[AlaskaRC] Glider contest

[Dirk & Alison]

Thank you everyone for a great day of flying gliders.  

 

I was sort of mystified by the changes in the different sailplane classes
and since I had never read the sailplane contest rules I gave them a quick
read.

 

The old sailplane classes:

Class A: 1.5 meter or less

Class B: 1.5m to 2m

Class C: 2m to 100"

Class D:  greater than 100"  100" was a popular wingspan for American
gliders back in the 1970s

 

AMA appears to be making their contest rules conform to FAI standards which
does not include a 100" category.  

So the new sailplane classes are:

Class A: 1.5 meter or less

Class B: 1.5m to 2m

Class C:  Unlimited wingspan

 

Other interesting things I found in the rules are:

 

2.5.2 Model must land within 75 meters of the launch point or 75 meters from
the center of the landing tape

 

2.15.2 Landing outside of the 75 meter landing zone results in a zero for
the flight

 

2.10.1  You CAN use a variometer in a contest.  I was very surprised at
this, I always turned mine off during a contest. Not that it would make one
bit of difference for me at my level.   

 

2.10.2  You CANNOT use flight stabilization in a contest

 

2.14.1  Timing starts at towline release or timing starts upon release of
the model by the pilot or helper for self-launching sailplanes.  So we
actually did this correctly today.  

 

3.2.1.3 You can use up to three different models or combination of models in
a contest. Any model can be flown at any time at the discretion of the
competitor.  Was surprised at this also.

 

6.5.2 No landing points if the model loses parts during landing.  It is ok
for rubber bands to pop off during landing

 

6.5.3 No landing points if the model comes to rest inverted

 

7.2.6   30 second motor run.

 

All timing is "truncated time" no rounding up.  If your timer shows 5:32.44
then the time marked down is 5:32

 

Link to AMA sailplane rules

 
<https://www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/RCSoaring%202019-2020.pdf
>
https://www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/RCSoaring%202019-2020.pdf

 

I'm not saying we need to get hard-nosed about all these rules.  I rather
like our low key style.  This was the first time I actually read the rules
and was somewhat surprised at what I found.  

 

Dirk 

 

 

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