gittarpikk

Hey guys , hadn't posted much of late...been sort of waiting til technology ripened and pilots get tired of the boring long range flying-or- quadracers that are looking for some fun in fix wing FPV competition.

Little history...

I've been flying FPV since maybe 2009 with maybe 50 or so vids on YouTube.
My cams were pretty crappy up til about 3-4 years ago and I was doing some fun formation flying with other LOS pilots at the field (challenging field with close tree-walls in all direction). Even did a few bouts of Combat with 300 size combat planes (myself flying fpv). Of late another club member was an old Quarter midget pylon racer (in the 70's) ad wanted to start some pylon competition. I being interested in Vintage pylon as well as FPV put together a few profile pylon racers (Rivets) and slapped an all in one cam on it since they were small and fast (60 mph).
I prefer head tracking as I have that in my FS Dominators but these were too small for head tracking.. I also usually fly with a triversity GS and repeat it on a 25MW/omni to my goggles , but this time I was just flying all omni clovers and 25MW.

Since I had flown the course as an imaginary one over the years, the poles were even easier and I could hold the altitude to about 20' above the ground . The other LOS pilot had trouble flying lower than 40-50' . I had the definite advantage of being able to fly a tighter course but he had a tad faster plane due to slightly less drag.

I will say it was a BLAST...bout as much fun as anyone could have with clothes on.!

My takeaway was that this is IMO, a class of racing that this country needs, and the time/technology is now ripe to get a real serious interest level going.

My feelings though are that the smaller planes are a bit quick when one gets down on the deck and unless your used to flying in that manner, may bust up a few (foamboard planes are highly recommended) airframes but those are now quite cheap. Most any Flite Test airframes/designs will work (I have maybe 20 designs of my own that work great)...a lot of Ed's designs at Experimental Airlines would work well.

I know there are a few that have flown quite large FPV wing races and always have a blast but I'm suggesting upping the skills a bit and do it on smaller , tighter courses that were intended for the quarter midget .15 powered vintage rc racers of the early 70's.

The 'rules' that would allow a LOT more racers to easily join are simple . Bring what you want to fly be it LOS or FPV and fly what you bring. The entrants are easily 'classed' in 10 MPH classes with a simple radar gun or doppler speed app for the phone. I realize its not real accurate but 10 mph speed differences are easily negated by the extra advantage an FPV flyer has in flying a tighter course. Heck, the real challenge is actually fly the course without dorking your plane...but put three or four planes together and the Adrenalin soars

My interest is in vintage pylon so my planes will also look sort of scale. My other 'takeaway' was that some of the older pilots may need to be flying larger, slower planes to be able to 'see' them better rounding the pylons so 1 meter and up planes flying 40+ MPH may be better suited for the older or less experienced pilots.

One can easily (with the later tech) run head tracking on the 1 meter and up planes and even put it all under a really clear canopy keeping the airframes scale as well.I prefer headtracking, especially in FPV pylon and combat. In FPV combat, one could easily fly any manner of warbird. FPV 3D (with head tracking is even a blast -ask me how I know)

At any rate, I feel its time that this idea comes to reality as there are plenty of bored quad pilots looking for something different and technology is now easily able to cheaply accommodate most any angle of this type of flying .

Now....all that stated..

Have we any interested pilots out there just itchin for dive into a type of pylon racing that is a Blast that most anyone can fly.?

Same thing can be done for Combat ...Vintage or other , FPV or LOS, your choice.