Radio Control Soaring
Darwin Barrie [email protected]
An instructional guide about contest management that all modelers should read
I have not seen much published on contest management. I'd like to provide a few thoughts about running a contest based on firsthand experience as an AMA Contest Director (CD) for more than 25 years. I've had the opportunity to CD more than 40 pylon races, several fun-flys, a couple helicopter events, and many sailplane contests. All contests have unique needs and requirements to make them successful.
A major requirement for a contest to be successful is the commitment of the organization and the involvement of that organization's members. This is important whether the event is a small club contest or a major regional gathering. The best analogy I can provide for the importance of this involves breakfast: when you look at bacon and eggs, the chicken was involved and the pig was committed.
When the decision is made to hold a contest, someone has to step forward and become the leader or CD. If your club has monthly contests it is important to ensure that there are many CDs to prevent burnout. If your club is active in hosting contests I recommend that 10% of the club members obtain CD certifications. The process is painless and adds a line to your AMA membership card.
The next order is to put together a contest committee to break down the necessary elements of the event's needs. The most important goal of any contest is safety. This is the top priority during all processes.
Small vs. large events
With a monthly club contest the CD is often left to his or her imagination to put the event together. Smaller soaring contests can easily be run with two to four people. The only real work before the contest is to apply for an AMA sanction, if desired, and to make sure the equipment is in working order. Setup for a club event may require only one or two winches if it is a Thermal Duration contest.
Larger events such as the Southwest Classic (SWC), Mid South, TNT, Fresno Classic, etc., require considerably more club involvement. This commitment must be made when the decision is made to host a large event. Organizing the contest starts eight or more months ahead of the event date.
As a two-time CD of the SWC and assistant CD for two other contests, I'll run through the process used to organize the SWC, which is sponsored by the Central Arizona Soaring League. This contest is unique in that the venue is not our regular club field. Therefore, there is work to do to secure the site with the owner and ensure that the third-party insurance form is submitted with AMA when the sanction is applied for. As with most club and major events, the date is traditional and locked in for the next year during the current contest.
Committee structure and delegation
One of the most important aspects of contest management is making sure the CD does not try to "do it all," either by choice or need. A large contest cannot and will not be successful if the CD is on an ego trip and makes all the decisions. All decisions about setup, tasks, and other aspects of the contest need to be made by the contest committee. Failure to do this will likely alienate your volunteer pool.
At the SWC we decided, as a group, that we would break down all the responsibilities and assign a task manager for each element. The main position was that of worker coordinator. This person was the pivot for the entire contest.
We broke down all the tasks and assigned a manager for each:
- Registration
- Transmitter impound
- Winches (including training for those operating them)
- Landing zone
- Sponsorship (including vendors)
- Equipment
- Food
- Scoring
- Field layout
- Setup and breakdown
There were dedicated managers for registration, impound, winches, landing zone, sponsorship, and scoring. Other duties were handled by the committee or by whoever was available because they were "one-time" tasks.
Each manager was responsible for obtaining his or her own help and reporting back to the worker coordinator. The worker coordinator put together a matrix of all the help. If a task manager had trouble getting enough help, he or she would assist to fill the slots. During successive club meetings the CD only needed to check progress with each task manager.
This method worked fantastically. The workload was spread out with few issues. At event time, everyone handled his or her tasks and the contest went off without a hitch. The CD was left to handle the inevitable issues that arise during an event.
A workers' raffle was held to give all the volunteers a chance to win a nice prize. The decision was also made to purchase lunch for all workers as a token of appreciation.
Post-event review
A debriefing must be held after the event to review the contest. During this meeting egos must be set aside and a critical analysis of all aspects of the event must be reviewed. What went right? What went wrong? A commitment must be made to change and improve as the committee sees fit. When this is done the event will improve.
SWC 2006 summary
The 18th annual SWC was held February 11–12, 2006, in Queen Creek, Arizona. Participation by class:
- Open: 109 pilots posted scores
- RES (Rudder-Elevator-Spoiler): 41 posted scores
- Two Meter: 18 posted scores
- Youth: 3 posted scores
- Gray Cup class: 21 posted scores
The winners are posted on www.rcsoaring.com. Daryl Perkins repeated as Open-class champion and Joe Wurts took second. The contest was extremely successful. A few lessons were learned, as always, and changes will be made for 2007.
One of the more interesting topics was what the new Kennedy Composites Supra would do in competition. This was the first major contest with the Supras in fairly wide circulation. Joe Wurts finished second flying one, but that's an unfair evaluation since Joe will do well with almost anything.
The Supra launches as well as anything I've seen. Pilots praise it for thermal signaling and landing ease. The Supra will certainly be a force in the months to come.
The Sharon was also popular, as usual, and did well in the standings. Daryl flew his Insanity. Rumor has it that this may—well, you'll have to wait.
Incidents and conditions
There were two models that flew into wires. One did so Friday during practice and caused a power outage to more than 20,000 people. The next day there was a repeat performance that took down three wires and caused another power outage. Another airplane hit the wires Saturday while the power was still out. In both cases the models were destroyed by fire.
The light winds were from an uncharacteristic direction, causing pilots to get far downwind and have to scratch to get back. There were many off-field landings this year as well.
Upcoming events
The International Hand Launch Glider Festival is coming June 3–4, 2006, in Poway, California. This is one of the most fun events I've ever attended. The competition is fierce, but the social atmosphere is a major plus.
Every aspect of hand-launch competition is explored at this event. There is light lift in the mornings and potentially windy afternoons, requiring pilots to adapt with their airplanes and techniques. More information is available at www.torreypinesgulls.org/GullWings2006-03.pdf.
Aircraft notes — Van's RV-7
I have received many e-mails regarding my Van's RV-7 and its status. At the time of this writing I have more than 50 hours on it and have been to California three times. My first flight to California was to pick up Bill Malvey for the SWC. We transported his NYX and gear without much problem in a fraction of the time it would have taken him to drive.
During the required 40-hour FAA flyoff I continued to do work on the airplane. The wheel pants were added, as were the landing gear airfoil fairings and the fairings at the intersections of the fuselage and wheel pants. A clean airplane is a more efficient airplane. By adding the fairings I gained more than 20 knots of airspeed.
Additionally, the engine ran cooler and, most important, the airplane got much better fuel economy. I did some calculated speed runs flying at 8,000 feet at full throttle. I flew east/west/north/south legs and averaged the speeds. The average came out to 176 knots — up from 154 knots without the fairings.
How does this relate to soaring? It shows that every effort should be made to make our model sailplanes as aerodynamically clean as possible. As long as the process does not add too much additional weight, the effort should be made to clean things up.
Closing
As the contest season warms up, please send me photos and contest results of your events. Also continue to send your thoughts and ideas for discussion. Next time I'll continue the discussion of thermal technique and landing procedures.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
