Focus on Competition - 2003/06
Technical Director
Steve Kaluf [email protected]
CLEANUP TIME! It seems like every year about this time we need to let you know the disposition of several urgent or safety-related rules change proposals. So, here we go.
The first is a proposal for Radio Control (RC) Aerobatics (Pattern). The RC Aerobatics Contest Board has determined that this proposal warrants immediate action, but no immediate enforcement. Approximately four weeks after publication of this proposal the Contest Board will be taking a vote to ratify the proposal. If ratified, the proposal will go into effect in January 2004. Please submit any comments you have regarding the proposal to your district RC Aerobatics Contest Board member.
Brief summary of the proposed change
- Remove published schedules from the rule book and institute a process that allows for changing maneuver schedules more frequently than afforded by the AMA three-year rule cycle.
Exact wording proposed for the rulebook
- a. Move the current landing (page 82) and takeoff (page 86) descriptions from the rulebook and insert at page 78 immediately following "Loop/Roll Combinations."
- b. Delete paragraphs 15, 16, 17, and 18 and replace with the following:
"15. Schedule Change Process. The schedules for the Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced and Masters classes will be periodically changed. During the current year (year A), the NSRCA Board of Directors will direct a membership survey to propose new schedules for the following year (year B). The proposed schedules will be submitted to AMA for RC Aerobatics Contest Board approval no later than 1 September of year A. Proposed schedules will be published in the NSRCA Newsletter and placed on the NSRCA website no later than 1 October of year A prior to the effective date. The schedules will become official when approved by the AMA RC Aerobatics Contest Board and published in the February Edition of Model Aviation Magazine or placed on the AMA Competitions website. Schedules will be effective on 1 January of year B following the posting/publication.
- Development of Schedules. All schedules will be derived from the published list of maneuvers contained within Section F of the Judges Guide. The following guidelines will be used in preparing new schedules. Number of maneuvers will include takeoff and landing with all airborne sequences beginning with a center upwind maneuver and ending on a center upwind maneuver prior to landing.
- Reserved
- Reserved"
- c. Delete the contents of paragraph E, Description of Maneuvers of the AMA RC Pattern Judges' Guide beginning on page 78 from "Avalanche, Upright or Inverted" through page 88 "Two half rolls in Opposite Directions."
- d. Add to page 78 a new Section F. List of Approved Maneuvers, immediately after the Loop/Roll Combination paragraph.
"F. List of Approved Maneuvers. The following list of approved maneuvers will be used to create the schedules for Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced and Masters classes. (Please note: The 'List of Approved Maneuvers' is not published here because of the extreme length of the document. The complete text is available upon request from AMA HQ.)"
Logic behind proposed change (intent and shortcomings of present rules)
The three-year rulebook cycle does not allow the degree of flexibility needed to periodically update and revise maneuver schedules for AMA classes. FAI changes schedules every two years and IMAC changes every year. This change would allow the flexibility to change—or not change—maneuver schedules periodically without being bound by the AMA three-year cycle.
Under the current cycle, before incoming schedules have even been flown in competition, new maneuver schedules must be proposed for publication two-and-a-half years hence. One primary objection NSRCA had against the three-year cycle was the inability to change schedules more frequently. This proposal remedies that situation by providing flexibility to change schedules periodically while retaining a defined set of maneuvers approved by the Contest Board. The AMA Executive Council requires final approval of all schedules by the AMA RC Aerobatics Contest Board. Such approval would not be tied to the three-year cycle and could be done in any given year.
Submitted by John Fuqua, AMA 5955
Two other proposals, previously published, have been voted on. The proposal to allow composite propellers in Quarter 40 (Event 422) has passed and is now in effect. Additionally, the safety proposal to modify the Scale Helicopter rules (primarily pilot position) has been ratified and is, and will stay, in effect.
We have four other urgent proposals we are currently dealing with. These were published in either the February or March issues. The respective Contest Board is in the process of doing a ratification vote on each of these. The votes will be complete by the time you read this, so feel free to call if you'd like to know the result of any of the ballots.
Registration for the 2003 National Aeromodeling Championships continues; it appears we will have about the same number of entrants as in 2002—approximately 1,300.
We are now very close to the start of the Indoor Free Flight part of the Nats. This special event will once again take place at the Mini Dome at East Tennessee State University. If you've never seen Indoor Free Flight, it's worth the trip. This is modeling in its purest sense. Of course, the outdoor events start in late June this year at AMA HQ. We hope you are making plans to attend!
Till next time ... SK
* Allows for exiting and reentering box once during sequence
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
