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Fly2High
70 Posts |
 Posted - 01/11/2007 : 12:54:07 PM
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I have noticed that many pilots are really enjoying flying in hand launch competitions. One of the interesting things I find is that you are required to do more than one thing per round.
I was wondering if something like this could be adopted for our unlimited thermal duration conpetitions.
For example, lets say a window is offered but it is made say 1-2 min longer than the actual sum total flight time. Also let's say that you will need to complete 2 durations for that round. It could be 2 the same (7 and 7) or one short and the other longer (6 and 12) or what ever.
The extra time in the window would allow for a pilot to go from the landing zone back to the winches. Landing points might count for both flights.
I think this might be an interesting concept to develop. Yes, it has some bugs and we might need to fly with retrievers but this will help to eliminate the 'I had a bad round' comments and it will introduce the need to use the current flight to maximize the subsequent flights. This could still be flown man on man. Maybe since the first guy is giving feedback of where to fly or not to fly based on their performance the window time should not start until the last guy launches. think about it. If 3 guys go up before you and each go in three different directions, they are telling the last guy about the air they are all in. If they are all doing bad, the 4th guy would know to try the last 1/4th of the sky and might do better just because he/she is last.
Also I might suggest letting them launch as often as the window allows or limit it to a fixed number of launches per window.
This could get real interesting. You will now need to read the air for this flight as well as the next!! It would add the possibility for time to read the air you are currently faced with as well.
What do you think?? Can we make this work? How? I think it could add a new fascet to Thermal Duration.
Frank Nisita |
Edited by - Fly2High on 01/11/2007 12:55:21 PM |
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Fly2High
70 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2007 : 3:37:32 PM
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Someone suggested to me that if we were to do this as an open winch, you might be able to do a multitask round.
The way one could run it would be to tell a heat that they have a duration of time, say 1/2 hr to complete a 10 min and a 15 min duration. This would leave 5 mins to return to the winches, repair if a prob. occurs or line break and read the air.
With this senario, air reading skills will be tested. could add something more to contests.
What do you think???
Frank |
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aeajr
477 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2007 : 09:00:56 AM
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Interesting idea.
One of the main differences between DLG events and winch launched events is the limitation of launching opportunities with the winches.
With DLG you can launch 30 times in 10 minutes. This is not practical with winch launching both from a plane manipulation point of view and from a winch availability point of view.
Not trying to kill the idea, just raising a point so that it can be discussed.
I think the idea of two tasks per round, or the opportunity to launch twice in, say a 15 minute window, might be interesting but more than that could be a problem as a back-up/traffic jam at the winches, mid round could be a disaster for the pilots. Likewise, a broken winch could invalidate the round if people could not launch.
And, this type of format would require retrivers be used to get the launch lines back. Some clubs do not use retrivers.
All things can be worked out, but how would you propose to address these.
I am always open to new ideas.
Best regards,
Ed Anderson
ESL Content Editor
aeajr on the forums |
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Dave Walter
18 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 6:52:14 PM
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Ed brings up a good point. It's hard to run an event where you depend on the winches working properly (which is why man-on-man takes a lot of attention to detail).
But we have done the following at past contests: require the pilot to fly 3 tasks, for example 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 9 minutes, but in any order. It somewhat reduces the effects of bad air in a single round. It also leads to some interesting decisions when you're in borderline air... do I go for another two minutes, or do I land and take the shorter time? It's a little more difficult to score, you have note the target time for each pilot.
Dave
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aeajr
477 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 8:00:23 PM
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I like the idea of different length tasks and choosing which you are doing is fun but, of course you can't score them man on man that way.
Best regards,
Ed Anderson
ESL Content Editor
aeajr on the forums |
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Fly2High
70 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2007 : 2:52:49 PM
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Dave,
That's one point that is lost in the current single flight round - deciding to stay or go for the longer round. Even if it has to be a longer round or lose the window time or what ever makes it work, I would like to add air reading somehow into the equation. Knowing how to fly is one thing but knowing when to bale, to stay or to launch would be another.
I am only looking for a way to spice things up, if there is any interest to do so. Don't get me wrong, I like to fly the rounds as is. On the other hand, I really love the excitement generated at DLG contests due to the multiple flight format per round. When I was looking into the tasks for LISF's hlg contest, I tried to see what things were being tested by each type of task. My desire was to try to see if other aspects of flying, I don't pretend to know even 1/2 of them, could be tested, how to test them and whether they should be tested. Air reading I felt is lost in a man on man round where you have to launch when told to. It does force you to be able to milk even the lightest lift but it is a disadvantage to those flying older or heavier planes and some might call this a 'who spent the most' or 'has the newest plane' contest.
I was only trying to spice things up, increase the skills needed to compete and maybe even get some dedicated DLGers who might have left TD to come back.
Only trying to help....
Frank N. |
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New Thermal Duration Task
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