Ok, I am new of this section, so I was talking without knowing you have rules for a reason..

Friday or Saturday we will be maiden...

Good luck, Peter!

I am late to this discussion but I might pass on a few tips for you to consider.
I use to race quite a lot of XCountry in the 80's. I know the sick feeling of losing sight of a high flying model. Returning from Taft after losing a model, I thought of all the potential ways to safely return a model that has flown out of my vision.
If you are flying a model that uses a flying stab, it is very simple to file the drive slot so that the stab can be driven to greater than 45 degrees and not greater than 75 degrees up or negative pitch angle.
I then fabricated a sliding servo tray to carry the elevator servo. I then used a duplicate servo used to drive the elevator servo to the extreme negative angle.
This servo was driven by my Gear switch. I tested the described unit and it worked perfectly. The model was tested at all airspeeds and the results were the same. If the model was at Cruise speed and the switch engaged the glider would do one or two tight loops and then go in to a deep stall mush mode, the same as a free flight model that had been de-thermalized. The main problem with trying to find your model after losing it is that if it goes the opposite direction you are going to have a hard time re- acquiring the model. Using my method if the model is lost and the switch activated the model will stabilize in a vertical descent and is more easily seen as it slowly comes back in to view. We tested this all the way to the ground with good results. But if the model is seen, all you have to do is throw the switch in the opposite direction and you are off to the races...LJ

Hi All
I went to my 1st XC contest today and had a blast whaching how high and far you guys fly these things. One thing I did not like at the field we where at it has about a 500 foot of tree you have to drive thru to get onto the corse, We lost sight for a few sec but was able to find it after about 5 sec, But the team behind us lost sight and never regaind sight and after about 15sec you could hear their VIARO going off then nothing, they are thinking it blew apart in a dive.
I for one like the idea of the extra servo and a handful of power manly to save the plane by being able to find it again. but at that point you should end the flight and record your spot. snice you would of lost the plane at that point anyway but this way you have a shot at saving the plane.
My .02

That Tree tunnel at the begining of the SVSS XC course is bad. I don't remember it being soo dense and long. Our team really got lucky to still have a flying plane.

We had some pretty decent altitude approaching the tree tunnel. I want to say between 2500 and 3000 feet. The head wind was pretty strong and I made the mistake of going for it. Normally we have the plane directly above the truck and we basically punch thru the tree tunnel. This way I get only fractions of a second when I loose sight of the plane due to branches across the top. This time the plane was to the left of the truck we probably took 10 to 15 second to get thru the tree tunnel and most of the time I did not see the plane. When we got out of the tree tunnel the planes was not where I expected it to be. My Spotter found the plane say 30 degrees forward and 20 degrees lower in the horizon. Even when my spotter pointed to the plane, I still did not have sight of it. I had to hand the radio off.

Tim I really like your Idea of a spotter being at the end of the Tree Tunnel. Some one will have to walk. In this case some pre-planing and looking before you jump kind of strategy, I think would be better. The #8 such a sweet simple plane.

Originally Posted by tkallev

Without Sense and Avoid technology, Return To Home is a dangerous feature. To outfit an XC ship with this tech is likely to change it's status from model to UAV.

Don't go there

A RTH system in a plane will bring it back to the pilot by turning the radio off and a plane without one will fly to God know where and hit God knows what when you lose it. Which do you think is more dangerous?

All RC planes are UAV's to FAA. Read the first paragraph of 14CFR Part91.

http://tinyurl.com/6ss8cos

RC planes are except from federal UAV regulations if flown for recreational purposes.

Originally Posted by Gary Evans

A RTH system in a plane will bring it back to the pilot by turning the radio off and a plane without one will fly to God know where and hit God knows what when you lose it. Which do you think is more dangerous?

All RC planes are UAV's to FAA. Read the first paragraph of 14CFR Part91.

http://tinyurl.com/6ss8cos

RC planes are except from federal UAV regulations if flown for recreational purposes.

As XC is currently flown, no computer controlled autopilot devices are allowed. even Gyros are not allowed. I would argue that at the very least a heading hold gyro should be allowed on rudder only. this would allow a more safe traverse of tree tunnels like we experienced this weekend at the SVSS XC contest. A $3000 ship was lost and my team came very close to the same fate.

Steve

I think this is a situation where the technology has run ahead of the rules. While it makes sense to not allow something that would provide an unfair contest advantage the same technology could save an expensive plane if visual control were to be lost.

Hey Steve

Let's you and I figure out a way to get those trees trimmed. I have some ideas we can discuss off-forum.

Dudley

Before Sunday I drove both the north and south ends of the tree'd in area to see if there might be another route out. Everything is fenced in but north looks like the best possible option.

Originally Posted by Dudley Dufort

Hey Steve

Let's you and I figure out a way to get those trees trimmed. I have some ideas we can discuss off-forum.

Dudley

we definately need a few more gaps in that tunnell

Saturday, while flying a borrowed SB XC, I had a radio lockout at 1600 feet, the airplane rolled over on its back, and was immediately lost from view behind a couple of trees. I was thermalling at the time, so the speed was not real great. I pulled in full flaps and full up elevator, hoping that I'd reconnect, and the driver gunned the truck to get us to a point where we could see the airplane. As we moved our vantage point, we reaquired the airplane, which was at the top of a loop (good feeling!), so I finished the loop, cleaned the airplane up, and started thermalling again. Helga reported the altitude as 800 at that point, so 800 feet lost, in just a couple of seconds. If the lockout would have been at a higher speed, the results would have probably been much different (worse). We continued the flight, and accomplished a Level V goal and return.

Originally Posted by StevenatorLTFO

Saturday, while flying a borrowed SB XC, I had a radio lockout at 1600 feet, the airplane rolled over on its back, and was immediately lost from view behind a couple of trees.

Sounds like someone didn't set the failsafe after programming the airplane!

Tom, no failsafe. It just slowly rolled on over and started to spiral. Not high enough that orientation was an issue. Ron found a satalite that had come loose at some point, and was down in the rats nest of wiring. Not sure if that would have caused an issue or not. That was the only lockout I felt on it in close to three hours of flying this weekend.

I do gotta say that flying the big sailplane was fun, took a bit to get my head wrapped around it, but after I got my thumbs in sync, I loved the performance, especially the energy retention.