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Chapter 8: Intermediate CompetitionCompetition at the intermediate level is great fun. Sailplane clubs throughout the country offer events for every skill level. These include local "floater", nostalgia and novice events for beginners all the way up to national level competition with hundreds of entrants. Competition go well beyond who wins the contest. In fact, the majority of contest fliers have no intention of winning the contest, but attend for the fun, camaraderie and practice. Competitions are great places to meet people, exchange ideas, and gain valuable flying experience. Let me also note that you don't have to have the latest world-beater 1000 sailplane to enter a contest. While its true that high end composite have advantages in certain conditions, most any sailplane can win if flown in the right conditions at the right time. Pilot experience is more important than sailplane as Joe Wurts recently demonstrated by winning a major 1997 2-meter contest with a TG-3 trainer. I've had similar experience, placing one time in a local unlimited F3J style event with a 2-meter Spirit. All of the planes I flew against were high-tech 3-meter wonders, but I lost only one of my rounds to a competitor's plane. Flying in any competition will teach you important lessons that will ultimately make you a better sailplane pilot, even if your main focus is sport flying.
8.1 Competition TypesDozens of types of sailplane competition exist, and many clubs or regions have their own local variations, rules and contests. This section presents some of the most popular contest formats. I make no attempt to present a complete set of rules for each competition. The actual rules can be quite detailed and are subject to change. Copies of current formal rules are available from the AMA, FAI and other national and international aeromodeling organizations.
8.1.1 Precision Thermal Duration (US)In the United States, precision thermal duration has always been the king of competitive R/C soaring. The basic contest format has changed little since its inception in the 1960's. A precision thermal task consists of flying a predetermined time exactly followed by a precision measured landing. Time is measured from the moment the sailplane separates from its towing device until it comes to rest on the ground. Traditionally one point is awarded for each second in the air up to the time allotted, with one point subtracted for each second over the allotted time. The landing score on a hundred-point scale is added to the duration points to arrive at a total time for the task. Each pilot flies in turn until all pilots have flown. One flight by all pilots is called a round and a minimum of three rounds are flown. The winner is determined by adding the scores from each round to get a contest total for each pilot.The precision times for rounds are varied, sometimes at the discretion of the pilot. For example, a three round short contest might have a five, seven and ten minute tasks to be flown in any order. The pilot, then, must make a judgement during the round as to whether he wants to fly a short five-minute task and wait for better conditions or push to complete a longer task. Another popular format is to provide a total target time for a set of flights. For example, the goal might be 20 minutes for three flights with a ten-minute maximum on any given flight. In this case, the pilot can use any combination of times to arrive at the total time, as long as no single flight goes over 10 minutes. Several methods may be used to score landings. The landing is always measured from the nose of the airplane after it has come to a complete rest. Hitting any object or person results in zero landing points. The plane must be immediately flyable, and not inverted. The simplest is a landing circle measured with a tape staked at the center. On the AMA official tape, the tape is only 25 feet long, marked four points per foot. The bullseye (100 point circle) is only six inches in diameter! Another popular AMA system uses a fifty foot landing tape staked at both ends as a centerline. The plane can land anywhere along the tape. Points are measured in inches from the centerline of the tape. For example if the nose of the plane is within one inch of the tape, it scores 100 points. If it is 23 inches from the centerline, the score would be 77 points. While these are the two most popular methods in most of the country, west coast fliers are known for coming up with much more imaginative systems. These include ladder and pie shaped landing zones, in and out rectangles, the hand-catch, limbo, and many more. Most precision duration contests are flown from winch launch, though a few in the country are now hand towed or use high-starts. While the two-meter and standard competition classes were at one time popular, the majority of US contests are now flown with unlimited (over 100") sailplanes. Larger contests may divide pilots by skill level, with novice, sport and expert classes separating the beginner from the expert. Very large contests, such as the US Nationals (NATS) also have junior classes for teenagers and senior classes for older pilots.
