One of the special appeals of competition free-flight is that it's a purely objective sport, with simply a stopwatch to decide the result, rather than the subjective opinion of some judge. It's also a man (or woman) versus the elements. You, the flyer, will have pre-adjustcd several factors on the model that determine the flight (CG position, tailplane incidence for power or tow and for glide, rudder setting, differential wing incidence, propeller variable pitch changes,) and several of these maybe timer-controlled in flight. But in the end it is you who decides when to launch and that is when the elements bit comes into play. That model is going to end up somewhere downwind and you're going to need it back for several more rounds. Deciding when to launch usually means judging the air (temperature, wind speed and direction,) with the aim of finding a thermal to boost the flight performance to provide a max. When the model DTs (you did start the timer or set the fuse...?) is when the first stage of the retrieval phase begins. However, there's a lot you can do long before you get to the flying field that will help you to go home with the same number of models you set out with.
No comments:
Post a Comment