I am thinking about putting on a contest called the Worlds Fastest RC Airplane.

It will be in the Desert 6-12 month from now where the only rules are just to keep it safe.

1) Every plane will have an Eagle Tree or Data Loger that does both GPS and Air Speed...
2) Data will be rec 1/sec and the fastest 5 sec average will be the winner.
3) There will be no diving, this will be a race patern where the fastest speed can be anywhere.
4) The flight line will be 100 meters from the Pits and only the pilot and caller will be near the race track.

What are the cons to an event like this. ?

Eddie Weeks

It's about time someone had the guts.
To bad I can't compete, but I would love to watch. Maybe some kind of an internet hook up.
Set it up, they will come.

Sounds good Eddie- You have a lot to overcome though. You cant "reserve" a space for something like this so you will have that to contend with. The AMAs version of Carnivor software has probably already started sounding alarms in Muncie LOL. The only real downside is that it probably will be a real attention getter and in California its best that we keep a low profile right now, but 6 months from now might be a long enough time frame. Scott

Should have my Ultra Bandit P180 done by then
Scott

The desert would be a great place, maybe even out there at Reno.....somewhere on some private property where the public and crowds can be controlled. It definetly will be an brow raiser and burner.Like I said in the other thread, the AMA will be on this but I am still behing you.

Hey Eddie, come to Utah. We've got plenty of desert that we fly on and people are used to going fast in the desert. Do the Bonnevillie Salt Flats ring a bell? I say bring it on!!

Mark
Salt Lake City, Utah

On second thought, it would have to be in a year so I could get something built that is faster than my MiG-15. Ha!

What do you think the top speeds would be?

Mark West
Salt Lake City, Utah

Count me in Eddie...

Hey guys, good luck with the try.... hope that you get as much fun as we did.

I only would suggest to not forbid dives, just for a simple reason: When you are flying a extremely
fast plane, around mach .5 , like mine, (LOL, I always wanted to type something like this here)
is a lot easier to keep it in sight (and safer) if you make a ascending turn or immelman after a high speed
pass... but that means that you will need to make a descending turn for bringing the model back, and this could be classified as a dive.

I guess that is up to the pilot decide if his airframe is strong enough to withstand a dive.. and he
could do whatever he wants while he keeps his beast far away from him and the spectators...

Enrique

I have thought about this dive thing for a while, and you know, this being the first year
I don't think it’s a good idea. There will be people putting lead in there planes to go faster in a dive
and this increases the chance of a crash.

All the full size World speed records are closed course over a long distance and that really makes more since.

I will start up a web site soon... With all the details

Eddie Weeks

count me in !! this is great !!


Wojtek

Perhaps you don´t need to forbid the dives at all, but put instead a altitude limit, based on the GPS info, for people didn´t make them too high, or perhaps adding a "G" limit in the race.... there is a lot of possibilities there.

And, as I stated before, If I got a sponsorship here, you can count me in too!

Enrique

Enrique... you are right, and we both know if we dive, most likely nothing will happen...
and even if it does, oh well...

The real problem is %80 of all the Lawers in the world are in the US.... you know...

I think the non diving if far safer and I have seen some of these planes hit 280 in the race track..
So it will be a blast no matter what..

Eddie

you can't add a G limit either ... you will be pulling A LOT of Gs be it in a climb, pulling out of a dive, or just making a turn. I also think it would make most sense NOT TO use a standard race track pattern. Make it a figure 8 with dual diagonal flight lines ( safety lines) .. the planes should be flown and turned away from the spectators, pits, stands, etc on every turn .. this way the plane at no time durring the flight ever is pointing at any people ..



Wojtek

how about instead of a no diving rule, the plane will have to have its speed recorded while the plane is not dropping altitude above a certain rate. If using the eagle tree system for tracking all this, it also records altitude readings ..


Wojtek

lets also have Lugebob show up and i will bring my son and his bike too

Woj:
Well, I guess that a "G" limit would enforce pilots to fly smoother and with less sharp turns, that would help to keep things safer.... I guess that I never used more than the slightest stick pressure to fly the SHS, and I don´t know if it would resisted a strong stick input at that speed...

Eddie:

for sure, with or without those dives, it will be fun. go for it!

Enrique

I actually attended the AMA EC meeting a couple of years ago when the Safety Committee presented the new rules proposal and the rationale to the EC. This was the second meeting, the one that happened after Dave Brown pulled the fire alarm after the first one.

A big element of the presentation was the relative low speed that most people flew. This was a key part of the presentation, presenteed by Steve Ellzney.

Take that for what it is worth.


You might want to have it in January and have everyone not reup in the AMA so that all participants are not in the AMA at the time. Also, you might want to talk to Carl Mulroney (AMA Special Services) ahead of time, tell him it is a UAV contest, not within the realm of modeling and have the event specifically excluded from AMA coverage. He told me last year they could do that.

Well, one con may be that according to the JPO pres, you can't simply decide that you're going to fly outside the AMA rules one day, on the basis that you're not at an AMA chartered club (etc), and that you have no intention of making use of the AMA's insurance that day. The theory is that even if you have no intention of using the AMA's insurance while you're doing your speed event, supposedly there's nothing stopping a plaintiff in any accident going after the AMA anyway (if you are in fact an AMA member), so that if something happens and the AMA gets sued then the pilot, event organizer etc could presumably all lose their waivers.

Some other folks have indicated though, that they've been able to contact the AMA and effectively suspend their AMA membership for a day or two, and that the AMA folks were ok with that.

Who knows where the real truth lies in any of this, given the various private agendas that seem to crop up periodically ... but you could perhaps try sounding the AMA out about temporarily suspending memberships for attendees.

Good luck,
Gordon

Ironically, you may need a 'waiver' from the ama, lol

Hey guys, when you obtain a "turbine waiver", what is the AMA waiving you from?

Thanks,

Dave

Yea, I think that Gordon has a good idea here. This would be a fun event and maybe a good way for all of the speed deamons out there to get their frustrations out, but politically, I would like to see it distanced from the AMA as far as possible. Not only talking to the AMA as Gordon suggests, but also perhaps having every competitor sign a release stating that their partitipation is outside the AMA's regulation and coverage and that they realize that these aircraft can not be flown in this manner when they are under AMA coverage.

I'm not a big fan of additional regulations/paperwork and I've been told that most releases/waivers aren't worth much more than the paper they're written on if it goes to court, but its really the politics of the situation that worrys me. I think that the excellent progress we've made lately within the AMA is hard fought by Steve and others, and the last thing we need is one of those old EC farts saying "did you see what those crazy jet guys did in the desert last year..." the next time they come before the EC with a new proposal. If the competitors sign such a release, the argument that "that event was completely outside the AMA and the AMA bore no responsibility for the event - EVERY competitor signed a release stating such..." would quash that argument quickly.

Something to think about...

Bob

They are waiving the rule in the AMA safety code that dis-allows turbine powered aircraft - at least that's historically where it came from, I believe...

Bob

Tahnks Bob!

I actually thought it was some kind of a liability waiver, or a limitation of liability.

All clear now!

so lets do this next Jan, Feb or March, and all participants can just not renew AMA memberships till later that year ... The AMA, EC or hoever can not say anyting then, just like they have no say on what happens in Germany, Canada or Brasil .. simple and easy



Wojtek