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aeajr
477 Posts |
 Posted - 11/14/2010 : 3:29:18 PM
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Eastern Soaring League Newsletter – November 2010
2011 OFFICERS AND STAFF
President – Josh Glaab
Secretary/Treasurer – David Beach
Scorekeeper – Luis Bustamante
Contest Coordinator - Jose Bruzual
Web Master and Publisher – Jose Bruzual
Quartermaster – Steve Lucke
Newsletter Editor – Ed Anderson
Hand Launch Director – Doug Harnish
FROM THE EDITOR – Ed Anderson
As President for 2009 and 2010 I would like to thank all the ESL officers and staff for their hard work this past two years. I would also like to thank all the ESL Contest Directors and the members. The ESL is all about you, and you made it fun being President of such a wonderful organization. I look forward to seeing you at the contests.
I would like to offer my best wishes to Josh Glaab who takes over as President for 2011. As a past ESL President Josh will have some unique insights about the history of the ESL and where it is today. The League could not be in better hands
I continue as Newsletter Editor, so you will still hear from me from time to time. I hope to provide you with a Newsletter that has content value that you will find worth your time. But I can’t do it alone, so please continue to provide photos, contest reports, articles and other input that the rest of the league will value. A quick e-mail is all it takes. Send anything you have to Ed Anderson, aeajr@optonline.net . If you find an article on-line or other link that you think others would like to see, send me the link and I will include it in the “Found on the Web” section.
This will be the final Newsletter of 2010 and it is a big one at 25 pages. We have the end of season minutes, contest reports, photos and articles by ESL members. We also have a survey about the most popular planes in the ESL.
Be sure to take note of the changes in the ESL rules in respect to the calendar, the hand launched/F3K division geography and the fact that we will have two EOS business meetings next year, one per division.
For me 2010 was a great season. I can’t wait for the 2011 season to start.
FROM THE PRESIDENT – Josh Glaab
First, I need to say thanks to Ed Anderson for his fine job of being ESL President for the last several years. I think Ed has really helped boost interest in the ESL, both within the ESL region as well as beyond, and has accomplished a lot regarding Novices and encouraging them to come out and try the ESL. Most excellent job Ed! Second, I want to say that I am excited to the ESL President for my second term in this office. My first term was about 17 years ago, back in the early 90s, way before I became a proud father. It is interesting to approach the office of ESL President from two very different points in my life, and two very different points for the ESL with different people contributing to the league.
I also need to say that 2010 was one of the most enjoyable ESL seasons I can recall. There have been many enjoyable years in the past, but 2010 was impressive for several reasons. One reason was the significant change in competition format. We went from a situation where most contests were flying Man-On-Man with random flight groups, to running seeded MOM for just about all of the contests. The switch in competition format has sparked some increased interest in the competition, both from the competitors perhaps as well as from our wives and spectators. It seemed like Joanne Bustamante, Dawn Huffman, Vera Griffeth were on-hand for all of the competitions and running the scoring and PA system. Donna Strommer and Ceelie Cochrell also helped out a lot. Tony Guide and Pete Schlitzkus have been incredible with maintaining the winches and the never-tiring Steve Lucke along with Pete have done much of the winch transportation this year. Steve has also been incredible with helping setup the winches for just about all the competitions. Many thanks to Pete, Tony, and Steve!! Please forgive me if I missed mentioning someone who has contributed here, the take away point is that we have a great group helping us out and adding to the positive atmosphere of ESL competitions.
Over the last couple of years, there have been some ideas evolving in my head regarding the ESL an TD scoring in general, and I hope to help the league continue to be a great experience for all levels of pilots and to grow. One issue already addressed with Jim Deck (LSF Secretary) is the LSF point system for ESL contests. There is little chance of having 20 Sportsflyers in any ESL contest, and as a result combining Sportsfleyrs' and Experts' scores is essential for LSF points. There is no meaningful way to combine split-class normalized scores, especially for LSF points. What has been agreed to is to use raw scores (minutes+seconds+measured landing score) to calculate LSF points. The ESL officials are working to develop the scoring software to readily provide these scores to those who need them for LSF scores.
In addition to the LSF scores, I have some ideas regarding normalized landings that will be included in this ESL newsletter. Before getting too wrapped-around the details, the method I am proposing is called the “Constant-Delta Normalized Landing Method”. In a nutshell, it employs a landing normalized with the flight scores in which the resulting landing score is scaled by the flight time to yield a constant delta in round scores between two pilots with the same flight time, one with a maximum landing, one with no landing. This eliminates the extremely large delta inherent to normalizing a fixed landing score with short flight times. As far as pilot strategy goes, it should be almost the same as it with non-normalized landings. However, one thing to consider is that with any normalized landing task, a pilot can maximize his round score without hitting a landing tape at all making our competitions more of a “soaring” event vs “landing” event. This is not true for non-normalized landings where a pilot has to have the best flight time AND have a good landing.
I encourage you to contact me and let me know what you all think. I would really like to hear from you. I am very excited to be the ESL President and look forward to a great season in 2011!
Eastern Soaring League Minutes – October 9th, 2010
Prepared by David Beach
From the ESL Forum http://www.flyesl.org/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=412
Note that the 2011 contests schedule recorded in the minutes was only the proposed schedule. Jose Bruzual, the ESL Contest Director is working on the final schedule.
The annual meeting of the Eastern Soaring League was called to order at 4:00
PM by President Ed Anderson on October 9th, 2010 at the Daniel Boone
Homestead in Birdsboro, PA. Approximately 35 members were in attendance.
Ed started by thanking everyone involved for a great 2010 season. He noted that
unfortunately contest participation was down significantly from last year.
Participation in Thermal Duration contests was down about 25%, while the Hand
Launch division registrations were down almost 40%. A lot of the Hand Launch
decrease was attributed to fact that the Polecat contest was not held, and the
North Carolina F3K Team USA selection meet was not an ESL contest due to
scheduling conflicts.
Officer and Staff Reports
Secretary’s report - A motion was made to accept the 2009 minutes as published
on the ESL web site. The motion passed.
