THE OCTOBER BIG SKY INTERNATIONAL
LONGEST DURATION CONTEST FOR ALL ELECTRIC AND HAND LAUNCHED GLIDERS
THERMAL SOARING AND SLOPE SOARING
RULES AND INFO:
Contest will run from 12:01 am October 1 to 11:59 PM October 31 Eastern US time.
The contest is for ALL electric or hand launched gliders or airplanes of all sizes, all materials and all controls. The contest is intended to help motivate you to develop your thermal and slope soaring skills.
The contest is open to all gliders, e-gliders and, if you like, e-airplanes too. If it glides, it qualifies.
In Thermal Duration, the contest is split into three classifications, 2-meter and under E Gliders, Open class E Gliders and Hand Launch Gliders.
You can post as many times as you like using as many planes as you like, but only one will be counted per pilot per category regardless of what kind of plane you are flying. You can replace a shorter time with a longer time any point during the contest. You can fly as many flights as you like.
Goal - longest duration thermal and slope flights without use of the motor.
THE PLANES:
* Any electric motor system or unpowered hand launch glider. (No winches or Hi-Starts).
* Any wing controls and any wing span
* Any construction
BIG SKY - ELECTRIC THERMAL SOARING
1) From a fresh hand or ground launch you can run the motor for up to 30 seconds, then you turn the motor off and you can not restart it. Reclimbs are not permitted. If you restart the motor the flight time is no good.
2) Motor time starts as soon as you apply throttle. This is an LMR, Limited Motor Run contest with a pretty long motor run allowed so that the motor run itself does not provide much advantage to anyone. Many will choose to shut off the motor in less than 30 seconds. No credit for shorter motor runs.
3) Soaring time starts when the motor goes off. Either you time the whole flight and subtract the motor run or you use two watches, one to time the motor run and one to time the flight. I have multiple timers on my radio so I can do this with my radio alone. How you do this is up to you.
4) You can time your own flight if you wish. You are on your honor. Time is truncated to the second. No fractions and no rounding. Read the seconds only.
5) Landing must be within 100 feet of the original launch location or the flight does not count. Landing must be on the ground/grass or pavement. Landing in a tree, bush, structure or other elevated spot that would not normally be a landing spot does not count. There are no other rules around the landing.
6) Time stops when the glider comes to a rest. So the clock keeps running if you clip a branch, or go to land and bounce back into the air. When the plane stops, time stops.
7) You can launch as many times as you like but each flight has to be from a fresh launch from the ground/hand. No reclimbs permitted.
8) Report your best time of the day by posting here. You can post as many times as you like, but only the best one will count. You can fly as many days as you like to work toward your best time. The goal is to achieve personal bests in the fun atmosphere of a contest.
BIG SKY - HAND LAUNCH THERMAL SOARING
1) Soaring time starts at release of the plane.
2) You can time your own flight if you wish. You are on your honor. Time is truncated to the second. No fractions and no rounding. Read the seconds only.
5) Landing must be within 100 feet of the original launch location or the flight does not count. Landing must be hand catch or on the ground/grass or pavement. Landing in a tree, bush, structure or other elevated spot that would not normally be a landing spot does not count. There are no other rules around the landing.
6) Time stops when the glider comes to a rest. So the clock keeps running if you clip a branch, or go to land and bounce back into the air. When the plane stops, time stops.
7) You can launch as many times as you like but each flight has to be from a fresh launch.
8) Report your best time of the day by posting here. You can post as many times as you like, but only the best one will count. You can fly as many days as you like to work toward your best time. The goal is to achieve personal bests in the fun atmosphere of a contest.
BIG SKY - SLOPE SOARING
1) From a fresh hand or ground launch you can run the motor for up to 5 seconds, if you need it to get into the lift. I would expect most slope flights will have no motor run but some sites need a boost to the lift.
2) Motor time starts as soon as you apply throttle and is subtracted from the total flight time.
3) Soaring time starts when the motor goes off. Either you time the whole flight and subtract the motor run or you use two watches, one to time the motor run and one to time the flight. How you do this is up to you.
4) You can time your own flight if you wish. You are on your honor. Time is truncated to the second. No fractions and no rounding. Read the seconds only.
5) Landing has to be within 100 feet of the original launch location or the flight does not count. Landing must be on the same level as the launch. Landing down the slope or up in the trees does not count. You must come to rest in a "normal" landing spot and be able to walk over and pick it up. I realize this can vary by slope site so you are on your honor as to whether this was a normal landing.
6) Time stops when the glider comes to a rest. So the clock keeps running if you clip a branch, or go to land and bounce back into the air. When the plane stops, time stops.
7) You can launch as many times as you like but each flight has to be from a fresh launch from the ground or hand. No powered reclimbs permitted. If you restart the motor the flight does not count.
8) Report your best time of the day by posting here. You can post as many times as you like, but only the best one will count. Try as many days as you like to get your best time of the month.
For either contest you report the results via post.
Report Format:
Your Name - Real or RCGroup Name - your choice
Glider/plane name and wingspan:
Thermal, Hand Launch or Slope:
Date and Time of flight:
Duration of flight:
Location: Nearest City and State or Country
Comments - You are welcome to report anything you like about the day, the flight. Pictures, videos, gps plots, etc are welcome but not required.
I will maintain the thread and keep the second post updated with the top 10 Thermal (2 meter class) top 10 Thermal (Open class)and top ten Slope reports. Only one flight of each type will be recorded in the standings for each pilot. A new better time will replace the original.
THREAD CONTENT -
This thread is for contest reports and for discussion about the contest only.
Contest Records:

