in in their right main panels –  suitable for Q models gliding right. And the older A wings do not have LDA sections that can have a tendency to start stalling later in the flight.
.
So don’t discard old style A wings. And as soon as standard Q fuselages with geared motors using B props are available commercially, it would be even easier to begin flying competitive Q. ///

Use the interweb to get to the right demographic*
We complain about the internet being a time waster, a source of fake news, alternate facts, pictures of cats and a bunch of other things.

We need to ignore the bad stuff and use it to our advantage.  In the previous SEN we got input from a young flyer on how she looks at the internet.

In the 2017 NFFS Free Flight Symposium there is an article about the presence of Free Flight on the internet, how to improve it  and the potential people that might read it – a very large number.
Suggestions of using Facebook.

Post your flying  photos etc under Free Flight groups . There are quite a number.  At SEN we publish on the group just called Free Flight.  Why do this ?  Because I have lots of FB friends who post more stuff than I can ever possibly read.  But I go to the Free Flight group because I know that I’m interested in reading that information and it won’t have picture of cats or other stuff I’m not interested in reading.  If I post a model flying picture that interests my family as well as my flying friends I share it between Free Flight and my timeline.

Other general groups on FB include Free Flight Aeromodelling and Free Flight Digest
There are more focused Free Flight related groups on FB, covering such subjects as F1A, F1B , F1C, F1Q and Electric, Indoor, Free Flight for sale,  …. Plus  others dealing with Free Flight I a particular country.

If readers send in their favorite FB FF related groups we will list them in an upcoming SEN.

By putting the information on the Free Flight group it is available to other people than just my friends.  Also for those concerned about privacy it separates that free flight information that you don’t mind everyone seeing  from perhaps more personal stuff on your time line.

Event organizers
Clearly the primary responsibility of someone organizing a free flight event is to the people taking part. The event has to be well run following the rules etc.  But there is broad community of followers around the country and around the world.  You need to publish results information on a timely basis about the event.  We see frequent requests on the “interweb” for updates as to what’s going on at major events.  For the organizer of a World or Continental Championship it a must to have close to real time results on line.  There people “back home” from enthusiastic young people like Adelaide to her grand parents and family, sponsors who help send the people to major events, members of the various national and International bodies who decide what events to support and most importantly that new person no one knows about..  With the almost unlimited availability of FREE resources in the cloud putting the results on line is not hard or expensive – find that geek to help you.

Even for small events putting a few photos in Facebook is not hard. If you are busy running the event, ask one of the participants to be the “sports journalist” reporting on your event. Pictures of people flying, shots of the flight line to show what the field and weather looks like,  pictures that show (and name !) the podium places are great.  During the Fab Feb events at Lost Hills we have been very fortunate to have a number of very good photographers report on the events – special thanks to Malcolm Campbell, Brian Furutani and Merry Smith. Try to get someone to do that for your event – and be sure to publish where to find the photos.

Results Sources
This site in Serbia works hard at maintaining a database of current FAI Free Flights event.  In addition to straight results they also cross reference information by sportsman.
https://model.wings.rs/

Archives …..

Ian Kaynes maintains accurate archived information

http://www.freeflightnews.org.uk/wcup/wcupmast.htm

http://www.freeflightnews.org.uk/champs/mast.htm

Help them
If you run a World Cup or World Champs the results of your event will end up with Ian.  If you run a FAI Free Flight event send an Excel spread sheet to the model.wings.rs guys. Look at their site https://model.wings.rs/
to get more information

*Top definition  from the “Urban Dictionary”
interweb

A sarcastic term for the internet. Often used in the context of parody regarding an inexperience, unskilled, or incoherent user.

Hay guys, I’m using teh interweb!!!

The right demographic ?
From: John Lorbiecki

First, very good commentary Ms. Ulm!

NFFS has tried for many years to get members, keep members, and introduce kids to the hobby. We have had a few major mentors that have gone to great steps to get kids involved. They have been reasonably successful but what has been found is that very few will continue with the sport after they leave the mentorship. I can probably count these kids on one hand (and mine is not one of them- F-16s take a lot of time to fly!).

What I have come to believe is true is that we are not hitting the proper group. We need the kids, yes, but they do not have the means to do what the hobby needs- yes, money (but we know that you can build a perfectly flyable model for $20) but they also need someone to take them to the field. And, that is a big problem, as we tend to fly in the boonies nowadays and it takes a car trip to get there.

What we need are the 30-45 year olds. They may have flown earlier in life but things happen- college, career, family…Later in life they have settled down, have some money and time, and probably a child or two. If mom or dad gets involved, it is far easier to get the child in. The parent is now the mentor, banker, bus driver, and flying pal. This is really where we need to concentrate our efforts.

I am not down grading the STEM programs or all the work that many clubs are doing to get the kids involved. But, don’t stop there- get mom and dad flying and we will have a better chance of increasing our ranks.

That is my two cents and I return you to your regularly scheduled program!

John Lorbiecki

Adelaide is right on target!
From:Graham Selick

Watching her fly in Bulgaria along with her other Junior Teammates was a pleasure, but a bit sad because we had spaces for more flyers.

I’m looking forward to going again with Hayden in 2020 …if he earns a place on the team…and that the USA will again field a team with the flying skills and personal deportment displayed by the 2018 Juniors.

Graham Selick

a/k/a  “The Grandfather”