Treasurer’s report by David Beach - An estimated calendar year summary was presented as follows:
Actual Starting Balance: $5,547.31
Expenses: $3,089.44
Income: $2,851.75
Final Balance: $5,309.62
Net change: -$273.69
Summary of major items by category:
Income:
Sanction Fees:
TD 716
HLG 186
ESL (Non-club) TD Contests:
Mid 661 (actual net)
EOS 800 (est. net)
Expenses:
Overall awards
TD 242 (est.)
HLG 242 (est.)
PA System 541 (includes cost of return shipping of Doug’s PA used at
Web Site 415 (includes cost of 5-year domain name registration)
Winch maint. 1152 **
** This does not include the 2009 expense of $712 for the 2010 season. If
included the total for winch maintenance for 2010 would be $1864.
A motion to accept the Treasurer’s report was made, seconded, and passed.
Scorekeeper’s report by Luis Bustamante – Special thanks were given to the
scoring volunteers for all contests, in particular Vera, JoAnn, Donna, and Dawn.
Luis also thanked David Beach for his development of new scoring software
which has been used with success in running seeded man-on-man events. One
of Luis’s goals for 2011 is to provide more detailed scoring information on the
ESL website following each contest.
Quartermaster’s report by Steve Lucke – Thanks were given by Steve to
everyone involved in transportation and maintenance of the ESL launch
equipment. The launch batteries are holding up well and should support the
2011 contest season. We expect to end the season with eight rolls of unused
winch line, and more will be ordered before next season. David Beach
suggested the use of quick-connect battery plugs on ESL winches and will
investigate their possible use.
Winchmaster’s report by Tony Guide – Tony mentioned the significant upkeep
required of the winches this year. A suggestion was made to standardize the
drums on all ESL winches.
Webmaster’s report by Anker Berg-Sonne – Anker explained that Jose was
unable to attend but Jose had provided him with the following information.
Comments regarding the ESL website should be emailed directly to Jose rather
than discussed on RCGroups. Jose is aware that the help link on the website is
not working and will be resolved soon. It was also mentioned that ESL members
needing access to the ESL Mailing List (talk@flyesl.org) contact Jose directly.
Members requesting access to the ESL Forums should also contact Jose.
Contest Coordinator’s report by Anker Berg-Sonne – Anker presented the
following proposed schedule for 2011 which he received from Jose.
May 21/22 HRSF/BRASS (TD)
May 28/29 Memorial weekend (30th actual holiday)
Jun 04/08 BASS (HL)
Jun 11/12 SKSS (TD)
Jun 18/19 available (Father’s day)
Jun 25/26 LISF I (TD)
Jul 02/03 4th of July 4th actual holiday)
Jul 09/10 CRRC-HL (HL)
Jul 10/11 AMA (Nos & RES)
Jul 12/13 AMA (2M TD)
Jul 14/15 AMA (Unli. TD)
Jul 16/17 AMA (F3J & F3K)
Jul 23/24 DBSF (TD) – tentative check with Steve Lucke
Jul 30/31 LISF-HL (HL)
Aug 13/14 CRRC (TD)
Aug 20/21 CASA-HL (HL)
Aug 27/28 ESL Mid-S (TD)
Sep 03/04 Labor Day W (5th actual holiday)
Sep 10/11 CASA (TD)
Sep 17/18 available
Sep 24/25 LISF II (TD)
Oct 01/02 SKSS (HL)
Oct 08/09 EOS TD (TD) 10th Columbus day
Oct 15/16 EOS HL (HL)
The changes discussed were to move the May 21/22 contest one week earlier to
May 14/15, and tentatively move the CRRC HL contest from Jul 9/10 to Jun
18/19. We may cancel the CRRC HL contest due to lack of a CD/organizer.
HLG Director’s Report by Doug Harnish – Doug spoke to the group regarding the
decline in ESL Hand Launch contest participation this year. Polecat was a
historically large contest, but was not held this year. Also, the F3K Qualifying
contest in Wilson, NC was not an ESL contest due to a schedule conflict. Doug
hoped that the rule changes he would be proposing later in the meeting would
increase ESL Hand Launch participation next year. He also encouraged
everyone present to attend the Hand Launch End-Of-Season contest in
Hagerstown, MD next weekend.
Newsletter Editor’s Report by Ed Anderson – Ed encouraged all ESL members to
consider contributing to the newsletter. A suggestion was made from the floor to
have the newsletter published in PDF format.
ESL Historian’s Report by Anker Berg-Sonne. Anker reported that no significant
progress has been made on documenting the history of the ESL. He offered to
step down as historian, but was encouraged not to give up.
Nomination and Election of Officers and Staff for 2010
President:
A nomination for Ed Anderson was received, accepted, and seconded.
A nomination for Josh Glaab was received, accepted, and seconded.
Following Josh’s nomination, Ed Anderson withdrew.
Josh Glaab was elected via a show of hands.
The remaining positions were unopposed and re-elected via voice vote:
Secretary-Treasurer David Beach
Score Keeper Luis Bustamante/Anker Berg-Sonne
Contest Coordinator/Web publisher Jose E. Bruzual
HLG director Douglas L. Harnish
Quartermaster Steve Lucky
Newsletter Editor Ed Anderson
ESL Historian Anker Berg-Sonne
Proposals from the floor:
Doug Harnish proposed a motion to amend the rules to eliminate restrictions on
having HL and TD contests on the same weekend. This motion will also
propose to eliminate and requirements for skipped weekends in the calendar
other to avoid conflict with the NATS or other major events, as determined by the
board. The effect will be to greatly increase the number of available dates when
HL and TD contests can be scheduled. Following discussion, the proposal was
accepted by a show of hands.
Doug Harnish proposed a motion to expand the operating area of ESL Hand
Launched division to include all states East of the Mississippi. Again this will give
opportunity for growth of the organization to serve more clubs and pilots. The TD
area is not included in this motion. Following discussion, the proposal was
accepted by a show of hands.
Ed Anderson made the following proposal which was discussed and accepted by a show of hands:
Motion to reorganize the Eastern Soaring League End of Season Meeting
to recognize that the ESL operates in three parts
• Overall League Management
• Hand Launch Division
• Thermal Duration Division
By reorganizing the meeting we gain flexibility for each portion of the
League to recognize problems and opportunities and take action on those
that are specific to that part of the League.