2 Meter Class:
Andy Grose (dee-grose)
Glider name:Radian
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight:April 19, 2012 11:20am
Duration of flight:1:38:04 (after 30 sec motor run)
Location:Tanner, Alabama
Max Altitude: 3028ft AGL

Open Class:
Palo Lishak (aka TENDER in RCGroups)
Glider name: supra Stork electric
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight: October 29th 2011, start of flight 15:50 CET
Duration of flight: 1:45:40 (11 s climb with motor)
Location: Oponice near Nitra, Slovakia

Hand Launch:
Marin Rudolph (MMR)
Glider name: Arrow Legend DLG
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight:6/24/12 11:00AM
Duration of flight: 51:43
Location: Wilson, NC

Slope:
Hunnerbunner
Duration: 2:33:14
Date: 4/26/11
Location: San Diego, CA

Leaders:

2 Meter:

Belem
Glider name:Radian
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight: Oct 6 , 2012 3:20pm
Duration of flight: 42:45 (after 30 sec motor run)
Location: Roseville, CA

Vicrider
Wanderer, electric conversion
Thermal
Oct 7, 2012 12:30pm
16min 29sec (after 20sec motor run)
Launch alt 205 feet, max alt 644 feet.

AMA69405
Glider name:Cox Sportavia
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight: Oct 10 , 2012 12:30 pm
Duration of flight: 15:18 (after 30 sec motor run)
Location: Dexter, KS

Open Class:

Pilot name: Palo (aka Tender)
Glider name: Scorpion-V from Heinrich (wingspann 2320 mm, weight 820 g !)
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight: Oct 11 , 2012 15:00
Duration of flight: 33:07 (plus 15 sec motor run)
Location: Oponice near Nitra, Slovakia

Pilot name:Leadchucker/Warren
Glider name: Pulsar 3.2 m
Weather; Partly cloudy, +63*f, Wind-225* @ < 5 kts
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight: 12 October 2012 @ 13.15
Duration of flight: 28 min 40 sec-Max Alt-1765 ft AGL w/200 meter launch
Location: Club field, Pole Tavern ,NJ,US,Earth


Hand Launch:

Marin Rudolph (MMR)
Glider name: Aksent II DLG
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight: 10/31/2012, 13:00 Eastern
Duration of flight: 17:14
Location: Greenville, NC

nigel sheffield
glider: blaster dlg
Thermal hand launch
date time: 7/10/2012 10:45am
duration of flight: 15:50 mins.
location yorkshire UK.

Slope:

744drv
Slope Soaring
Radian Pro 2 m
8 mins
13:30 29 Oct
Dragon's Back in Shek O National Park Hong Kong

Runners up:

Well? I made it through my first month moderating the contest without, so far as I know, any major screw ups. Thank you all for your participation and patience. As always, feel free to let me know if you have suggestions, comments, or criticism.

Congrats to September's winners. The fabulous prizes will be shipped before the end of the next century

And remember: fall is arguably the best time for thermals in the Northern North America. Bright sunny days with cool temps can produce very, very, strong thermals. I won't bother with a formal entry but I got around 12 minutes today with my 2 meter ASW 28 despite winds of 15+mph and gusts well over 20mph.

Cheers!

