On August 1 & 2, after a week at the LSF/AMA NATS, I returned to Muncie.
My reasons for returning were my own curiosity about the electric events and
my wife's curiosity about Muncie's finer eateries. This post concerns the
former. First off, attendance at electric is considerably smaller than that
of R/C soaring. For example, one event had 8 entrants, smaller than some of
soaring's flight groups. The events are thermal oriented and they do have
classes by aircraft type ("Old Timer" for example) and power. I observed
the "Texaco" fly-off, held Monday evening and found it most interesting.
The 3 best flyers from earlier rounds launched simultaneously and proceeded
to fly an "all up last down" round. As one could run the motor as long as
one desired, this became an "energy management" game. The winner had a
32:30 flight. The next morning, I watched and helped time a "battery
allocation" event. There was a limit on cell size but that's all - any
e-powered plane could compete. The task was to fly three rounds (12, 15,
and 20 minutes max time) with only one charge. During each round, the motor
may be used as much as desired. This was truly an energy management and
find lift event. In their events, they do use a simple landing tape with
values of 10 and 20 points. However, measurements are made to the nearest
part of the plane - not the nose to which we're accustomed. There were a
variety of planes including an electric AVA.
I did inquire about the possibility of an F5J event next year and was
told interest would be the determining factor. The electric NATS SIG is
NEAC (http://www.electricaircraft.org/)
Jim Deck
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