Author: Lee Estingoy
Edition: Model Aviation - 2012/03
Page Numbers: 118,120,121,123
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Inaugural Soaring event is a success

by Lee Estingoy [email protected]

Editor's note: Aric Wilmunder is filling in as a guest columnist for Lee Estingoy this month.

To say that the first Altitude Limited Electric Soaring (ALES) event took off like a rocket would be mixing metaphors, but when you start with a 10-second countdown that ends with 11 airplanes shooting skyward, it is easy to make that comparison. Before any launch—or mass launch in our case—much goes on behind the scenes.

How the event came together

I thought I should begin with how we ended up cheering together on a beautiful day in October, as the top pilots from two flight classes launched simultaneously in Northern California’s first ALES contest, held in Davis.

In chemistry, some reactions occur slowly, but a good catalyst can make things take off. In our case, a number of Sacramento Valley Soaring Society (SVSS) members had been reading about ALES on the Web, but what spurred us into action was when Lee Estingoy devoted most of his September 2011 "Radio Control Soaring" column in Model Aviation to the growing ALES phenomenon. Typically we don’t have much traffic on the SVSS email list, but on a Friday in late August 2011, Ron Kucera sent a short note about Lee’s column to the club members. By Monday, I had more than 42 emails on the topic.

Some responses were from SVSS members expressing interest, but I also found the email address for John Frugé, the contest director who ran an ALES contest in Fresno, California, in July 2011. He sent recommendations for running this type of event, scoring systems, and landing tapes, and included information about a contact person at the South Bay Soaring Society (SBSS) who had provided him with the contest rules the club had used.

Throughout the next few days, everyone I spoke to or emailed responded with tremendous enthusiasm and excitement about the prospect of having an ALES contest. I volunteered to help if someone wanted to organize an event, and that quickly turned into a recommendation that I step forward to serve as contest director (CD).

The fact that I had never been a CD for any kind of sailplane event was not considered; I had never attended an ALES contest or even seen an airplane fly with an ALES limiter. To make matters more challenging, it was suggested that October 22, 2011—barely eight weeks away—would be a great date for the event.

A tight deadline can be the best motivation, so I started with a list of everything that I did and didn’t know about ALES. Throughout the weeks, this list expanded and I continued to learn more. Fortunately, the number of items on this list plateaued over time, and the event began to take shape.

Launch format and scoring

Apart from using an electric motor instead of a winch to launch, the key difference between our regular club contests and ALES is that ALES is flown in a man-on-man (MOM), also known as pilot-on-pilot (POP) format. Having all of the airplanes launching at the same time seemed straightforward, but with several pilots they must be split into multiple flight groups. The tricky part was how to score a MOM/POP event with pilots flying at different times.

I learned that in each round, the top pilot’s flight score is normalized to 1,000 points, while the other pilots in that round receive a score based on the ratio of their time versus the time of the top pilot. This allows all of the pilots in the group to fly at once, with scores based on the best flight duration from that group. To even the playing field for motorized aircraft, ALES uses altitude limiters so pilot skill, not raw climbing ability, is the determining factor.

Landing tapes and equipment

The next project was the landing tapes. Nats officials used a 10‑meter tape marked every meter for a maximum of 50 points for landing. Tom Kallevang helped here, again letting us know that Nats officials were discussing moving to a 5‑meter tape, so we adopted that new standard for our event. (Author’s note: LSF decided to stay with 10‑meter landing tapes for 2012.)

With little shopping on the Web, I found a great site that could provide the materials. A local shoe repair shop with an industrial sewing machine solved how to attach the tapes to the end brackets. After an hour in the garage with a Sharpie and a numbering template, the tapes were ready to roll out.

Teamwork and promotion

The advantage of working with a great crew with the same vision was that while I worked on one project, the rest of the team handled others. When there was a question that needed answering, Sheldon reached out to his contacts and received replies within minutes. Ron stepped up and offered to make the awards for the event; they looked great and the contest attendees were impressed.

Ron also designed a logo for the event and arranged for printed polos with the SVSS logo on the front and an ALES logo on the back. He had stickers made for each of the contestants. With the rules, the scoring system, a date, and invitations sent to local clubs, it was time to have a contest.

Saturday

The day began slightly breezy, and after a few delays with the setup, the pilots’ meeting went smoothly. There weren’t any questions for which we didn’t have answers. Scorecards were distributed and we were ready for our first flights.

Sheldon, who had worked as an announcer for the Summer Soaring Challenge, brought a great presence to the field. The pilots who would be flying were announced a few minutes before each round, and when everyone was ready, Sheldon began a 10‑minute flight countdown, followed by a 10‑second launch window.

Our event had 27 airplanes: 14 Foamie or Radian‑class airplanes, and 13 Open‑class airplanes. Seven Radian pilots nervously waited for the first launch. I was nervous too, but as the clock counted down and the launch window opened, one then another launched until all seven airplanes were airborne. The Radii were evenly matched, and there was a gasp as two wingtips brushed. To our relief, this was the only contact between airplanes all day.

The Open class brought quite a selection of airplanes. There were modern airplanes, including an electric AVA, and Mike Clancy arrived with a Playboy Old‑Timer, a design from the 1940s. Mike threw down the gauntlet when he came in second place in the first round.

Brian Chan, from the South Bay Soaring Society (SBSS), also showed that older designs could be competitive in ALES when he unpacked a 25‑year‑old Paragon and took second place overall in the Open class. Al Strahm, from the SBSS, placed first with his AVA, and Charles Eaton, who traveled from Modesto, California, came in third.

The Foamie class was dominated by standard Radii with a Radian Pro or two in the mix. Steve Henke, from SVSS, took first place; Benard Simpier, from Modesto, placed second; and Thomas Carmody placed third.

Before the contest there were many questions about how the Radii would stack up against the Open airplanes. For our final flight of the day we invited the top five Radian and the top five Open pilots to fly in a single 10‑minute round. It wasn’t looking good when the first two airplanes down were Radii, but as the round advanced, more Open‑class airplanes landed. When there were only four airplanes left in the air, three of them were Radii. As we approached the final 10‑minute marker, an AVA and the final Radian were neck‑and‑neck and a tie was declared.

Were there any conclusions about which airplanes flew best? If anything, we saw that ALES is accomplishing exactly what was hoped: it evens the playing field and makes competitions more about pilot skill than having the latest and greatest hardware. One competitor had only recently purchased his Radian and this was his first contest.

ALES will certainly bring more fliers into our community. ALES events are fun and the format is likely here to stay.

ALES Success

Since the original write‑up, our club held its second ALES contest in November 2011 with 25 participants. We have put ALES events on our calendar for the first Saturday of each month from March through November, and scheduled a two‑day ALES event in September.

Sources

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