Pavel
Pinkas' Holland, IN 04-29-00 to 04-30-00 Contest Launch Report
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| Well Pavel? How did the weekend contest go?
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It was a simultaneous Eden and Purgatory. Wonderful weather, sunny, almost no wind. Green grass, not too high, wonderful people. However, for some reason, nobody was able to put any good flight for a long time. Here are some highlights from different events as I remember it (we've been really busy, I may remember some more when I see photos that Tom took):
Hotel: we've been sleeping in Baymont Inn. It's very good for tourists, but I could not make myself to sand balsa or mix epoxy in such a nice rooms, so next time, we are going back to Red Roof Inn, when I can build with a clear conscience.
D-SRA: D-3 motors proved to be a sure way to "track lost" or "no close" as the height reached by D-3 powered SRs was way beyond the possibilities of the baseline. After numerous hopeless attempts to get a closed track, people were building D-12 SRs in a hurry. CHEDAR-1, known for their greediness, did not purchase D-3 motors ($9.00 per pffft) and came with 300cm D12-3 powered SR, which proved to be a lucky choice. D-SD: Here, D-3 motors were dominating, bringing streamer models to incredible heights. GBU came with a nice coloring idea for streamer (fluorescent pink) which was visible for miles. We do not know the results yet, but I think D-3 powered SD models are on top in every division. CHEDAR-1 flew D12-7 powered model for one 'streamer not unrolled' and one separation. Embarrassing, but we learn from our mistakes.
A-PD: I think everybody was doing great in this event, thermal activity was just wonderful and we've had number of flights way beyond two minutes. Several people flew "fat" models with 10.5mm booster, but thanks to thermals, the size of chute did not made much of difference. Fran Miller put up a 'textbook flight': vellum model with A2-7, beautiful boost, perfect deployment and directly into a thermal.
OSL: Tom (my teammate) learnt something about the launch angles when overshooting the spot by 60m ('you've been right dad, I should angle it less').
Sport flying: we've seen lots of nice sport flights, L-2 attempt, some nice HPR, some cruise missiles whistling horizontally above the parking area and some hard prangs. Tom did lots of sport flying (he seemed to have a big fun with our Silver Comet) and Sunday morning we made first composite flight in the history of Chedar-1. We flew Estes Phoenix on E/15-4 with a loud boost. Phoenix arced over, 4 seconds- no ejection. 6 seconds- no ejection, 8 seconds- no ejection, it was already whistling from the speed when ejection charge finally fired 50ft above the ground. I was surprised that shock cord survived or did not zipper the rocket. I guess, my secret technology just works very well.
Pizza party: Sat night we've got a wonderful pizza party. If I remember it right, pizza was from Papa John's and Chad's mom who bought it there (in a waste amount) told us that when she bought it, they closed the shop for the day. After pizza party we've got back to rocketry, formed 4 teams of judges and started with SpSc event. I've been in team with Gary Miller which was a great experience and I've finally learned how to judge this event (or at least got some starter-kit knowledge). I think every team of judges was put together from one experienced judge and one judge-beginner, which is a great way to propagate this difficult skill. (I was very grateful that Chris Wolf took kids to pool on Sat night, while we were judging SpSc, thus making it possible for me to learn judging and for Tom to enjoy the pool (he was quite afraid to miss the pool because of being busy with the contest)).
SpSc: this event was loaded with some complex models, which made for some spectacular failures. Tracy experienced a big adventure when her model (Black Brant) got into bricklifter thermal and started to drift away. Everybody was very helpful, model was tracked to the landing spot far away and with the help of other peoples and short range radios, Tracy got her rocket back. CHEDAR-1 flew their new bird, ALARM from TLP. Rocket proved to be unstable with 29mm E16-4 reload and power-pranged into ground. It was getting late, but we did not want to go home with a DQ and we quickly decided to perform Q&DR (quick and dirty repair). I must praise Tom for being very supportive and actually pushing me to the rebuild despite late hour (we called my wife hour earlier to tell her that "we are just leaving..."). He added lots of nose weight and prepped the rocket and I made a new motor mount, this time 24mm. We reflew ALARM for a perfect flight with E30-4 and qualified in the SpSc event. (That sweet sound of: "Qualified Flight!" is worth of every trouble).