1) ESL League End of Season Meeting and Reports - Concerned with
topics and issues common to both divisions including League goals and
objectives, League strategy, overall finances, contest calendar,
participation reports and overall League operations including the election
of League officers. These reports and topics should be included as part of
the division meetings so that the divisions are fully informed.
2) TD End of Season Division Meeting - Concerned with topics that are
specific to the TD division including revenues and expenses related to the
TD division, rules and related topics and the election of a TD Division
Director.
3) HL End of Season Division Meeting - Concerned with topics that are
specific to the HL division including revenues and expenses related to HL,
rules and related topics including the election of a HL Division Director.
These three meetings can occur together or separately as time and
opportunity dictate. Any conflicts or opportunities that cross divisions will
be brought to the League Officers for resolution or action.
Another suggestion from the floor was to encourage CD’s to include anticipated
time boundaries for their contests when listing them on the ESL registration
system. (In particular the request was to note items such as “no new round will
be started after 2PM on Sunday).
The meeting was adjourned at 5:17 PM.
continued: |
Best regards,
Ed Anderson
Long Island Silent Flyers
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Edited by - aeajr on 08/01/2011 5:20:53 PM |
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aeajr
477 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2010 : 3:30:06 PM
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GETTING THE 2011 CONTEST SCHEDULE READY
Jose Bruzual – Contest Coordinator
I would like to remind CDs for established contests to send me confirmation for next year, and for potential contest with their preferred dates to contact me as well
If there are any initiatives outside of the process described above, I would need to be contacted directly. jebnet@bruzual.com
Final ESL 2010 TD Standings – Luis Bustamante
The results from the EOS contest and the final standings have been posted to the web site. 2010 was an amazingly competitive season with a number of contests coming down to the last group of the last round before the winner could be decided. Not surprisingly the final championship results were incredibly close and highlight a very high performance level by many pilots. How is this for a competitive league?
• You win a contest and your lowest score is a 94.71. Not a bad season. Well, that’s only good enough for 10th place!
• You win three contests, yes, three contests, yet you finish the season in 8th place. Incredible!
• You win a contest and your lowest score is 97.58. That should be good enough for a very high place. Right? Wrong! How about 7th place?
• Your lowest score is a 99.08. Now, that must be really close to the top of the list! No such luck. 6th place for you.
• You win 5 contests and your sixth score is a 99.83. You won the championship… Right? … not quite. You finished 2nd by .01 points! That’s correct 1/100 of a point. Yes, Mike Lachowski clinched the championship on Saturday by scoring a 99.84. This score topped Josh Glaab’s lowest score of 99.83 by 1/100 of a point.
What exactly is 1/100 of a point, you ask? Well, The best way to answer this question is to illustrate how this scenario would have changed. If Leszek, the winner of the Saturday contest, had scored 1 more landing point, Josh Glaab would today be your Expert Champion. If Mike Lachowski had scored just 1 less point in any of his 8 landings, Josh Glaab would again be your champion!
How is that for close? One landing point decided who the 2010 ESL Expert champion is. Congratulations Mike Lachowski! You certainly earned it. Congratulations to you too, Josh. In my eyes, you too are a champion.
The Sportsman side was too quite a battle with David Ashinsky and Preston Heller exchanging the top spot throughout the year. Going into the EOS contest, David Ashinsky was in first place. After the Saturday contest, Preston was on top. On Sunday, Dave retook the top spot just in time to become the 2010 ESL Sportsman champion. Why do I get the feeling that if the season was longer these two would be slugging it out to the very end? Congratulations, Dave and Preston. Welcome to the Expert ranks. I am sure your skills and determination will give the experts fits over the coming years.
One last acknowledgement. Yesterday we recognized Fritz Bien as the most improved ESL pilot in 2010. I failed to point out to Ed Anderson that Preston Heller had tied Fritz Bien for the top spot. Congratulations Preston! We all can see that your flying has dramatically improved.
The 2010 ESL season was full of very high level performances and very close competition. Yet, all this high performance occurred in an atmosphere of fun and friendship that is very rare competitive leagues. It was my pleasure to have worked and flown with each and every one of you.
Have a wonderful winter and I hope to see you again next year at the first ESL contest of 2011. I’m sure we will all be very hungry by then for the intense level of competition and camaraderie we experienced this year.
Constant-Delta Normalized Landing Method – by Josh Glaab
There are two main methods for scoring landings. One tacks-on the landing scores after the flight times are normalized and the other adds the flight times to the landing points before normalizing scores. The benefit of the non-normalized landing method is that landings are always worth the same round score no matter how long the flight was. But there are two drawbacks to the non-normalized landing method. One drawback is that the landings do not account for large changes in landing conditions, due to ground-thermals, or wind-changes, etc. While it is true that all have to land a landing each round, that round could span 60 minutes and conditions can change significantly during that time. We normalize flight times to accommodate for changes in thermal activity (due to changes in the atmosphere), it would seem reasonable to do the same for landings.
Another drawback of the non-normalized landings is that you have to hit a landing to maximize your round score. No matter how many minutes a flyer may beat the rest of his flight group, if the winning pilot does not score well in the landing circle, his score will not be near the max round score. Another scenario is when nobody in a group can get back to the landing due to scratching out time in poor conditions. Even though the pilot that flew the longest, and landed on the field, was the best pilot for that round, his round score would still be penalized by not having any landing points. As a result, he will lose points to other pilots that do hit the landing in other flight groups that have good thermal conditions and easy landing approaches. Non-normalized landings also preclude a scenario where a pilot could decide to continue to work very light lift, and sacrifice a landing attempt, to have a maximum round score. In this sense, a pilot could out-soar the competition and overcome other pilot's landing points. This would be more in-line with a "soaring" event and make it less of a "landing" contest.
