Focus on Competition
Technical Director Steve Kaluf
September
SEPTEMBER! Where has the summer gone? Actually, this was written in late May while I was on the way to (and at) the Indoor Nationals in Johnson City, Tennessee. The next couple of columns will give you some of my observations as we go through the Nats this summer. This will lead up to the December issue of Model Aviation, which will be the annual Nats issue.
Planning and logistics
Planning for the Nationals begins before the previous year's Nats has been completed. It is a large task made much easier by the increased involvement of:
- Special Interest Groups
- Category Management
- HQ staff (that is now experienced)
- Hosting all outdoor events at the AMA International Aeromodeling Center
Hosting the events at the Muncie site has simplified the logistics of the Nats. No longer do we have to spend days packing trailers and shipping crates to transport the massive amounts of equipment to a site hundreds (or even thousands) of miles from where it is stored. Now we simply move it from storage directly to the site. Complete site setup can be done in about a week by AMA staff.
Other logistics are also easier—simple things like making copies are done right on site, not at a local office supplier as had to be done in the past. All in all, these benefits give us a much better Nationals.
Indoor Nationals
This year's Indoor events were handled by the leadership of Dave Thomson (Free Flight Category Manager). Dave has many years of experience as the Free Flight Category Director, working with Abram Van Dover in the past.
Indoor has few equipment requirements: a few scales, some stopwatches, and some paperwork are about it. Indoor's biggest need is an indoor facility. Johnson City (East Tennessee State University) is a good one. It is an enclosed football field, with high ceilings, few obstructions, and minimal air currents moving through it. It is expensive to rent, although not as much as most would think. One hundred aeromodelers competed in the official Indoor Nats events this year.
If you have not seen a true Indoor event, go see one, regardless of your interests; you will be impressed. Just don't walk fast or leave any doors open!
Facts about the Indoor Nats this year:
- 21 official Nats events were flown.
- More than 11 unofficial (non-AMA rule book) events were flown.
- The arena was busy from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. for four days of contest flying.
- Events are flown in blocks of time, grouped by weight and classification, so different types of models don't conflict.
These indoor modelers are one of the last bastions of true modelers. Bob Underwood, AMA's Education Director, also feels this way and mentioned it in his presentation at the Indoor banquet.
Indoor modeling practices
Lined up around the indoor football field, full work tables are set up. Constant trimming must take place. Motors must be carefully wound to the correct torque and number of turns to assure the maximum height without running into the ceiling. Any less and the flight will not be long enough to win. Winders that indicate the number of turns in the motor and torque meters are used to assure repeatability. Careful notes are kept of flights, the torque, number of turns, site, etc., to again assure that what worked once has a chance of working again. This is, without a doubt, learned by experience—modeling experience.
Building and rebuilding also takes place at these work tables. The structures are so light that nothing stays in the same position for very long. Prior to every flight, care must be taken to assure all is as it should be. In RC we would call this preflight (for those of us who actually take the time to do one properly). I'd venture to say that if more of us took the time that the Indoor modeler does prior to every flight to assure the correctness of the aircraft, there would be far fewer crashes.
There are no ARFs (Almost Ready to Fly) in Indoor! If you did not build it, you probably won't be able to fly it very well. There is no such thing as "boring holes in the sky" in Indoor. You must work and work to get it right. The reward is a stellar flight, and hopefully first place.
Free Flight in general does not "sport fly." Most of us in Radio Control and Control Line do "sport fly." In Free Flight it is called "test flying." If you can find one Free Flight modeler (indoor or outdoor) who is not a competitor ... he will be soon.
Competition and skill classifications
This is not to say that sport flying is bad. I sure enjoy it, but I enjoy competition too—whether acting as a Contest Director or flying myself. I get the most enjoyment when in a competitive environment. I never win—most times I don't even place well—but I have fun, and that is what it is all about.
In Bob Underwood's presentation to the Indoor banquet he asked, "What can we do to bring more newcomers into our hobby/sport?" Of course, we have all been asking ourselves the same question for some time. (Restricting access to our flying sites is certainly not the way.) This question brought about some discussion. Laurie Barr (England) finally stood up and proposed a handicapping scheme for some contests or certain events. I then realized that Bob had also indicated something along the same lines in conversations I previously had with him. Bob felt that skill classifications were the way to go.
I have to admit that I've never been much of a fan of skill classifications. I've always felt that if you were going to fly an event, fly the event, take your last-places and middle-of-the-packs, learn, and be happy.
Many so-called "beginner" events have quickly been ruined by non-beginners getting into them and pushing the rules as far as they would go. Look at Easy B, 1/2A Mouse Racing, Q-500 Pylon Racing, and many others. All originally developed as a beginner's or entry-level event, they became hotly contested, technically complicated events as soon as the "experts" got into them.
Radio Control Pattern and Helicopter do as good a job keeping this from happening. How do they do it? By skill classification. They restrict the people, not the aircraft, for the most part. No program carries a mandatory advancement to the next class after so many contest placings. No longer do you have the current World Champion flying against someone who has just entered his first contest. The playing field is far more level.
Will this work across the board in all of our events? I don't know. Will it bring in more newcomers to our hobby/sport? I don't know that either, but I think it just might. Are these "entry level" classifications to be flown at large contests and the Nats? A few months ago I might have said no, but that was when I was thinking of making entry-level events again (as Q-500 was supposed to be), not when I'm thinking about restricting the participants (as Pattern and Helicopter do). There are currently rules proposals out there to make this type of system official for Control Line Precision Aerobatics—they have been flown unofficially for years.
Try it locally
What do you think? Let's try this at the local club level and see how well it works in the events that have not traditionally done this type of thing. For those who have been unofficially flying a skill classification for years (Pylon, for example), let's consider it for the Competition Regulations.
Upcoming coverage
Be sure to watch for the Indoor Nats coverage in the October Model Aviation and the Outdoor Nats coverage in the December issue.
Till next time...
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