Belem
Glider name:Radian
Thermal or Slope: Thermal
Date and Time of flight: Oct 6 , 2012 3:20pm
Duration of flight: 42:45 (after 30 sec motor run)
Location: Roseville, CA

Fun day flying. Weather finally changed and we've got some cool weather. White puffy clouds and gentle breeze. Thought it would be easy flying but my first 4 flights were under 5 minutes. Fifth flight I found some narrow lift that got me up a couple hundred feet - then boom! Up we went. Lost it once and nearly came down, but found another. Whole sky was moving down hard or up violently. No gentle floating today.

Hand Launch:

nigel sheffield
glider: blaster dlg
Thermal hand launch
date time: 7/10/2012 10:45am
duration of flight: 15:50 mins.
location yorkshire UK.

Nice sunny sunday, had a few flight well over 10 mins, light winds and sunny.

Well done for taking over this peterlngh, it is good fun to participate in. Just a note that my longest flight and the record for hand launch dlg is not 22 mins but 47 mins as bellow entered in july!


Hand Launch:

nigel sheffield
glider: blaster dlg
Thermal hand launch
date time: 24/7/2012 10:30am
duration of flight: 47 mins.
location yorkshire UK.

I've got you back on the leader board, nigel. I am seriously considering building a DLG over the winter. I love flying the bigger electrics and want a couple even bigger ones but there is a lot of appeal to a glider I can thermal on a baseball diamond or slope soar over a building. I probably won't ever be able to afford a state of the art contest glider but there seems to be several options in the 2nd tier that are available for anyone willing to do some building.

Another great flight, Belem! It's especially impressive coming on a day that wasn't dominated by steady lift.

I haven't been getting in as much flying lately. Lousy, gusty, weather and addressing the wear and tear of a full summer of flying have been taking up my time. The hinges and linkages on my Specter have gotten a little sloppy and I'm still tinkering with the ASW 28 for better aerobatic performance. It's just so pretty pulling out of a dive and doing a loop, slow roll, or wingover that I have pretty much decided I'm going to have a bigger scale bird ready for next spring. Now? I have to decide whether the scale sailplane or a 2.5 meter floater is the biggest priority. And that doesn't even allow for the new 3D ship, that's supposed to arrive tomorrow, and my strong desire for a bipe and/or a WW2 warbird! I guess that I'm leaning towards the scale bird since it will be optimized for aerobatics rather than pure soaring and winter soaring is hit or miss here in Minnesota. Sigh... So many planes and so few thumbs.

I've got a DLG on my build table that's been there for months. I jacked up the stupid teflon tubes and might have shorted out my rx and haven't had the heart to get back on it. Probably 90% built. Need to sack up and finish it.

For all the talk in the Radian thread about mods to make it "flyable" I continue to enjoy my 100% stock bird.

I've just listed a bunch of stuff for sale. I found I'm just not flying anything other than sailplanes these days.

I think that's one of the great beauties of the foamies, Belem. They are just so light that they fly amazingly well, to an old timer like myself, but also have great potential for modification. I haven't actually flown a Radian but it seems like they are typical of the breed. I have been very impressed by my ST ASW 28 despite the fact that I have done a fair amount of work to get it how I like it but my friend's Calypso is a wonder with nothing but a tail shim.

And, even after 42 years of flying, I always come back to sailplanes. I soon get bored with tumbling an aerobatic ship, unless there's a crowd, but I can go out on my own and be completely absorbed with a sailplane for as long as I can stand to stare at the sky. Of course, here on the frozen tundra, it's beneficial to have something that one can fly from the driveway when there's knee-deep snow on all the good flying areas! When I lived in San Diego, with year around slope flying, I never had the slightest desire for anything with power.

Is FPV control ok? I've got an FPV calypso that I'd love to enter with in the LMR 2 meter class.

I'm new to this and I'm really just a place holder, gundamnitpete. Let's throw the option out to the community and let everyone decide. Personally, I don't see why flying in FPV mode should be disqualifying as long as one meets the launch, motor run, and landing requirements. Since participation is the main goal here I will give a qualified "yes" but will defer to the majority if others object. If nothing else I'll sneak you in with an asterisk or add a FPV category.

Sweet! Well I know what I'm going this month!

fpv is fine by me, don't know if it would have an advantage over none fpv or not really, from the ground you can see if the plane is going up and from the plane you can see if the ground is going down lol! I suppose though you can tell better whats going on when you are really high so would be an advantage, also if you have vario etc displayed would be a great help.
Might give you a headache though looking at a screen for such a long time!