One drawback of the normalized landing task is that the landings have a variable effect on your round score. Note that your round score is what results from whatever normalization/addition process is being used for each round. For example, let's consider two pilots. Pilot A gets a perfect 10:00 flight and a 99 point measured landing (out of 100 points). Pilot B also gets a 10:00 flight, but completely misses his landing. Note here that the term "measured landing" is what the pilot reads on the spot landing tape. The result would be that Pilot A gets a 1000 point (max score) round, and Pilot B would get an 858 round. The difference between the two round scores would be 142 points! That is 42 points more than a 100 point customary non-normalized landing score. In the non-normalized scoring method, Pilot A would get a 1099 and Pilot B would get a 1000. It gets even more severe for short flights. For this example, consider a 5-minute flight time for both Pilots. Pilot A would still get a 1,000 point score, but Pilot B would get a 752. The landing that Pilot A made would be worth a 248 point delta compared to Pilot B!
What is required is a landing task that would provide an order of magnitude improvement in the time-frame used for comparing landings. As stated previously, the current time-frame used to consider all landing conditions constant is the length of time that the round takes to complete (app 60 minutes). As a result, this requirement specifies that the prevailing landing conditions be reflected in the landing scores at least every 6 minutes, which would account for frontal-type wind-shifts. Two orders of magnitude would be desirable (every .6 minutes) to attempt to account for ground thermals. In addition, another requirement is to enable a pilot to maximize his round score while not getting ANY landing points and out-soar the competition.
My proposal would change the normalized landing tasks to effectively replicate a non-normalized landing result for pilots who have identical flight times. It accomplishes this by scaling the landing score by the flight time by a specified amount. Pilots would still read the landing tape (measured landing), as they do now and report that score, but the resulting landing points would be calculated based on the flight time and the amount of round score that a CD wants to allocate for landings. The resulting landing points would then be added to the flight time for the normalization process to calculate round scores.
To explain this more, consider a case where a CD wants to have the maximum round scores due to landings be worth 100 round points. In this case, the difference in round scores for two pilots, one with a perfect landing and the other without any landing score, would be 100 round points. To accomplish this, the maximum landing score would be calculated by multiplying flight time by 6.666/minute (or .11111/sec). For a 1 minute flight, the landing would only be worth 6.6666 points. For a 10 minute flight, the landing would be worth 66.666 points. For another example, a 5 minute flight would subsequently have a max landing score of 33.333 points. The maximum landing score would then be multiplied by the ratio of the pilots’ measured landing to the maximum measured landing (i.e. an 80 pt landing would be 80% of a 100 pt max landing tape).
Consider the example pilots from above again. For a 10-minute flight, Pilot A would get 600 flight points, then he would get 66.666*(99/100)=65.999 landing points. His combined flight and landing score would be 665.999. Pilot B would get a combined flight and landing score of 600. The normalized round scores would be 1000 for Pilot A, and 900.90 for Pilot B. If Pilot A got a 100-pt measured landing, then Pilot B would get a 900 point round score. This preserves the current 100 point delta provided by the typical 100-pt non-normalized landing method. Proceeding further to consider the 5-minute flight example, Pilot A would get 300 flight points and only 5*6.666*99/100=32.9997 landing points for a combined score of 332.9997. Pilot B would get a combined flight and landing score of 300 (recall Pilot B did not hit the landing tape at all). The resulting round scores would be 1000 for Pilot A and 900.90 for Pilot B. Again, the maximum round score delta due to the landing would be 100 points.
Now consider a situation where Pilot A gets 8 minutes with a 90 point measured landing. In this situation, Pilot A would get 8*6.6666*90/100 = 47.9995 points. Pilot B could maximize his round score by flying for 8 minutes PLUS another 47.9995 (48) seconds. This would allow pilots to win the round AND maximize their round scores without getting any land points at all! Consider another situation, Pilot A begins his landing approach at the target time and is confronted by a severe ground thermal. Pilot A manages a 4 point (out of 100) measure landing. Everyone else in Pilot A's flight group miss the landing completely due to the turbulent landing conditions. Pilot A would still max his round score. If all of the Pilots in Pilot A's flight group got perfect 10 minute flights, then Pilot A would get a 1000. All the other pilots would 995.57 point round scores.
For another scoring example, consider a case where both pilots get the same landing score, but significantly different flight times. Pilot A gets a 8 minute flight with a 50 pt measured landing, Pilot B gets a 10 minute flight, also with a 50 pt measured landing. Pilot A would get 480 flight points plus 6.6666*8*(50/100)=26.666 landing points for a total of 506.666 points. Pilot B would get 600 flight points plus 6.6666*10*(50/100)=33.333 landing points for a total of 633.333 points. Pilot A's round score would be 799.999. Pilot B's round score would be 1000. In the non-normalized landing method, Pilot A's round score would be 850, Pilot B's round score would be 1050. It is interesting that the round score delta between the two flights is 200 points for both scoring methods.
Going further, one could consider the landing tape itself. Contest Directors (CDs) could make a landing tape with 50 increments and vary the size of the increments. If you only have 50 increments, the landing score would be computed slightly differently than above. The measure landing score (let's say 48 out of 50 points for a 10 minute flight) would be 10*6.6666*48/50=63.999 points for a 10-minute flight. CD's could also elect to have landings only worth 50 round score points. In this case, instead of multiplying the flight times by 6.6666 to get the max landing score, 3.3333 would be used instead. Varying the length of the increments could be used to adjust the complexion of the contest. Larger increments would favor precise touch-down times. Shorter increments, would favor landing precision.
One minor drawback to this method is that the resulting round score would not quite be based on 1 point per second flight time due to the effect flight time has on the landing score. However, considering a 10 minute task, a pilot would have to be more than 6 seconds off of his flight time to see his landing decreased by 1%.
For those of you who have your heads spinning with all this math, please relax and take deep breath. We haven’t even broke out the calculus yet (just kidding)! The pilots’ objective is still the same as with a non-normalized landing: max the flight, get the landing. But, keep an eye on the competition, if all are down (or almost down) you could maximize your round score without any landing points by flying longer. Since landings are scaled by flight time, the time needed to out-soar your competitors landing is less for shorter flights. It is also true that you don’t have to really stress over a landing for a short flight since again, the landings are scaled with flight time. If a CD calls for a small delta in round scores due to landings (say 50 points) the emphasis will be on precise timing and less on precision landings. If a sudden-wind shift/ground-thermal hits the group on approach and all have bad landings, recall that the landings are normalized and that your round score will be Ok and you are on an equal footing with those who have great landing conditions.
