2009 Competition Reports and Results

ESSA F3F Competition 11th October - Long Man W Slope

Report by John Phillips

Well the day did not look too promising, as when I left home it was raining with very little wind. I pulled up at Long Man car park to see no car I recognised, oh good I can go home.

No there was a model being put together at the far end of the car park, so out I jump in to the rain and walk other to this chap. John Stiles it was a guest to fly the comp.
Anyway ten minutes or so later five others had turned up and the rain had stopped so off up the hill we went. The course was set up on the west face of the Long Man bowl and by 10 we were under way.

The decision was to fly three rounds at a go to save time, as landing here can be a long trek. Best three from six rounds flown going to make up your score.
It was clear Gary was on top form and made good use of a course that suited his style. No one had any mishaps to my knowledge and we were finished by 12:00.

So as you can see Gary was in a class of his own with the rest of us playing catch-up.
Fastest time of the day went to Gary with a 41.70.

Good to see Colin having a go even with his Zagi, not the easiest plane to fly as I found out when I borrowed it for the aerobatics some weeks earlier.... Jon Stiles an old club member (and soon to rejoin) had a go and didn’t disgrace himself. We missed some regulars which was a shame but with the weather at the start of the day good at least we managed to get a comp in.

Click on the image to see photos of the competition

Aerobatic Competition 13th September 2009 - Butts Lane N Slope

Report by Julian Perrott

We adopted a new schedule this year which wil form the basis for the competition next year as well with a few changes. The schedule was designed to be 60% simple 40% complicated (and a few % impossible!).

The schedule was:

1 – Big circles (Big Circuits) - From a starting point in front of the pilot and judges, fly a right hand circuit (in a circle) arriving back at the starting point (both height and direction) followed by another to the left. Both circuits should be a consistent arc of a circle and should maintain a consistent height.

2 – 2 consecutive stall turns

3 – Big loop across slope

4 – Slow roll across slope

5 – Square loop across slope

6 – Double Humpty Bumpty – Flying across slope make ¼ loop, climb vertical and still with airspeed pull a half loop fly vertically down, on the way down roll 90 degrees and finally make a ¼ loop again exiting at the same height as entry. Repeat on other side of slope. NOTE all elevator movements should be positive, none of the turns should be invverted.

7 – Inverted loop - Flying at speed inverted pull a loop using negative elevator, exit the loop at the same height and inverted.

8 – Inverted pass (minimum of 3 seconds inverted)

9 – Cuban eight - starting at height, dive at 45 degrees and level out to starting height (low’ish) with speed this is where the manoeuvre starts, pull up into part loop for 225 degrees until diving again at 45 degrees, roll 180 degrees in this dive, pull up into loop for 270 degrees until diving at 45 degrees, roll 180 degrees and level out at starting point.

10 – Tailslide - These manoeuvres involve bringing the airplane to a complete stop in a vertical attitude and then sliding back a visible amount. The airplane must then tip over and fall through a vertical down position.

11 – Rolling circuit (rolling turn) - This manoeuvre combines a turn with rolls. The plane has to maintain a constant roll rate, constant turn rate and constant altitude throughout the rolling turn. A minimum of 4 rolls must be performed

7 Pilots took part, the North slope of Butts producing pretty consistant lift which meant all pilots were presented with conditions that enabled a full schedule to be flown. It was nice to see an new club member competing, welcome to Jason!

There were 11 manoeuvres judged by 3 judges with a maximum of 10 points per judge per manoeuvre (giving a maximum score of (11 x 10 x 3) = 330

Many thanks to all who helped and took part, lets hope we can continue to build on this format next year!

Final positions were:

Fun Fly 23rd August 2009 - Long Man, South...

Very bad wind direction for the Long Man, but we had some fun! there were 3 disciplines, Loops in a minute, Rolls in a minute and Limbo in 2 minutes, also 5 bonus points were awarded for catching a plane after rolls or loops (max bonus of 5 points), this led to some humerous moments!

Therse results do not make up part of the South Down Trophy.

Cross Country Competition 3rd May 2009 - Long Man W Slope

Report by Julian Perrott

This year it was decided to change format slightly. With the advantage of having a thermic Westerly we set up 6 markers that got progressively further away from the front of the slope. Marker 6 being about 400 meters away from take off.

10 points were awarded for each marker reached (the model having to go ''behind' them), a land out meant no more scoring!

The second flag was also used as the turn behind marker, no time limit was imposed on the pilot and a maximum of 10 complete 360 degree turns could be completed at one attempt for an additional 10 points.

No spot landing was used but 5 points were awarded for landing without damage!

We had 9 pilots attending with a wide selection of models from rudder elevator thermal planes to foam wings. The conditions meant that it was generally a case of finding some front side lift, hooking into a thermal and flying back from the slope face to the markers. I was rather hoping that marker 6 would be a bit more challenging and require some considerable skill to reach but the conditions were so favourable that it was tough but by no means impossible.

Many thanks to all who helped and took part, lets hope we can continue to build on this format next year!

Final positions were:

Click on the image to see photos of the competition