What is Contest Flying?

[ErichF]

Hey, if you do, then you have a shot at the EVO90 I'm giving away!

BTW, I have decided to make the EVO90 giveaway a DRAWING from all the pilots in both Class 1 AND Class 2...so no sandbaggers and more folks eligable. Also, performance is not a factor. The only catch is, you have to fly at least three rounds in the contest. So, you pay $35 and make three flights and it could be all yours

[joco]

In case anyone missed it... our new website for precision heli aerobatics is launched... check it out at www.rcprecisionheli.com

And dont forget to join our conference call on Monday Dec 1 @8pm. To find my Skype number just search for Heli Invasion. Also if you need a land line to call into, just PM me and I will get you the phone#.

[trinitybrown]

Great job man , really good and informative article, thanks for sharing with everybody here

[crehop]

i vote to sticky

[ErichF]

It was a sticky in the main forum for awhile. Maybe it should have been made a more permanent sticky in the contest forum?

[mysticmead]

yep... it needs to be a sticky

[ErichF]

Just need to make an update here for the original post.

Note that electrics are now allowed to 50.4V (12S, not 10S.)

[IndustriAlarm]

Hello ErichF,

thanks for the great amount of information you wrote here about FAI flying. I love to watch others flying FAI style manouvers: biiig biig circles and looong horizontal and vertical straight lines to the sky with all of that grace and precision! It just looks very aesthetic and graceful on my opinion. That's why I love to train precision flying. It also improves flying skills very much.

Preparation and training for contest makes you also concentrate more to the technical side (setups etc.) of helicopter too. Earlier I was just happy to make it fly. Now I try to do the setup more careful for straight lines and steady hovering.

Cheers:
Jussi

Originally Posted by ErichF

This is basically an essay on “contest flying”, also known as “FAI” style helicopter flying.

Precision flying is presented with high speed, large maneuvers with high verticals and defined transitions between components. While there are no points officially awarded for smoothness and grace, such presentation is generally awarded with higher scores. Maneuvers flown with tight radiuses, jerky transitions, or appear to be rushed, generally score lower in the end.

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[dennis539]

Thanks for the orientation.. New to rc heli.

[chingie]

Thanks for outlining that , i'm new (but keen) and see those terms re: competition all over the place while researching other heli things All the best cheers chingie

[ehernan3]

Thanks for the thread, Enrich. I'm wondering why the aerobatics portion seems to be flown at such high(maximum?) speed.

I'm assuming one of the reasons is to attain good height while giving the illusion of coasting up for the vertical portions, instead of obviously pulling the heli up, which would require a different(slightly less vertical) orientation on the way up. I'm aware that the heli doesn't truly 'coast' on the way up, if I fly it properly, something my more experienced peers taught me how to do earlier this year. Anyway, is that the main reason for such a high speed?

Also, it seems all the maneuvers can be flown with a 450 size(which is the only size I have). Related to the above question, I did learn how to 'fly big and fast', which I really like to do. But clearly a 450 can't fly as large a maneuver as your 90 size ships. That said, is there anything wrong with trying to fly a more compact box, whether on purpose or by necessity(small heli, like mine)?

In principle, I think one could do it, by pulling/pushing the heli around more with the disc and than with inertia from high speeds, but again, this would mean the disc has to be oriented to do this pulling/pushing. Technically, would such a style suffer in scoring? Subjectively, I'm guessing judges probably won't like it.

Thanks in advance.

[barrymartin]

Thanks for sharing this interesting information about flying contest, i also like to attend contest like this. it's a nice way to enjoy a nice weekend. And also a real source of enjoyment for the whole family.