Before the advent of computers being used for scoring, this method would simply not be possible. Now, however, even the most minimum computer would do the calculations in microseconds. To implement effectively, however, the resulting round score sheet needs to be updated to show flight time, measured landing, calculated landing score, combined flight score, and resulting normalized round score to help all get familiar with the system.
The proposal defined herein satisfies the requirements previously stated to account for significant changes in landing conditions and moves the competition away from being a "landing contest" to be more of a "soaring event". I think this method is worth strong consideration as well as test drive, and I know just the contest to do that (HRSF/BRASS on 5/14 and 5/15/2011)!
Please send me your thoughts and comments! My e-mail is louis.j.glaab@nasa.gov
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Best regards,
Ed Anderson
Long Island Silent Flyers
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Edited by - aeajr on 11/14/2010 3:39:51 PM |
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aeajr
477 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2010 : 3:31:01 PM
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SUNDAY AT CASA IS ON THE LINE – LUIS BUISAMANTE
So, here we are. The previous round was a bloodbath. 3 out of the top 5 experts, including the top 2, tumbled to the bottom of the standings. It is now the final round of the contest and the top 5 pilots are flying against each other. The read from the winches was an easy one and all five pilots are making the full 9 minute task.
Josh is in first place and will be landing first.
Reto trails Josh by 12 points and will land second.
Luis is in third place 4 points behind Reto.
Tony is in 4th, trailing Luis by just 19 points.
Phil is nipping on Tony's heels just 4 points behind.
It comes down to the Landing!! There are 50 points available on the tape. The tension is palpable at the landing area! How will it end? Do we really look this silly when we are landing? :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PQR7bMlWg
Thanks Leszek for the fine video work.
Image Insert:
56.45 KB
CASA 2010 - Photo courtesy of Peter Schlitzkus
More photos from the CASA Contest courtesy Duane Beck
http://picasaweb.google.com/duane.beck/CASAOpen2010#
The 2010 End of Season Contest at Daniel Boone - Steve Lucke
Before I get started I need to thank Joanne Bustamante, Dawn Huffman and Donna Strommer for all the help they provided us in the scorer’s tent for both Saturday and Sunday. The work Donna, Dawn and Joann does for us allows for more ESL members to fully participate in the contest and makes it a much better run contest then if we just did the scoring ourselves.
I also have to mention the work Dave Beach has done in coming up with a new scoring program for us. Dave has spent countless hours writing code, which would cost thousands of dollars in the open market, for a new program that makes scoring easier and allows for a great deal more scoring information to be mined by Luis Bustamante, our ace scorekeeper.
Finally, I don’t know where we would have been without Tony Guide taking care of the winches and performing emergency surgery on the field to keep the little buggars spinning. I’m pretty sure he rebuilt at least one on the Friday before the contest, at the field no less, if not two.
The 2010 ESL End of Season Contest was superbly well run by the ESL members. I saw everybody helping out at the winch line, timing, fixing lines and doing all the little things necessary to make a contest run smoothly and on pace. A great effort guys!
On Friday Oct. 8th we must have had about 12 or 13 fliers at the field for practice. We had winches set up and we were flying our open ships with lots of landing practice going on as well as general TD flying. In addition we used Friday to set up 6 winches, with number 6 to be used as a pop off winch, for Saturday and Sunday’s contest. (The winch lines were approximately 600 feet with 290 pound test line.) We also set up at least 6 landing zones, using the 100 inch tapes Tom Brosky made for us.
On Saturday morning we were ready to go with a pilot’s meeting at a little before 9, and I think we got the contest started just about 9 AM. The winds were a bit cross to the winch lines but this did not present any real difficulties. We had 9 Sportsman and 24 experts for Saturday.
As most of you know the reigning sailplane on the ESL TD circuit is the Supra and there was a bunch at the EOS. In addition there were Explorers, Perfects, a Tsunami, several Super Avas, a Mantis, an Aspire and probably a few other kinds I’m missing. The one plane I was very impressed with was the Icon 2 Tom Brosky flew, this was a model Darryl Perkins flew at the F3j WCs earlier in the year. This new version of the Icon 2 is an exceptionally capable sailplane, and even though they are extremely expensive, I would not be surprised to see them starting to pop up next year.
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ESL EOS TD 2010 Photo courtesy of Peter Schlitzkus
The weather cooperated extremely well for us for all three days and we were blessed with sun, a little bit of wind and mostly good lift conditions. We squeezed in 8 rounds for the Saturday contest. We did fly a seeded man on man format for both contest days.
In the Sportsman group we had Dave Ashinsky flying a Super Ava, for the most part, finish in third place. Dave’s class score was 98.21. In second was Gary Bolash at 98.67 flying a Mantis wing on a pretty Mantis fuse. (This is still a very good sailplane and certainly explains why they are hard to come by as a ‘for sale’ item.)
In first place was Preston Heller flying a beautiful big Explorer. Preston earned the win the hard way as the seeded MOM format forces you to fly against the best in your class in every round.
In Expert, it was a dog fight. In 6th place flying a Supra Pro was Erich Schlitzkus with a class score of 98.75. In 5th was Phil Barnes flying his own bagged wing built Supra with a class score of 99.23. In 4th place was Neal Huffman flying a Supra Comp with a score of 99.34. In 3rd was Michael Lachowski flying a Supra Pro with a score of 99.84. In second was Reto Fiolka flying a Satori with a score of 99.86. And in first place, flying a close to 80 ounce Explorer was, Leszka Zyga.
On Sunday we flew 7 rounds. A good total for a Sunday.
We had six Sportsmen for Sunday so we decided to go with a 6 man flight group for the Sportsman. Preston must have annoyed Dave Ashinsky (just kidding guys) as Dave put on a dominating performance to win the class with Ed Anderson coming in second and Preston coming in third.