B-HD: helicopter duration again proved to be a very difficult event to fly. Millers experienced a huge number of misfires on B7 engine before finally launching a BP powered helicopter for 1 minute flight. They've been more lucky next day, when they've got B7 ignited for a 3 minutes flight. Bumbling Brothers landed their helicopter on the back of cow and I do not think they attempted to return their model under such hazardous conditions. Dan flew a flip-flop version of Rose-A-Roc. Model flipped many times, probably in the attempt to use both sides of blades evenly :-) Several other people experienced flipping. Burn strings again paved a way to prangs as models refused to open the blades. Chedar-1 flew a new design (Chopper Charlie) with 13inch folding blades, dropping booster on 4 feet shock cord, which worked just perfect. First flight was nominal because of short delay, second flight thermalled away (we've been chasing it for 20 minutes and it was still going up when we lost it). Tom suggested that we should rename it to "Thermal Rider --- a single use helicopter". We've been thinking about sending up Chicago Chopper with a B-2 booster, but we decided to keep this helicopter. I must admit that I hate to lose helicopters. I do not mind to leave PD or SD models in trees or shattering SuperRocs, but losing a helicopter is a big pain.
It was a tough but beautiful contest. It's always so nice to see all that great sportsmanship, fair play and cooperation. People were helping each other even when they flew in the same division, number of rockets were returned by our opponents and Mary Wolf DQ'ed herself when she found that her streamer model lost a nosecone. CHEDAR-1 got enormous support, advice and help from both GBU and Wolfs. Chad (as a CD) extended flying hours, so everybody could make up for misfires and D-3 SRs lost tracks. This wonderful atmosphere is something to remember and think about.
Drive home was tough. I had to take a nap near Bloomington, but after that I made it home safe. We've got home at 4:30AM, Tom insisted to wakeup my wife so he could tell her: "All qualified, mom!" and then he fell asleep and did not wake up until 11:00AM when I left for office.
Addendums:
| Thanks for the great report Pavel. For D SR, were the
D12-3's ejecting
| at apogee? I would have thought D12-5's would be closer. I may have
| some more questions after digesting it further.
Frankly, I do not know. We've got 243 meters (at the ejection point) on our blackshaft 300cm (150cm of 24mm tubing + lousy transition + 150cm of 18mm tubing, parabolic nosecone, elliptical balsa fins with wanna-be-symmetrical airfoil). Dan flew shorter things, but I do not know what exactly he used (you may want to ask him). I remember our flight, it might not eject at the apogee, but it was going already pretty slow when ejection charge fired. I think, it would arc over before D12-5 ejection.
Some experiences from D-SR are: if you fly blackshaft, use a small chute instead of streamer. Streamers only make SR to descend vertically, making it to go down pretty fast (faster than just tumbling without the streamer).
| Were these considered qualified flights? In the past,
more than 2 (?)
| flips was grounds for DQ, but there was something about this now falling
| under the 'self-penalizing' rule and not DQ'ing.
Yes, these are qualified flights now. I was watching helicopters with a great interest and I've seen all kind of problems with 'standard technologies'. Chad pranged his helicopter because of burn string. Lots of helicopters suffered flipping. We even seen one helicopter shred. On the other hand, helicopters with internal blades and helicopters with dropped fin unit on a longer shockcord worked just perfect. Some people flew Turbo (Thermo?) Copter, which is a helicopter with dropped body and blades from a flexible plastic (isn't this forbidden by Pink Book?) and again: it worked just perfect but no match for the helicopters with real lift-producing blades.
Burn strings proved to be a bad thing in the last MWRC (2 from 3 did not deploy or so) while the blade tabs or blade ring to hold blades seems very reliable.
Lots of people qualified in B-heli with SkyWinder, but you cannot fly that on 1/2A. BTW, SkyWinder uses a blade ring to hold blades.
I'm getting more and more convinced that 'stringed
designs' are superior to 'rigid body' designs as Kevlar string absorbs the
precession, keeping the blades rotating in the same plane without spilling the
lift because of swings.
Pavel