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Last Updated on Saturday, 29 May 2010 16:46

MRCSS Radian Soaring Contest

Calling all ParkZone Radian owners and the rest of us who want some easy electric glider fun. Our first annual Radian contest and fun fly will be held this Saturday, May 29, starting at 10:00 at Jirik sod farm, Farmington MN. Anyone, member or not, is welcome to participate. If you have a Radian bring it. If you don't, the club has two planes all gassed up and ready for your use at the championship. First relay launches no later than 10:20AM, so don't be late!

Contest format will be simplicity itself. Contest is open to stock Radian planes with 3s LiPo power source only. We'll form a relay with as many people flying as we have Radian models. Pilots will be called to the line for their one minute prep period. On a shout from the referee (probably me) pilots will launch their planes under electric power for 10 seconds. At the next shout from the referee, all throttles will be closed and the remainder of the flight will be gliding/soaring only.

As each pilot lands, he (or she) will call out to the official timer (again, probably me) and his landing time will be recorded by the timer. After the last plane lands (or 10 minutes, which ever is first) the relay will end.  Flight time in seconds will be normalized at 600 points based on the pilot(s) who land last or stay airborne past 10 minutes.

The scoring will be based on the honor system. If a pilot has to advance the throttle at any time after the first 10 seconds of flight, he should call out to the timer, and his flight time will end then for point total purposes.

A landing target will be provided. Any plane with a final resting place such that any part of the plane is within 20' of the landing target will also receive a 50 point accuracy landing bonus to their time adjusted flight point total if they land within 11 minutes of the start of that relay. In essence, if you max out the flight time at 10 minutes, you have 1 minute extra within which to claim the extra landing bonus. After that time, the landing bonus does not apply. Thus, each relay can result in a maximum of 650 points. If a pilot maxs out the 10 minute flight window, and then advances his throttle in an attempt to close on the landing target before the 11 minute time period, he forfeits the accuracy landing bonus.

Second relay will be formed with the club planes and any others borrowed from club members who did bring their own planes, and flown as with relay one.

Relays will continue such that every pilot will fly at least four relays each.  

The contest as a whole ought not to take more than two and a half hours. Winners will be based on point total. Awards, if any, will be given out immediately following the final tally of point totals. Chips and pop will be provided to attendees. Fun fly will take place after the contest awards. Winch and Hi-Start owners are encouraged to bring their items out onto the field at this time.

I also encourage you to bring out new people to try their hand at flying using the club Radians. If any members have a JR/Spektrum buddy cord, I request that you bring them so we can use the club transmitters in "buddy box" mode, and provide some supervised hands on flying.

In case of bad weather, the following Sunday will be the back-up contest day. I will post an e-mail to the MRCSS message list by 8:45AM Saturday morning if the contest is canceled, otherwise call or show up. Radians don't fly well in high winds, so watch out for notice of cancellation even if it appears to be a blue-bird day.

Steve Jantscher