In the Experts group it was another dog fight with 21 total fliers. Leszka finished 7th with a class score of 98.12, Phil Barnes finished 6th with a score of 98.45, Tony Guide finished 5th with a score of 98.55, Mike Lachowski finished 4th with a score of 99.02, Luis Bustimante finished third at 99.11. Neal Huffman finished second at 99.58 and Josh Glaab finished first flying his Supra Pro. As on Saturday the contest was not won till the last round and it took a very good landing to do it.
I was very impressed by the flying and landing skills I saw from the top guys in Expert on both days.
A final word, the EOS trophies were supplied by John Marion. The plaques were laser cut with an actual sailplane inscribed on the plaque. I thought they were the nicest awards we have seen at the EOS contest.
Everybody have a great off season!!
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Best regards,
Ed Anderson
Long Island Silent Flyers
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Edited by - aeajr on 11/14/2010 3:46:20 PM |
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aeajr
477 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2010 : 3:31:38 PM
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ESL END OF SEASON HAND LAUNCHED/F3K CONTEST REPORT - Compiled by Ed Anderson
There was no formal EOS contest report posted for the Hand Launched/F3K end of season contest. But we can’t let the HL division go unrepresented in the Newsletter so I am going to do something a little different.
There was an extremely active discussion going on an RC Groups with hundreds of posts by some of our ESL pilots. So I thought I would let some of the pilots speak for the contest. These were compiled from that thread, with minor editing. You can find the discussion thread here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1278456&highlight=harnish
Final standings can be found here: http://www.flyesl.com/scores/scoreCon.asp?vnr=Sunday&vfn=30
Note that there were 22 pilots registered for the contest weekend. However weather reports of high winds may have helped to shrink the number who showed to about half of that number. You will get a feel for the contest as you read the reports.
Doug Harnish – Saturday Report - Well, we finished the first day of the EOS contest and I almost destroyed two airplanes. The first one folded on a hard throw just as a huge gust of wind hit the field. Thank goodness I was near the end of a round. I quickly ballasted my second ship and did a trim flight. Everything seemed ok, but I soon discovered the charging plug was not fully in its hole.
Needles to say I found out the hard way, there was just enough for a quick trim flight and about 15 seconds of the next round. Of course as soon as I was downwind over the trees the airplane started making uncontrolled loops and the only thing I could do was watch my now free flight glider do several stunning IMAC worthy aerobatic maneuvers.
Naturally the glider found its way to a nice soft landing at the top of a tree! about 100 feet in the woods. Thank goodness Phil was again able to come to the rescue. Now it is bed time but the folded wing is in the bag with a heat blanked and the dead battery plane is on a nice slow charge over night.
Everyone please cross your fingers for less wind tomorrow and wish us luck.
Jim Cokonis. – Saturday Report - Just got home from day one. This is after a run to the Texas Road House for dinner (we had twelve total make the trip and bear the hour wait for a table) and then a trip to Shane's house to witness some repairs. "That guy" repaired a stab and Shane and Doug were still working on re-bagging a wing that Doug folded on a launch.
The conditions were brutal today. Lots of tree landings, off fields and carnage. Ed launched into his own hat. I will let him explain. I tore the rudder off my Light Hawk and my Stobel today. The light hawk was just before we suspended, the turbulence was SICK at times.
I threw down a three and was trying to fly out the clock on a second flight. I was caught in killer sink and turbulence and stuck the nose through the plastic flight line guard fence. It rejected me onto my tail for a cleanly separated rudder and a zero flight. Dangit! Both were repaired at the field and flying today.
There were massive lift cycles and major suck at the field today. It was fun, frustrating and the hardest conditions this Sportsman has ever flown in competition. The only thing we were missing compared to the TS contest was the rain and cloud cover, IMO.
Kevin Sharbonda Sunday Report - Home now! Thanks guys had lots of fun and food was fun too! No more windy songs as of now! The most treed ships of any contest I've ever been the privilege to watch! Lots of carnage too. Only scars to show and no pilots were injured during this post!
Had a blast guys! Thanks to all who helped me out in the woods. I managed to tree my plane twice in back to back rounds. Not to mention I ditched my primary in a cornfield on the back side of the tree line during the warm up of the first round. But I managed to get my repairs done last evening, and came out ready to brawl today. I didn't post the highest of the scores today (only one 1000), but I stayed as close to Phil as I could possibly muster. Jim, glad you’re moving up with me. Now we can team up to pick on the others.
Great season guys, looking forward to next year.
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ESL EOS HAND LAUNCHED/F3K - Photo Courtesy of John Jenks
Ed Anderson – Two Day Report – I knew it would be windy. I had ballast in the XP-5, the battery was fully charged. Range check was good.
Took a few practice throws on the XP-5 and all looked good.
Round 1 - First launch - Nothing great.
Second launch - take the steps, start the turn ...
There are many ways to break a DLG in wind.
* you can tip strike
* you can twist the tip due to turbulence
* you can hit the guy next to you
* and a variety of other things.
But I, a most creative DLG pilot, have invented a new one.
So, we pick up our pilot in the middle of his turn. He is looking up into the sky to be sure there are no planes in the way. He is looking for signs of lift, hopeful of a good flight.
What he is not looking for is the super gust of wind that blew the hat off his head and carried it right into the tail of the XP-5, just as it is coming around the back of the launch.
When a straw hat, size 7 3/8, purchased in the Dominican Republic, becomes airborne, flying on a 20+ mph gust and contacts the tail of a Polecat XP-5 mid launch we have a less than optimal situation. Some might say actually a bad situation.
You can ask Brian Padovini as the aforementioned XP-5, now minus the front part of the h-stab mount left the hand of the pilot and immediately went into a low hyperbolic trajectory just past Brian's ear and went hard into the turf.
Result is a broken tail, broken stab mount and a broken pod. No animals or DLG pilots were injured in the execution of this exciting launch.
OK ... what now?
Run for the back-up plane ... right? Well, not exactly.
You see the back-up plane, the night before was sitting in the bathroom of the Best Western Motel to facilitate the mounting of the electronics, push rods and to be balanced.
That means the plane had not been flown, and the radio set-up was not done.
