Focus on Competition
Technical Director Steve Kaluf
It's cross-proposal time! The proposals printed here are cross proposals to the basic proposals already submitted that have passed the initial vote. There are not very many this go-around (that should be considered a good thing).
Cross proposals are an alternative means of accomplishing the objectives of a basic proposal already submitted. A cross proposal may not be used to introduce new rules changes or to reintroduce proposals that were defeated in the initial ballot.
What should you do? Review the cross proposals printed here. If you fly any of the events they affect, contact your district Contest Board member for that event and let him or her know what you think.
AMA Headquarters will send ballots out to the Contest Boards in October, and they must be returned by December 1. If a cross proposal passes, it replaces the original basic proposal in the final vote early next year.
If you have any questions about the cross-proposal process, please give us a call.
We just finished the 2003 National Aeromodeling Championships. What a month! There will be much more printed in the December issue, so I'll not say much here except to sincerely thank all of our volunteers and staff who make it happen year after year. These folks work 10–14 hour days so that the competitors may fly.
So to Ron Morgan, Brenda Schuette, Al Williamson, Wayne Yeager, Abram Van Dover, all the event directors, workers, maintenance staff, my Competitions staff, and everyone else I'm leaving out — thank you!
Another huge event just finished on-site: the 2003 IRCHA Helicopter Jamboree. What a success, with 379 registered pilots, 12 flight stations, roughly 25 hobby vendors, and hundreds of flights. As of Saturday morning more than 700 flights had already been flown, and Saturday was the biggest day, so you can imagine how many more were flown on Saturday and Sunday.
I'm pretty sure that the Jamboree is now the largest fly-in taking place in the U.S. It is without a doubt the largest gathering of model helicopters in the world. I can't begin to imagine how many helicopters were there — maybe someone has that statistic and will report on it. I know I had a great time. My hat is off to Ron Kummer and the International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association for a job well done!
Last, but certainly not least, Maynard Hill and his STAR team did it! They flew across the Atlantic Ocean. They launched on August 10 from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, Canada, and 38 hours and 52 minutes later the 11-pound aircraft was landed on Mannin Beach, County Galway, Ireland by AMA President Dave Brown. What a huge accomplishment.
If homologated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), this will set two world records: duration of 38 hours, 52 minutes, and distance of 1,888.3 miles. By the time you read this, we will have seen the dossier for the record attempts and sent it on to FAI. More details may be found in "On the Fly" in this issue or on our website. Congratulations to Maynard Hill and the entire STAR team!
' Til next time ... MA
2005 Control Line Speed Cross Proposals
- CLS-05-3CP1 — 1/2A Speed Events. Introduce standard 10% nitro fuel.
- Leave fuel mixture open for engines of less than .0504 cubic inch displacement.
- Change line length of 1/2A Proto from "42 ft." to "46 ft. 8 in." (page 33), and change distance of timed course from "1/2 mile, 10 laps" to "1/2 mile, 9 laps" (page 38).
- Change line length of 1/2A from "47 ft. 5-5/8 in." to "52 ft. 6 in." (page 33), and change distance of timed course from "5 laps" to "1/2 mile, 8 laps" (page 38).
- Submitted by: Warren Kurth, AMA 13489
2005 Control Line General Cross Proposals
Note from the Technical Director: The following proposal, if passed, would seem to allow control of the model by means other than direct control through attached lines or electrical signals sent over the lines (i.e., it would seem to allow radio control of a Control Line model). This cannot be allowed. No RF energy may be radiated by a system used in a Control Line model. If this proposal is passed, appropriate wording will have to be developed to clarify this issue.
No continuation of "Focus on Competition - 2003/11" appears on this scanned page.
- CLG-05-1CP1. Change the last sentence of paragraph 2, General of the Control Line rules, Page 28 of the 2001 Competition Regulations from:
- "Such manipulation of control surfaces may be accomplished by either mechanical means or by electrical impulses transmitted through the line(s)."
- To:
- "Such manipulation of control surfaces, and any other of the model's operational features, may be accomplished by mechanical means, by electrical impulses sent up the line(s), or by any other control system that does not interfere with Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) authorized events."
- Submitted by: William Boss, AMA 19701
- CLG-05-1CP2. To further clarify wording of proposal CLG-05-1.
- Add to end of paragraph 2, page 28: "No pilot induced control of any aircraft function is allowed except via the control lines while the model is in flight."
- Underlined words are those added to original proposal CLG-05-1 which has passed in previous form.
- Submitted by: Tom Dixon, AMA 1028
2005 Radio Control Aerobatics Cross Proposals
- RCA-05-03CP1 — Page 69, paragraph 4.2, second-to-last sentence.
- Delete phrase "however, such deletion must be published in the advance of the event date". The letter of this rule is routinely violated by contest directors (CDs) as most do not have sound equipment available and the noise level of today's aircraft is far quieter than when this rule was written.
- Page 71, paragraph 9.
- Change third sentence to read: "Once this number has been announced, this is the exact number of flights that should be flown." Changing "must" to "should" in this paragraph provides for CD discretion based on unforeseeable circumstances which rulebooks cannot anticipate.
- Page 71, paragraph 10.3.
- Delete the sentence in the middle of the paragraph: "The contestants may, at their option, elect to refly the entire flight."
- Delete the second-to-last sentence: "Maneuver scores prior to the collision will not be used if the contestant chooses to refly the entire flight."
- Standard procedure today is to pick up where you left off.
- Page 72, paragraph 14.
- Third sentence change to read: "The boundaries of the maneuvering area shall be marked by the placement of surface lines of white or contrasting color originating at the pilot's position and, where possible depending on local conditions and topography, the placement of vertical poles at the center position and 60 degrees right and left on a line approximately 150 meters in front of the pilot."
- Pilots today expect to have visible surface lines, not just poles, as lines are always visible to the pilot while poles are not.
- Page 74, paragraph 20.7.
- In the second sentence delete the phrase "It is suggested that" and change the sentence to read: "Each maneuver will be scored immediately after it is performed." One cannot do it any other way and have a meaningful score.
- Submitted by: John Fuqua, AMA 5955
2005 Radio Control Scale Cross Proposals
- SCA-05-04CP1. Change the order of two flight maneuvers. This will make the flying program more seamless and also allow scale freestyle landings at the end of the program.
- Submitted by: Brian Stewart, AMA 618578
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
