What about an electric LSF?
by Gordon Buckland [email protected]
A slim, graceful, long-winged craft arcs upward smoothly and steeply into the summer sky, accompanied only by the faint whistle of air accelerating past its gleaming surfaces.
These words remind me of the thrill I experienced with my first full-scale, winch-launched sailplane ride as a 14-year-old boy. They are also the inspiring words that greet you on the League of Silent Flight (LSF) website.
The enduring LSF Soaring Achievement Program (SAP) has been spawning skilled RC soaring pilots for 40 years, but recently membership and activity have been steadily declining. For many years the current LSF president, Jim Deck, has had a unique perspective about this reduction in activity. (Jim has processed all LSF achievement forms for nearly a decade.)
Jim and the LSF leadership have scrutinized this downward trend and have proposed some ideas to revive activity. These ideas have seemed radical to some, but they need proper discussion if they are to evolve into actual solutions.
Jim and I discussed this subject. He made some excellent points worthy of all soaring enthusiasts' consideration. This is what Jim had to say:
"Over the past decade, it was my privilege to serve as LSF secretary for eight years. That put me in very close contact with the SAP. Over the past few years, two things have become evident. The number of aspirants entering the program was on the decline and activity in the SAP was slowing down as well.
"One could ruminate on the causes—the economy, the increased cost of competition, loss of flying sites suitable for winch or hi-start launches—all of these contribute in one way or another. In any case, it seems that the LSF—and RC soaring in general—needs a shot in the arm.
"Observing activity in F3J competitions in the US provided an inspiration. Competition with winches replacing the hand towers, but retaining all the discipline of F3J, have become popular and increased the number of participants in this event. The key seems to be the convenience of a winch over the hassle of finding and using hand towers. Using winches provided F3J with a shot in the arm. This inspired a search for similar medication for RC soaring.
"In recent years, pilots of electric-powered sailplanes have been experimenting with the concept of an electronic device to limit launch altitude. Their efforts have produced a new competition called Altitude Limited Electric Soaring (ALES). Sailplanes so equipped can reliably emulate winch or hi-start launches without the effort and space required by the latter. The convenience of ALES is fostering growth in the development of ALES sailplanes and the number of ALES competitions.
"Meanwhile, the popularity of the Parkzone foam ARF Radian has introduced a large number of new pilots to the joy of soaring. These pilots could represent a potential pool of new LSF aspirants. With the addition of an ALES device, these pilots can and do enter ALES competitions.
"It would seem then that simply allowing the use of an ALES sailplane emulating winch or hi-start launches to complete LSF SAP tasks and allowing ALES contests to count for LSF SAP completion points might be the 'shot in the arm' mentioned previously. To do so, however, requires an official change to the LSF SAP. The founders of the LSF have protected the SAP from willy-nilly changes with bylaws that make changes to the SAP most difficult.
"In March 2012, using two popular forums on the internet and the LSF website, the idea of integrating ALES into the LSF SAP was introduced by the LSF executive board. From this effort, it was apparent that input from a larger percentage of the membership was needed before the integration could be seriously considered.
"Efforts are now underway to improve communication and reach that larger number by electronic means. Soon after those efforts are operational, the LSF membership will be in a better position to take steps to consider the integration.
"To help this happen, all LSF members are requested to make sure their email address in the LSF database is up to date by using the form on the LSF website."
Jim makes some good points and I think everybody must admit that without some changes moving forward, the LSF SAP is slowly, but surely, dying. In 2011, the LSF saw the lowest participation ever with only 22 new Level 1 achievers. There were 24 in 2012.
There are many different thoughts about electric-launched sailplanes and the LSF, but the obvious options might be:
- Adding electric launch to the LSF as an additional, but separate, SAP (maybe called the ELSF for Electric LSF).
- Allowing electric launch under the same SAP with a change to the bylaws to accommodate this new method of starting a flight.
- Design and start a new SAP for electric-launched soaring separate from the current LSF.
A controversy with any addition of electric launch is whether the motor controller should allow a restart during the flight.
A restart clearly voids the flight, but a more important issue is how the ability to use a restart to save the model affects the piloting decisions during the task attempts.
The ability to save a low-flying model from trees or water or to avoid a long walk by restarting the motor can change the strategy a pilot employs during the attempt and also makes using such an electric-powered model a different and easier proposition than using a winch or hand-launched model.
The subject deserves more discussion. I urge everyone with an interest in RC soaring's future to go to the LSF website (listed in Sources). Under the "LSF Program" tab, select "State of the LSF—2012" and "LSF Board Meets at Toledo" to read more.
If you aren't already a member, join the LSF. If you are a member, ensure that your registered email address is current.
The nature of RC soaring is that it will continue to evolve. Soaring's largest SIG, the LSF, also needs to evolve to remain viable. If the LSF cannot find a way to make appropriate changes to its SAP and allow some evolution, the LSF may eventually become the victim of changes over which it has no control.
There is much interest in electric-launched gliders and the LSF would benefit from this extra participation. There is a way to make this work and the LSF board is working at it. By sharing ideas, we can help guide Jim Deck and the LSF board members with their efforts to grow the organization in this changing world.
Fly downwind and soar!
SOURCES
- LSF — www.silentflight.org
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