So I went to the corn fields (remember children of the corn?) and began to chant. This brought the winds up to such a level that Doug and John had to stop the contest before I was due up for round 2 group B.
So now I am feverishly trying to sort out the radio settings, charge the battery and all that kind of stuff while we have 15 to 25 mph winds.
Once I get it all sorted out ... back to the corn for more chanting.
Winds drop to around 7 mph. Perfect for maiden throws of a DLG, sorta.
So the contest restarts 2 hours later. It is round 2 Group B and I walk out to the field, not missing a round, to make my first full power launch on the Blaster.
HAT! LOSE THE HAT! OMG I almost did it again. (Experience is that thing that allows you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.)
So the hat gets changed, the DLG gets launched and I fly two days with a glider that has never been trimmed or flown in neutral air.
I finished two days of flying and had a great time! I missed last place on Saturday, but I tied it up on Sunday. Dead last but finished.
John Jenks and Doug Harnish did a great job running the contest under difficult conditions.
Brian managed to duck my "special" launch and win sportsman on Sunday and top Sportsman for the season.
And my calves are screaming at me for launching two days into strong winds. Being a TD pilot most of the time, they are not used to all this spinning and launching stuff.
This, all in the name of fun!
Clear skies and safe flying! And wear a hat with a chin strap in wind over 5 mph.
Jim Cokonis. – Sunday Report - What a blast this weekend was. It was really nice to have a contest at our field. Thanks to everyone that came out to support the contest. John Jenks, it was the first time I have met you and want to thank you for coming out to CD the contest. You said you have not been out much recently. I hope you had fun. You certainly proved you can still dole out a hurtin on the flight group! I knew I should have held that one flight....
As far as trees, and "carnage" let me say this. The amazing thing, even with the planes in trees, was that all of them came back and were either still flyable or repaired easily. To me, as a newer DLG pilot, it was high carnage because for the first time ever, I damaged two of my gliders. Aside from a midair at Wilson (happens, field repair and keep going) I have not broken anything flying. To lose two rudders in one day was a new peak for me!
The conditions were challenging and the field was cycling for sure. It was awesome to see some of the flying that happened this weekend. I saw people disappear BEHIND trees only to find a breath of life and still make time!. I saw Shane work back from the "Sea of Despair" TWICE in one flight where he was only feet away from a walk and a climb........IN THE SAME FLIGHT! Phil once again put on a great clinic. He came out of today with a perfect score after a drop. Oh, and that drop was a high 9xx something. Nice flying sir. I was tied with you after the first round, then all I was seeing was tail fins!
Brian "that guy" Padovini was able to keep in gun range the best today. Nice flying Brian. No more Sportsmen for you! I am already looking forward to getting into next season. We are going to have a blast. It would be great to team up more next year. I enjoyed flying with you this year.
Ed, (the ENTIRE LISF team this year) I hope you had fun at our field. You seemed like you were having a good time. I know you came down in part as Pres of the League. I hope you are not a stranger in HL in the future. That was a wild ride with the Blaster there in round seven today. Thanks for coming down to represent.
To those that did not make it or left, we missed you all. Have a great winter and we will see you next year.
I had a blast this year. It was my first year doing this glider thing. I want to thank everyone that helped me out, listened to my questions and crazy ideas and gave me tips. I learned a lot this year but I know I am only scratching the surface. Looking forward to getting back to class next year.
Michael Lachowski makes the US F3B Team
Based on Mike’s posts on the ESL Forums
I'm back from Team Selections in Cal Valley. And to my surprise, I made the team again. I flew the Cyril for the contest and Reto and Glauco Lago helped out as team members. When all the dust and tumbleweeds settled and the tarantulas crawled back out, I finished third after Kyle Paulson and David Klein who had been practicing hard along with Tom Kiesling.
I'm still waiting for my equipment to make it home to finish up the three week journey of packing, shipping, flying, packing, shipping...... For a team of 3 it was about 500 lbs of equipment and that didn't count the winch batteries. But that was easy compared to the next trip.
There is a correction to the scores. Tom Kiesling finished 4th at team selections, not Daryl.
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Best regards,
Ed Anderson
Long Island Silent Flyers
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Edited by - aeajr on 11/24/2010 08:16:30 AM |
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aeajr
477 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2010 : 3:32:14 PM
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LISF ONE DESIGN BUILD AND CONTEST – Ed Anderson
LISF is about to start a group build over the winter. We are in NY so some of our members don't fly over the winter. So let's make it building season.
Most of the OD build and contests I have read about are based on 2M entry level models like the Gentle Lady, Vista or the Easy Glider. These are inexpensive but what I am told is, after the contest, they become hanger queens. We wanted to avoid that, so we are going to base our OD on a 3M glider.
The chosen model will be the Bird of Time which can be built from plans, from an inexpensive kit sold by Tower Hobbies, or you can buy the ARF. Even non-builders can join the fun.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXYXJ8&P=7
While our club has many winches, we are going to make this a hi-start launched contest in order to take away any advantage that anyone might have through improvements to the spar or wing rod as compared to the earlier built kits or the ARF. As a result we are going to allow a great deal of latitude in the build.
You can read about it on our club forum here:
http://www.lisfsoar.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=balsa&action=display&thread=103
or on RCG here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1331363
So far we know of six who will be joining the build. For many of these this will be their first build and their first 3M glider. We have also opened this to surrounding clubs for any who are interested in joining the project or the One Design contest.
This should spark some great "show and tell" at the meetings, generate interest in building, and get a few more people into contest flying their gliders. We hope to pick up more builders over the winter.
AFTER THE OD CONTEST
We are going to allow a significant amount of latitude in modifications to make the BOT lighter, stronger or more easily transported. These won't buy you much on a hi-start launch but will make the planes much more winchable after the contest.
The goal is that this plane should not become a hanger queen. It was chosen because people will want to fly it. Once finished, with some allowed modifications, the pilot should have a beautiful 3M sailplane that can be flown for sport and which is very well suited for the monthly club RES contests or the monthly club unlimited contest. We allow winch or HS launches for all club contests.
If they choose to carbon cap the spar and add spoilers they should even be able to compete in the ESL contests, in the Sportsman class, and place well. Many of our club members have won ESL contests with RES gliders.
