Originally Posted by
vertical grimmace
I know this is a generalization, but I have found that those that compete regularly, are a good source for answers to problems. To be competitive, you just cannot have problems. You have to have everything boil down to your flying. Any mechanical issues will kill you in competition.
When I flew CL combat, we would spend more time practicing our engine starts/pit procedures than actually flying. As pitting is a huge part of the event. Needless to say, this gets you good at tuning engines.
Sometimes the club or group will not have competitors in their midst. You might instead look for the flyers that have very few if any problems and when they do sort them out rather easily, they might fly a good variety of models consistently well, and it will be obvious their approachable as you will notice others always seem to be asking for their help or advice.
Dennis