Radio Control: Soaring
IN THE JANUARY column it was mentioned that the variations in task design by clubs and individuals is one of the factors that has kept competition in soaring challenging and exciting. Innovations with regards to tasks are usually a departure from the official rule book. The thin line that separates rule infraction from deviation can't be defined. However, so long as the basic rules are adhered to with regards to sailplane size and weight restrictions, the modifications of tasks are not only practical in most instances but healthy for our sport. The Fifth Annual North-South Challenge Meet proved this.
Radio Control: Soaring
From Around the U.S.A. San Fernando Valley Silent Flyers, CA. A great idea to get novice fliers to compete with the more experienced club members comes from Ed Slobod. It works this way: Everyone signs up and flies as an individual in the normal fashion. At the beginning of the contest, the experts will put their names on slips of paper, and interested novices will draw (sight unseen) a name. The expert drawn will fly as a team with the novice for a combined score. The novices' individual score will count in the contest as a whole, but the awards to the winning novice-expert team will be made to the novice. A novice is anyone who has not placed higher than fourth in a contest with 20 or more entrants.
Radio Control: Soaring
ON MAY 29-30 at Waco, TX, the last of 28 FAI quarter-final contests was held. Since the first week in May, 136 contestants competed and, of that number, 103 qualified. The rules stated that one could fly in two quarter-finals for one entry fee, thereby getting two attempts to earn a slot in the semi-finals. Fifty-seven fliers took advantage of this and, by the time you read this, those 103 quarter-finalists will be reduced to 36 by virtue of the semi-finals that will have been held simultaneously at Fort Wayne, IN; Fort Worth, TX; Spokane, WA; Los Angeles, CA; Elmira, NY; and Tullahoma, TN. That phase of the eliminations was held over the July 4th weekend and the 36 finalists would be announced at the RC Soaring Nationals banquet on July 21.
Radio Control: Soaring
LSF/2000! In less than two years the League of Silent Flight roster has grown by 1000 members, and LSF/2000 went to Hans Dangelmeier of Switzerland. Even though this growth rate was predicted a couple of years ago, it is a remarkable increase. With 1500 in the aspirant files, the next thousand could just possibly take only half as long. LSF Shortlines: Apparently some of the older PDVs (Performance Document Vouchers) are still out and a tinge of misunderstanding remains as to the method of launching for the precision spot landings. Section 9 should read, "...All precision spot-landing flights must commence with a launch meeting the specifications for towline lengths and methods outlined in Section 7..." Please note that "rise off the ground" has been, and should be, deleted.
Nats Radio Control: Soaring
WIND, rain, and cold! That's the way Walt Good described the weather for the soaring event at the A.M.A. Nationals. As a matter of fact the week should have been renamed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Wind, Rain, and Cold. Held at the Springfield municipal airport, an excellent site, the events included two-minute precision, ten-minute duration, and, as an unofficial event, Scale. On Thursday the 20-to 30-mph wind met the 79 entrants head on. And, if the wind wasn't enough of a challenge, the visibility-or lack of it-was. Using two lines of 300 meters many modelers and timers had a difficult time of determining just when lines were released from their models.
