Hi,<div> So, we're concerned with keeping the weight rule at 5000g because the only place that we weigh things is at the NATS which consist of somewhere around 124 pilots(ish). Out of those 124, 45 are Masters pilots. FAI is what 30? The other 50 have a 115g allowance. Talk about a minority here. What about the guy that wants to attend the Nats but cannot, for whatever reason, make weight? Maybe a very old airframe which they<u>want</u>to fly that's had the gear ripped out a few times or wing chips fixed etc. What about someone that<u>wants</u>to fly his 2M ship but does not want to spend another $300-$400 to make weight instead of his Wind 110 in Masters at the Nats? Should we exclude them because we don't want to compete against the Contra?</div><div></div><div> I agree it will be easier for the Contra to make weight. The Contra did not win the NATS last year and to be honest, for the majority of us, the price is a little high to add another $1000+ for the drive. In fact Masters was won by a Q80 (heavy) and an APC. If we're talking about expense, those that can afford the Contra can also afford anything else and we know the Contra can make weight already. The finals will not have a whole new set of folks in it because of a piece of equipment and if you subscribe to the theory it will, that totally negates we all need to practice, practice, practice.</div><div></div><div> What if, because really we're talking about the Nats here, we have "some allowance" for all classes under AMA and attendance increases by a modest 7-10%. Have we made the wrong decision? Have we given the ability for some to fly a plane they want to fly instead of something they'd rather not fly in a national setting?</div><div></div><div> So, I bought a second De Ja Vu as we've discussed before. The plane made the finals at the NATS in 2011 at 4950g. I agree with everyone that you can make weight. I did it with this plane and I'm at 4955g. What did I do? I added a second switch and voltage regulator to the plane because I<u>want</u>redundancy, I switched to a Falcon prop, I added an external arming plug for safety of my wife and finally in order to make weight, I took my Castle ICE 80HV that came back after the recall and took off the plastic case and removed the heat sync and put heat shrink around the ESC basically giving me an 80HV Lite. Removing the plastic case and the heat sync saved 40g. You see, this is my problem though. I can run a battery pack that weighs up to 1180g with this configuration which, without spending money on ultra-lite batteries, limits me to about 4400mah. What's really concerning to me is I've removed factory equipment from the ESC in order to accomplish this. I don't like it and it worries me a little. I put the second regulator as insurance because if something happens to these two planes, I'm done competing for a while. Now, I've increased my risk to make weight because I've tampered with the ESC to save 40g. Personally, I think it's absolutely ridiculous to start modifying factory equipment (they put those pieces on for some reason) in order to make weight. I did it because, currently, that's what the rules say. I do not advocate doing this though to just anyone. The same thing applies to those who are using smaller gauge wire to accomplish the same thing.</div><div></div><div> Again, it is possible but I really don't understand why we should say it can be done so you have to or else you can't compete at the national level. I don't buy the fact that new aircraft designs will abound because of 200-500g in AMA classes. Design is dictated by FAI, not AMA. No designer would alienate the rest of the world to suit AMA fliers. I don't buy that you gain an advantage by strictly changing the weight standard for AMA only (if FAI changed, that's a whole different ball of wax). Heavier aircraft do not fly better. Contras can already make weight and if you can afford it, you really don't have an issue anyway because you can afford "whatever". If we feel so strongly about the weight rule and enforcing it, why aren't we jumping up and down that weight should be checked at the local level too? The NATS is one contest per year. 5 out of all the pattern fliers are going to win it per year. There are easily 6 contests or more each year that someone could attend at the local level. Why aren't we complaining they aren't weighed there if indeed there is an advantage to having a heavier airplane? I just don't see the logic in enforcing it at one contest where a very small percentage of all competitors attend and not being worried about it on the local level. This tells me that maybe it's just not that big of a deal in reality.</div><div></div><div> Gary, before you jump down my throat, I'll buy your first beer next time I see you </div>