The goal is to get more people flying pure gliders, teach more people how to build and teach more people how to use a hi-start. And ultimately many will have their first taste of contest flying.
If it all goes well, we should have some new Novice or Sportsman pilots at our ESL contests in 2011. Hopefully we will darken the sky with the beautiful profile of the Bird of Time.
Thank you Dave Thornburg for such a beautiful glider.
This should be fun!
SURVEY - WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR GLIDERS BEING FLOWN IN THE EASTERN SOARING LEAGUE?
This survey was sent out on the ESL mailing list three times. We received 57 responses. I found the results pretty interesting.
In TD, full house, the clear favorite is the Supra with 45.9% of the vote. That does not include the Supra Pro which got 8.1%. In second place we find the Mantis with 16.2%
In TD, RES, the AVA took 33.3% for top choice. Tied for second with 14.3% each was the Bubble Dancer, Ava Pro and the Super AVA.
In F3K, DLG, we had a clear winner with the Polecat XP series taking 40.9% of the vote. The Taboo and the Blaster each took 13.9%
TD Full House - Pick only one - What is your primary aileron or FH glider for ESL TD contests? If yours is not on the list select other and write yours into the response box. If you don't fly FH gliders in the ESL, skip this question.
Response
Percent Response
Count
Evolution 0.0% 0
Mantis 16.2% 6
Aegea 2.7% 1
Pike Perfect 8.1% 3
Pike Superior 0.0% 0
Graphite 2.7% 1
Graphite 2 0.0% 0
Icon 0.0% 0
Icon 2 0.0% 0
Shadow 5.4% 2
Tsunami 0.0% 0
Supra 45.9% 17
Supra Pro 8.1% 3
Experience 2.7% 1
Xplorer 5.4% 2
Artemis 0.0% 0
Aspire 0.0% 0
High End 2.7% 1
Zenith 0.0% 0
Satori 0.0% 0
Espada 0.0% 0
Other 15
TD RES - Pick One - What is your primary RES plane if you fly RES gliders in ESL contests. If yours is not on the list select other and write yours into the response box. If you don't fly RES gliders in the ESL, skip this question.
Ava 33.3% 7
Ava Pro 14.3% 3
Big Bird 4.8% 1
Bird of Time 0.0% 0
Paragon 4.8% 1
Bubble Dancer 14.3% 3
Magic 0.0% 0
Marauder 0.0% 0
Merlyn 0.0% 0
Mirage 0.0% 0
Skybird 0.0% 0
Topaz 9.5% 2
Topas S or S2 0.0% 0
Super Ava 14.3% 3
Super AVA Pro 4.8% 1
Soprano 0.0% 0
Danny 0.0% 0
OTHER 7
Hand Launch - Pick One - What is your primary hand launched glider for flying in ESL contests? If yours is not on the list select other and write yours into the response box. If you don't fly HL, skip this question.
Response
Percent Response
Count
Blaster 13.6% 3
Blaster 2 9.1% 2
Fireworks 0.0% 0
Lighthawk 4.5% 1
Light Speed 0.0% 0
Stobel 0.0% 0
Super Gee 9.1% 2
Super Gee 2 9.1% 2
Taboo 13.6% 3
Polecat XP series 40.9% 9
Vandal 0.0% 0
Edge 0.0% 0
Zone 0.0% 0
Steigeisen 0.0% 0
TopSky 0.0% 0
Tabooish 0.0% 0
Other 14
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Best regards,
Ed Anderson
Long Island Silent Flyers
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Edited by - aeajr on 12/20/2010 6:13:35 PM |
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aeajr
477 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2010 : 3:33:57 PM
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FOUND ON THE WEB
The November 2010 issue of RC Soaring Digest is now available for
downloading from the RCSD web site – FREE!
http://www.rcsoaringdigest.com
TV COVERAGE OF THE F3J WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Submitted by Peter Schlitzkus
http://www.king5.com/on-tv/evening-magazine/radio-controlled-gliders-sport-106984288.html
GLIDER IN THE MIST – Nice Photo
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15752127/displaymode/1107/s/2/framenumber/2/
Thermal Soaring Article - This is actually for full scale pilots. There is an exam outline at the start, but get past that to the discussion on thermal soaring and I think you will find value.
https://ntc.cap.af.mil/ops/DOT/school/NCPSC/GliderNCPSC/CAPF_5_glider/soaringtechniques.htm
USING CARBON TO REINFORCE WOOD SPARS
If you are building a wood glider you may wish to consider adding some carbon to the spar.
How to and what to use documents.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15821719&postcount=9
Adding Carbon to Wood Spars
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16336122&postcount=97
A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON SET-UP AND TUNING YOUR GLIDER
http://www.orlandobuzzards.org/?page_id=469
Video of DLG Launch - Watch the flex in the boom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlp3Rv4uZBA&feature=related
FULL SCALE GLIDER YOU CAN PUT IN YOUR CAR
Self launching option too!
http://www.flylight.co.uk/gliding/index.htm - click on the Gliding tab
SCORING FORMATS
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1316275
Stick launching a glider
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11180613&postcount=89
EXAMPLES OF SPOILER LINKAGES http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=955499
ESL SHIRTS, SWEATSHIRTS AND MORE
ESL logo items can be ordered from Cafepress. They have t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs and mouse pads. If you would like to show off the League logo, you can order whatever you like. There is no minimum order. T-shirts start at $9 and sweatshirts start at $33. http://www.cafepress.com/FlyESL
HERE TO SERVE YOU
I hope you have enjoyed the ESL Newsletter. Send your notes, photos, compliments or complaints to Ed Anderson, ESL Newsletter Editor, at aeajr@optonline.net
If anyone would like to become involved in the Newsletter please let me know. I wouldn’t mind a Co-Editor. Or, if you are a graphics or format guru and would like to spice up the appearance, I would welcome the assistance.
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Best regards,
Ed Anderson
Long Island Silent Flyers
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Edited by - aeajr on 11/14/2010 3:39:06 PM |
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ESL NEWSLETTER - NOVEMBER 2010
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