Randal Recker
New member
I wanted to let you folks know about an event that I was involved with back in 2000 at Lima (Ohio) