David Aronstein
Motivated by the cancellation of almost all regular Indoor Free Flight model meets due to covid, I floated (npi) the idea of a walkalong glider postal challenge to the National Free Flight Society (NFFS) and Indoor News and Views (INAV). They liked the idea, so it is live!
Announcement is in INAV at: https://indoornewsandviews.com/
A plan is provided, but it is not a one-design contest. Any design. No restrictions (except that the flying is to be done in your home).
I would love it if some of this group would join in & show the ‘mainstream’ (?) Indoor modeling community how it’s done!
The objective is to accomplish as many as you can, of 6 challenges, by the end of February, 2021. The challenges are: 1. “Basic duration” – a 30-second flight. 2. “Advanced duration” – a 60-second flight. 3. 3 laps on any closed course (one flight – no relaunches – typical). 4. 3 inflight handoffs from one pilot to another (also in one flight). 5. 30 second flight without a board (making lift with hands / head / body). 6. 30 second flight with a model of your own design.
Photos and video are encouraged but not required. There’s a submission form on INAV, or you can email results to me, David Aronstein, davidcaronstein@gmail.com, and I will make sure they get posted & tabulated.
INAV will post results. Videos will be posted on the NFFS YouTube channel (please consider subscribing!): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCucmaPRq2ws6rRTMHX_38YA
Feel free to pass this along to anyone you think would be interested. And drop me a line to keep in touch!
**********
Notes from Gary.
The link provided above has links that explain walkalong gliders and give links for plans, instructions and videos.
I see it is called a “challenge” not a contest. So the purpose is not to win, but to build and accomplish a set of tasks. Submission is not for a score, but to demonstrate accomplishments. Sort of like a course of study with quizzes, midterm and final. There is plenty of educational material online already.
Laps in a closed course – I assume this was to be done in a large open room. To have a closed course with laps I would have to knock down a wall. Maybe going between two rooms linked by a hallway would work. People living in apartments may have trouble with this. Perhaps it could be flown in larger buildings, other than at home. Or outdoors.
Handoffs require two pilots, which may eliminate some participants. If you are flying solo, I suggest you handoff from one hand to the other.
Good points Gary. I should have explained the intent a little more carefully.
For the closed-course challenge: the intent to allow either a course around one or more markers (such as small chairs) in a single room; or a multi-room loop if the layout of your home is conducive to that. The minimal course would be a single chair in the middle of a room. The difficulty is self-regulating, in the sense that a shorter course requires less distance to be flown, but you will also be flying through more intense turbulence on the 2nd and 3rd laps. The toughest part about the closed-course challenge is likely to be your own wake! You can mitigate this a little bit by varying your altitude, or your path, on successive laps. Hug the inside of the course on one lap, and the outside boundary on the next lap, for example.
Also, maybe I forgot to mention it, but if your own home is really small, then the home of a personal friend, or a common area in an apartment building or group living community, would be fine. Gyms, hangars, etc. are NOT eligible for this challenge, although if you have access to such places, by all means fly there & enjoy it! And if you are still able to schedule group events in large places, you can set up some more sophisticated challenges. Obstacle course, ‘cross country’ timed runs, simulated missions. See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aTGzFi64OcVq234BS0Jq-LnAPWCKea6x/view for some additional challenge ideas.
For the handoffs: if you are unable to secure (or train) a partner pilot, I suppose handoffs from one hand to the other would be OK as long as each hand is holding its own board. You can’t just switch hands on the same board. In fact, if you change boards – putting one board down and picking up another – that would be eligible whether or not you change hands. But please, try to do this with another pilot if you can, because that was the original intent.
In general if you are not sure whether your accomplishment meets the intent, go ahead and claim credit but please also submit a video, photos, or at least a description of how you did it.
Thank you!
David