Author: Mike Riggs
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/05
Page Numbers: 97,98,99
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Let's go to a contest

by Mike Riggs [email protected]

With the 2012 season upon us, a brief description of an out-of-town contest experience seems to be in order.

Here in National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics (NSRCA) District 8, going to a contest from my home in Boise, Idaho, involves driving at least 300 miles. I take Friday off from my day job for travel, practice, and socializing.

The plan goes into motion the weekend before the contest. Inviting the family along is always a polite gesture that they never seem to take me up on.

Next is practice. I need at least one after-work practice session before making the trip to identify areas I’ll be asked for help with during the contest weekend.

In general the (after work) week lays out like this: Monday is chore night, Tuesday is practice, Wednesday is yard work, Thursday I pack, and Friday I travel. So far the only money spent has been to fill the beverage cooler. If I’m lucky, my wife fills the cooler using grocery funds. Wink!

Friday at 7 a.m. it’s time to roll. To stretch time between stops, I don’t eat or drink until I stop for brunch. Traveling west I gain an hour, so I eat brunch instead of lunch after roughly 150 miles are in the rearview mirror. This generally costs about $10.

After brunch, it’s back on the road for an hour or two before stopping for gas. Based on paying $3.25 per gallon for gas, it costs me roughly $13 per 100 miles to drive my Honda Element.

After filling up, my next stop is the contest flying field, where I usually need to find the nearest outhouse before saying hello to anyone. Whew! It’s now early afternoon and time to fly.

Pre-contest Fridays at a host field are about as good as this hobby gets. There are plenty of “Hi, how are you?” greetings from smiling faces. I imagine some of you are thinking, “Mike, they’re all friendly and smiling because they know you. What about new people? People attending their first contest?”

In my experience the only difference between being known or unknown is saying “Hello” instead of “Hello, my name is Mike Riggs.” I extend a handshake either way. I generally meet somebody new at every contest I attend. Pattern contests spark the curiosity of the host club’s members, who usually have many questions. It’s a treat to interact with modelers from other clubs.

It is difficult for me to concentrate on flying (practicing) because of all the talking I do Friday afternoons. Somebody always has something new that needs to be looked at. It’s a good, old-fashioned day at the flying field, regardless of the weather. It is relaxing and enjoyable, partly because all of the equipment was charged, checked, and double-checked before being packed (right?).

Either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, the CD will ask for money. Entry fees are roughly $30 and frequently include Saturday lunch. Not a bad deal! These dollars support the host club, NSRCA awards, and your tummy gets something yummy.

A dinner group usually forms late Friday afternoon. If you’re new or just hanging out, don’t be shy; raise your hand and say, “I want to go, too.” Where we eat is usually determined by committee and costs approximately $20. Being from out of town, I go with the flow.

In the past I have stayed at hotels. At between $100 and $200 per night, even with breakfast included, hotels are the trip’s largest expense. This year I am going to try camping at the field. I’ll still eat out with the group every night, but I intend to try camping in my car at the field.

The first District 8 contest in 2012 will be in Wenatchee, Washington, in late May. With running water, electricity, a clubhouse, and hot showers, camping at the Red Apple Flyers’ facility is an easy choice.

Saturday starts out with charging batteries, assembling airplanes, and attending a pilots’ meeting, after which the four-round grind begins.

If you’re a certified judge, chances are you will be asked to judge a round or two. The CD passes out judging assignments during the pilots’ meeting. The best thing about judging is that you get a front-row seat to all the action in other classes. I hope to pass the written test and become a judge this year.

Round after round we fly. Perfecting my “between-round” routine is a priority for me this year. If there’s enough wait time between rounds, it’s possible to fly the entire contest with one battery pack. I can see the benefits of using one or many packs during a contest. I would hate to miss a round because I didn’t have a flight pack charged, which is what almost happened in Tri-Cities last year.

This season I’ve decided to charge two packs Saturday morning, using and recharging the best pack for each round, leaving the second pack as a backup. If I’m in the running for round six, I’ll fly the best pack and take the backup home fully charged; otherwise, I’ll fly the backup pack in round six.

Regardless of how many packs I use at a contest, I’ll check voltages on the receiver and power packs before they go into the ready box for each flight. Further reducing the time available to charge between rounds, you move up in flying order every round. The person to fly first in a round flies last in the next round.

A day of contest flying always leaves me exhausted; my sensory perception is overloaded all day.

After the flying is over, everybody gathers for dinner again. Saturday dinners usually have more people and tall tales. It’s fun for everyone.

On Sunday morning, it’s more of the same thing: a brief pilots’ meeting followed by two or three rounds of flying. With at least six hours of driving ahead of me, my goal is to be on the road by noon local time, which is 1 p.m. Boise time. Arriving home anytime after 7 p.m. on Sunday evening makes for a very long day at the office on Monday.

Cost breakdown:

  • Food: $75
  • Gas (600 miles): $78
  • Hotel ($150/night): $300
  • Entry fee: $30
  • Total: $483

For the same nearly $500 cost I can go to two contests by sleeping in my car. I hope my 6-foot, 6-inch frame can deal with sleeping on an air mattress!

Workshop Makeover

Many have written about the dangers of LiPo batteries. Please indulge me while I share a story about the dangers of 3-inch deck screws. Common, ordinary deck screws can be deadly when driven into household wiring.

I spent most of late fall and early winter giving my workshop/garage a makeover. The work consisted of adding more electrical outlets, converting the attic to a storage area, building new workbenches, rearranging cabinets, and painting the walls and ceiling.

As do electric Pattern airplanes, workshops have electricity. I have been fortunate not to have had any electrical mishaps with my airplanes; however, I had a big electrical mishap hanging a tool channel on a workshop wall. Not only did I make a boo-boo, I left my wife to take care of getting it fixed while I went away on a business trip.

In true Pattern pilot fashion, I didn’t drive just one screw into the household wiring, I drove several screws in a horizontal row. If it were a contest, I surely would have been awarded a 10 for hitting the Romex wiring dead center—six times in a row!

The electricians who came to fix my blunder eyed my new mini refrigerator and instantly concluded that adult beverages were to blame for the darkness. Only after they placed a level on my work did they realize the precision of my execution.

The wiring is fixed and the project is completed. In all seriousness, be careful in your workshop, no matter what you're doing.

Winter Flying

After the garage makeover project, I completed a Breeze-Mini for our indoor season. The Breeze repeatedly bounced off the walls of the small high school practice gym because it was extremely tail-heavy. I hope things go better next time.

My winter surprise has been how well the 47-inch 3D Hobby Shop Osiris flies. I call it Baby-O, and with three flights under my belt, all I can say is "wow." Other than size, it's like flying the big ones and will make an excellent practice airplane. Best of all, it fits in my car fully assembled.

2012 RC Aerobatics Nats

This year's RC Aerobatics Nats will be held July 22–26 at the AMA International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana.

Event director Archie Stafford reports that Intermediate and Advanced awards will be presented at the catered banquet to be held in the National Aviation Museum's McCullough Educational Facility the night before the finals.

Archie would like all contestants to be aware that every airplane will be weighed at this year's Nats. Entry forms are in the mail to last year's contestants and available electronically on the AMA website. No entries or AMA refunds after July 9, 2012.

Flight complete.

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.