[MT-ALES] First Flight Thoughts...

[CURTIS SUTER]

Ford wrote:
Huh?


Well I guess I should explain a bit more.
So this is a new to me task that has intrigued me for years.  It’s called GPS Triangle Racing.
This has always been quite expensive for the electronics and was mainly for the 8m size gliders.  They hold a week long even in Montague, CA every year.
Well they have a new Light Class for less than 4m spans and weights less than 3kg and new electronics to fit our small models.

So I jumped in.

The task is 20 minutes and opens at a specific time.  There is a 5 minute prep period where you can launch and run the motor as often as you like prior to entering the course.  To enter the course you must be below 200m and 60kph or you’ll receive a penalty.  This levels the playing field.  The max altitude during the task is 350m.
The CD would draw up the course prior to the contest which is very easy to do and share with everyone to install on their Android device prior to contest day. Here you can see the course at Wayne’s.  It can be any orientation too.  The black triangle is the course, the pink areas are the where the glider needs to enter to count as crossing the turn point.  The yellow line is the start/finish line.  You fly CCW and enter from left to right, well as it shows in the photo from top to bottom.  You can cross the line anywhere you like.  So during the prep if you’re thermalling well to the west you don’t have to come to the black line at the start/finish point to enter the course, just head direct to the pink TP1 area.  You fly as many laps as you can in the 20:00 window as you can.  I believe the world record is 18 as he was 5 seconds short of the 19th.  At Montague the best was 13 laps and worst was 1.





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Here is how the course is made for the Light Class

From the Start Finish to TP1 is 200m, from the Start Finish to TP2 is 200m.  That makes the other legs 283m.


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I have watched about five hours of videos and here was one takeaway from this format:
I am very interested in the GPS Triangle racing - Light Class
I’ve been watching all the videos from Andrej at RC Electronics and learning as much as I can before the electronics arrive.
Andrej is from Slovenia and makes some great products!

In this video there is a wonderful question and reply…. I transcribed the reply as best I can if you choose not to view the video.
https://youtu.be/WWF8gkJPNaI?t=3105

Q:  What do you think Andrej of flying GPS in general, in terms of tactics and so on, you’re improving as a pilot incredibly….right, so what do you think from your perspective?
A:  I am a full size pilot around 600 hours, let’s hope for more…
Then I was flying F3K competitions, five years, then F5J for three years but at the end, I just didn’t’ find motivation anymore, it was just…. you caught a thermal or you didn’t, that was basically it for this competition.
Then when I first start flying GPS….yea, you know, you see how much more you can improve.  That once you know how to fly GPS, everything else is piece of cake, in my opinion.  Sorry…. reading the weather, deciding, calculating the tactics, that really makes you…. like five steps higher pilot quickly, because you’re forced to really judge the weather, decide quickly and every meter counts.
End Quote

This sold me for sure!  His comments really shocked/surprised me

Make better sense now?
I can give a demo this weekend.

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