Please see below a proposal from Paul Masterman for those windy days where Free Flight activities are grounded, but you're still itching to fly! It is a 2M RES (Rudder, Elevator, Spoiler) RC glider event. RC gliders are as close as radio controlled models can get to Free Flight models.
ANOTHER GO
at trying to interest Club members in a new event
F3 RES
A couple of meetings ago, I mentioned an event (relatively new, but now worldwide in acceptance) which is an attempt to enlist the community in a lowkey, fun ‘competition’ which fits a smaller group, such as ourselves, rather than the ‘Mega’ groups involved with high-pressure contests.
F3 RES is international – since it’s classified under the FAI (FEDERATION AERONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE) Model Aircraft designation (F) then radio-controlled (3), then ‘RES’ - Rudder, Elevator and SPOILER models. These are lowkey airplanes (I nearly said aeroplanes) limited to two metres maximum span wings and using ‘conventional’ construction – balsa and spruce for example, but allowed to use modern materials for major components such as wing spars and tail booms of carbon composite construction). It’s a contest related to flight duration, but with a window of time and an additional requirement to land the aircraft on a pre-designated spot, which gives the flyer bonus points. A group of flyers fly in a round and their recorded scores are a ratio of the times recorded, with the leader scoring 100 and those further down the list scoring appropriately. All aircraft are launched via ‘bungee’ system – and together.
This is an overview. As a free-flighter, I’d like to add this type of aircraft to my fleet and then come over to the ‘dark side’ and join you IF we can find enough interest from members. However, I’m still seriously considering buying, building and flying one of these aircraft types since it sounds like a really fun thing to do – and when the breeze is a bit marginal for free flight – it’s a chance to get in some flying when I’d normally be stuck on the ground - PSM