Originally Posted by peterlngh

I've got you back on the leader board, nigel. I am seriously considering building a DLG over the winter. I love flying the bigger electrics and want a couple even bigger ones but there is a lot of appeal to a glider I can thermal on a baseball diamond or slope soar over a building. I probably won't ever be able to afford a state of the art contest glider but there seems to be several options in the 2nd tier that are available for anyone willing to do some building.

Another great flight, Belem! It's especially impressive coming on a day that wasn't dominated by steady lift.

I haven't been getting in as much flying lately. Lousy, gusty, weather and addressing the wear and tear of a full summer of flying have been taking up my time. The hinges and linkages on my Specter have gotten a little sloppy and I'm still tinkering with the ASW 28 for better aerobatic performance. It's just so pretty pulling out of a dive and doing a loop, slow roll, or wingover that I have pretty much decided I'm going to have a bigger scale bird ready for next spring. Now? I have to decide whether the scale sailplane or a 2.5 meter floater is the biggest priority. And that doesn't even allow for the new 3D ship, that's supposed to arrive tomorrow, and my strong desire for a bipe and/or a WW2 warbird! I guess that I'm leaning towards the scale bird since it will be optimized for aerobatics rather than pure soaring and winter soaring is hit or miss here in Minnesota. Sigh... So many planes and so few thumbs.

Thanks for that, I know what you mean about all the planes, I have more then I need for sure lol, takes me longer to decide which one to take down to field then anything else lol! Unless of it's dlg flying weather then there is no choice really!

I have only had the blaster 2 but can highly recommend it, its cheapest of the moldies and building is so quick and easy it just screws together and you cant get the wings wrong like on a bagged wing, I nearly got the topsky until I went to a shop and looked at the 2 kits side by side and then I could see that the blaster was soooo much nicer looking and easier to build that it was worth the extra money, but I ended up getting a second hand one for less the topsky kit anyway.

I still sly my st asw28 now and then and it looks very nice and scale and thermals the best out of my foamy gliders but the blaster is just better at it, and aerobatics are wild when I get bored.

The Blaster is a beauty but just a bit beyond my means unless I give up beer entirely for a prolonged period of time. That's not an option!

If I decide to try a DLG I'll have to go with a foam and glass wing construction to keep the budget under control. I realize I'll be sacrificing a little performance but I like glassing wings and I'm pretty good at it. If I decide that DLG is my future? Then I can decide to sell off some stuff for an upgrade. Even with the electric gliders I have now I'm thinking of parting with a couple 4-stroke engines and my old Sagitta 600 should have some value for someone who likes old classic designs. Of course, I might just saw the nose off of the Sagitta and stick a motor in it but I don't know if nostalgia means that much to me.

I know what you are saying and I felt exactly the same way which is why I got a second hand one, I still paid £180 for it though and it was a but beat up and had been repaired and ended up needing new servos in fuse!
The good thing about them is they hold their value very well, my m8 bought one new £289 and put £72 worth or servos in and a £4 battery, he sold it a few months later for £390??!?!??!?
I actually have 2 blasters now as I got a newer one for £220 which did not have any damage or repairs and still have the old one, I though that the newer one would fly better but to be honest there really is not much in it, cause the extra weight in the repair makes it fly a bit faster is all but also maintaines more energy so it better is gusty winds where the new is lighter and goes up in smaller thermals easier but it balances out, my longest flights were with the old one but then I have never flown them at the same time, though I did fly my old one whilst Mark flew this one and I could out thermal him but I like to think that was pilot skill lol.
I will be putting my old one on ebay at some point and hope to at least get what I paid for it!

The performance of the bagged/glassed foam wings can be pretty close to a molded one and are more resiliant to dings so if your area is cluttered with trees bushes etc might be better, though they can fold up in a hard throw.

I started with a little "BUG" built from balsa and even though hang times were only about 22 seconds I still managed to thermal it quite often and had a lot of fun throwing and catching.
Point is it does not really matter what you get as long as you enjoy yourself does it?
Yesterday I really over did it, I flew minimoa for an hour, then got bored and got my blaster flew that for 3 hours, had some lunch and flew it again for another 2 hours, the winds were light and sun was out but not really hot and I managed lots of thermal flights mostly round 5 to 6 mins but a few around 9 mins, my dog came with me and was running after the plane every time I threw it and could not understand why it would not come down so he could fetch it!