National Free Flight Society

SEN 2522

  1. A word from the Fab Feb Score Keeper
  2. AMA events at the Ike
  3. USA Team Selection – Multiple Contests Hybrid Idea
  4. America’s Cup Organizers
  5. A Magic Word

A word from the Fab Feb FAI Score Keeper
We have noticed that a number of people have not included their FAI on their entries.  Any regular participant in World Cup or World Champ Events will have a FAI license with a FAI ID.  The first time you get an FAI License in the past few years you are given a FAI ID and that ID does not change.  It is possible that your NAC when submitting your information to the FAI made an error and gave them different spelling or different date of birth and you have more than one FAI ID , that is not very common and this will probably get sorted over time, if we see a difference we will tell you. So be sure to include the FAI ID on your Fab Feb entry. It is the FAI ID that Ian Kaynes uses when preparing the World Cup scores and official results.   If you did not include your FAI ID and we know it we will add it.  It is important to remember that the FAI ID is NOT the same as the FAI LICENSE number. The FAI LICENSE number changes from year to year and is not required or used when entering an event.

Isaacson Winter Classic
AMA Events

At Lost Hills, California
9 and 10 February 2019
National Cup events
In conjunction with Kiwi Cup, World and America’s Cup Events

Saturday  February 9, 2019
8am-5pm
Go for the Gold with Golden Age ½ A ($100/$75/$50 prize )
Paul MacCready HLG ($Prize)
E-36 – AMA rules
Vintage FAI Gas
AMA CLG – NC Pts.
Gollywock One Design 3 x 3min max trophy from Bob White
NOS Gas 1/4A,   Early 1/2A ,1/2A  Combined
AMA Gas C, D, Sup. D Combined.

Sunday February 10, 2019
Mass Launch from Specials 7:30*
E-36 Mass Launch  **
Gollywock. (tie breaker for 3 X 3) and separate prize
P-30
CLG
HLG

Regular Events 8am – 3pm
Paul MacCready CLG ($prize)
NOS Gas B and C Combined
NOS Gas A,
P-30
AMA Gas 1/2A
AMA Gas  A
AMA HLG – NC Pts.
Nos Electric –  all classes combined
NOS Rubber
Large and small combined-NFFS Rules
Bob White Award for top NOS Wake
Classic Glider NFFS Rules
Leeper Special – Beat the Vartanian – Lee Hines  2:30 PM Sunday

Entry Fees $20 for the first event (can be an FAI event, $30 if World Cup ) and $5 for subsequent events.

AMA Events – Event Director Glenn Schneider gtodds@sbcglobal.net

For the FAI events including Kiwi World Cup for F1ABCPQ, Mini events F1HGJS and World Cup F1E, see a separate flyer

Small Print section

For the mass launch events the exact launch time of each event will be given later*
The E-36 Mass launch will be coordinated with the first round of F1S (which may be delayed if there is a long World Cup  flyoff on Sunday AM )**

Golden Age:  Any post NOS design published, kitted or flown competitively between 1 Jan 1957 and 31 Dec 1969 scaled if needed to 1/2 A size, powered by either Holland Hornet 049-051 or Cox TD 049-051.  Construction must replicate the original design, no carbon fiber to be used in construction.  NOS flight rules.   Gas powered only for this award.

Vintage FAI :  5 flights, no rounds, First flight before 9 A.M. will be timed to the ground, that time will be used as a tie breaker if a tie persists after two regular flyoff rounds.  Flyoffs if needed will be scheduled for 1 P.M.  Flyoff type. longer flights vs shorter engine runs will be determined by the consensus of the fliers involved and weather conditions at the time.  Era specification and engine runs per NFFS rules ( there may be new rules for 2019-20).

Combined events will be separated for National Cup points. AMA gas events will be determined AMA vs Classic when registered for National Cup.

Special Awards for first place in Rubber powered events – 1 pound box of Super Sport Rubber donated by FAI Model Supply – Events Gollywock 3 x 3 , P-30, Nos Rubber.

Rest of the story: As most of you know Norm Furutani, one of the founders of this event retired from running it after last year’s event.  This event is very popular along with the FAI events.   This year Glenn Schneider has offered to run the AMA events with a number of volunteers.  This is very much appreciated by me and by those who want to take part.  We have tried to maintain the spirit of the event. Popular events with the largest participation are the HLG and CLG,  Gollywock, E-36, Vintage FAI and Nos Rubber.  At the Winter Classic in the past we have promoted special events, typically boosted by some donated $ in the prize money.  This year we have 2 such events, the Golden Age ½ A Gas models with $ sponsorship and the NOS-Electric event, which attracted quite some lobbying to get it included but as yet no $$ sponsor ship…….

Most of the people who have offered to help are AMA/Nos gas flyers. Glenn can probably do with some help, particularly on Saturday from some with electric, glider or rubber model experience.

Roger Morrell CD of the Isaacson Winter Classic and Kiwi World Cup. r_morrell@yahoo.com
In memory of our dear friends, Bob and LaVera Isaacson

USA Team Selection – Multiple Contests Hybrid Idea
From: Aram Schlosberg

Why can’t we be like many European nations – selecting their teams based on how well their flyers rank in the World Cup contests. People are flying throughout the year and no overhead. But this only works if most of us had lived within a day’s driving from Lost Hills.
However, does this approach have merit if we select only ONE team member using World Cup contests in the US?

For example, if only American World Cups are considered, then over (a) one year there are two in Lost Hills CA  (Maxmen and the Sierra Cup) and one in the center-east (Nats, Muncie IN).  A flyer would be ranked by the sum of their ranks pf their two best contests. And if the eligibility window spans over (b) two years, then by their best three rankings. (Details are skipped for brevity.)
With such a hybrid approach, the other two team members and the alternate would be selected in a standard Finals with two contests in each event where the daily winner makes the team and the alternate being the best combined flyer. (A variant would be to select all three as combination flyers.)

As only one multiple contest flyer could win a team position and the outcome might be only be revealed at last contest, all flyers would anyway have to plan on attending the Finals with its prerequisites. We would also have to get an AMA easement from holding a single Finals per the “blue book”.
So a hybrid approach boils down to whether one team position should be granted to a flyer who places best in multiple World Cup contests or the best combination flyer in our two-day Finals in each event.

Is a hybrid concept the new Edsel (a famous car flop)?  ///

America’s Cup Organizers
The America’s Cup scorekeeper, Jim Parker  is trying to finalize this year’s positions.  This proving to be a challenge because some organizers have not sent him nor to SEN the complete results and have not paid the America’s Cup sanction. Jim has tried to contact those concerned with out complete success, so if you heard from Jim, send him the full correct results and pay the (small)  fee so your results will be counted and the participants in your contest happy.  Of particular concern are the various contests held (or not held) at Wawaynada.

And sportsmen, if you think a result has been incorrectly reported to Jim, you need to contact the CD and ask them to correct it.  Jim can’t just change a result because someone other than the organizer says it’s wrong.

A Magic Word
For some time users of Magic timers have requested a replacement of or alternate to the Palm Pilot that is currently used to program the timers.  For some time there has been Windows 10 version. Now the Android version is close to release.  The initial release of the Android version is focused on programming the current range of timers that have a serial port.  This release requires Android 6 or later and a device that has a OTG USB port.  Magic timers is looking for a limited number of Magic Timer users  with such an Android device who would be interested in doing some testing.  If so email Magic Timers at magictimers@yahoo.com