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[Peter Jenkins]

That's interesting.  P25 downloaded for me just now.  P/F and Masters as well.  Then again, they all downloaded for me yesterday.  How very odd!

[Stuart Mellor]

Hi all. Thanks to Adrian, Steve & his crew for an excellent season opener. New season and schedules & it showed sometimes in the 80 degree strong crosswind & Chris & myself missed some obvious zeros in P. (Damned Hurley sun!). No excuses though.

Schedules wise – P 25.
Not much to comment on – even in the strong wind many overshooting centre for the spins - caused in part by finishing the ET too close to centre & the models refusing to stall in the wind. Difficult to downgrade the overshoot – the 15 degree rule doesn't really work.

Oh - & the old chestnut! – rolls to be immediate before & after ½ loops in Immelmans.
Roll type in Immelmans -1/4, ½,3/4 doesn't matter - same rule. An easy downgrade. Many people starting the Double Immelman roll very early & because the ½ loop is immediately after, can't help thinking that starting the roll early would compromise the length of top knife edge & symmetry (unless the roll is verry slow, of course) Dan's approach, which I liked, was to start the full roll not before centre....oh & there is no prescribed length to the knife edge – but it has to be sustained.

Top Hat with option – don't forget the top leg is inverted in either option. An upright top leg is a zero. (if the judges are on the case)

Models-wise – impressed by the bipes in the wind, particularly Brandon's Leader & Dan's O/D – the old days of bipes being superior in calm weather only now history. Dans model having impressively slow rotations in the spins. & did the best stall turn.

Drive systems – for me, very little noticeable difference in contras v single prop setups. Could not observe any performance difference or advantage in either. Might, again, be due to the strength of the wind & the higher speeds necessary minimising any differences.

F-25 – First time myself & Chris had judged it - but enjoyed the experience. Not seen enough yet to be critical of the manoeuvres – except that judges workload increases dramatically! Didn't notice any zeros though - and I was looking.... especially in the horizontal circle – which specifically calls for the first ½ roll to the inside.

Judging format – thought Adrian's flight order worked particularly well in FAI class & I hope this can be repeated at other comps i.e Round 1- P only pilots ,Round 2-  P ( P & F pilots) - then alternating & F for the final (6^th FAI) round. Other classes between FAI rounds. Worked well.

Also of great benefit (to me & Chris) was P& F pilots judging P only pilots. Made a huge difference to us in those conditions & created natural breaks between our judging P & F rounds without our needing separate breaks & lengthening the day. Luckily we had 2 judging panels from the P & F pilots who judged 2 rounds of P only. That meant Chris & I judged 4 rounds of FAI out of 6 including the final F round & the P & F pilots – 2 FAI rounds.

Hope a similar system can be repeated in future comps.

[Graham Gooch]

Photographs from this competition are now on the gallery. Youtube video to follow by the weekend.

IMG 6290a | UKF3A Photo Gallery (gbrcaa.org)

[Mike Wood]

In the meantime, I've put the results on the website, available here:

www.gbrcaa.org/Results_Files/20240421HurleyResults/FAIP25andF25.pdf

www.gbrcaa.org/Results_Files/20240421HurleyResults/Masters.pdf

www.gbrcaa.org/Results_Files/20240421HurleyResults/P25Only.pdf

Mike

[Graham Gooch]

A short video is now available on YouTube, if you haven't already, please hit the "LIKE" button

Hurley April 2024 (youtube.com)