8.1.2 F3JF3J is the newest international contest format for sailplanes. F3J is a precision thermal duration contest similar in some ways to the US AMA thermal duration rules. The history of F3J is rather interesting. F3J was in some sense a counter-revolution to the rising cost of the multi-task F3B format. F3J was intended as a lower cost alternative. The first World Championship was schedules for Birmingham, England in August of 1998.F3J is based on Great Britain's BARCS thermal duration rules with the addition of a precision landing. The basic F3J format is a man-on-man maximum precision duration within a 10-minute window for preliminary rounds. The launch is via hand-tow using a 150 meter monofilament line. Landing is scored as 100 points within a 1 meter circle, 95 points for a two meter circle and so on. Landings outside of 15 meters score no points. One re-launch is allowed within the working time, but only the last flight is scored. Groups of up to ten pilots fly in the same 10-minute working time, and scores are normalized to 1000 points based on the best raw score in the group. Each pilot may have up to three planes. Planes and parts may be exchanged at any time. The 10-minute working time imposes interesting constraints on the contestants. If the pilot exceeds the 10-minute working time, he loses all landing points as and suffers a penalty of 30 points. The goal, then, becomes to launch precisely at the beginning of the working time, minimize the launch to 5 or six seconds, and then hit a 100 point landing 1-2 seconds before the end of the time, producing an ideal time of 9:54 or 9:55. Scores are totaled for all preliminary rounds, and the highest scoring eight to ten pilots then move on to the final rounds. Scores from the preliminary rounds are discarded, so a pilot could just squeak into the finals and still win the contest. The final rounds are flown with a longer 15-minute working time, forcing pilots to really work to make their times. Though F3J is a relatively new event, particularly in the US, its popularity is growing. Some trends are emerging. First, the event is not quite the cheap alternative to F3B that the founders originally intended. Two planes are required, one for light conditions and an F3B style plane for windy conditions. To be highly competitive, both planes must be carbon fiber planes capable of powerful zoom launches. Hand towing can actually put more stress on the plane than most winches. A full size unlimited plane can pull a 200lb man off his feet during the zoom. Still, F3J has gone a long way towards introducing hand-towing and the man-on-man formats here in the US. The fact that it is an alternative to the serial US thermal format has reinvigorated many competitions.
8.1.3 F3BF3B is an international contest format, flown for the world championships every other year (odd years). The contest format was originally developed in Europe, but is now flown widely in the United States as well. It became a world championship FAI recognized event in 1977, and Skip Miller of team USA won the first championship. F3B is the high-tech formula-one race of soaring, stretching the ability of both pilot and plane. F3B is flown in a series of rounds, each round consisting of three tasks. The winner is determined by the highest normalized total score for all rounds flown.
The model is launched using a specially designed F3B winch with high strength monofilament line. The length from winch to turnaround is limited to 200 meters, for a 400 meter total winch line length. Each round must be completed with the same plane. The only change allowed is the additional or removal of ballast. Two planes are allowed per pilot, but switching planes is only allowed between rounds. Each round must be completed in the constraints of a given working time, adding additional pressure.
Task A: DurationThe goal of the duration task is to complete a seven minute precision thermal flight within a nine minute working time. Unlimited re-launches are allowed within the working time, but only the last flight taken is scored. Up to ten pilots launch in a group, and scores are normalized on a 1000 point scale based on the highest score in each flight group. This results in a man-on-man competition with those in your group. The landing is a maximum of 100 points, measured in 1 meter per five point increments from your designated landing circle. The maximum raw score is 420 seconds plus 100 points for landing. Highly competitive pilots rarely miss the time or landing by more than a few points.
Task B: DistanceDistance is flown on a 150 meter closed course by four to six pilots per group. The goal is to complete as many laps of the course as possible in a four-minute interval within a seven minute working time. The four-minute distance run begins when a pilot crosses the base A line heading for base B. Unlimited re-launches are allowed, but once a pilot formally enters the course they are committed. Scores are normalized to a 100-point scale based on the pilot who completes the most laps in a given group. The course starts at base A, near the line of winches, and extends parallel to the winch lines for 150 meters to base B. For all practical purposes, the winch line (base A) and base B form parallel lines that extend to infinity. Pilots are signaled to turn each time their plane crosses the base A or B line. The system uses a unique audio and light combination to signal for each pilot to avoid confusion. The pilot continues to fly laps until time expires or ground is reached. A good pilot in strong conditions can complete 25 to 30 laps in the four minute time.
Task C: SpeedFor speed, the pilots fly individually through four lengths of the 150 meter course. The pilot has four minutes of working time to complete the speed run, though only one minute is allowed between the release of the towhook and start of the speed run. Re-launches are allowed, but once a pilot enters the course they may not launch again. Any plane that violates the safety line or fails to complete the course is given a zero. Scores are normalized on a 1000 point scale based on the best overall speed flight for the current round. Speed frequently determines the outcome of an F3B event. While the majority of pilots will nearly max the duration event and be competitive in distance, few have the nerves of steel and coordination to consistently max the speed event.
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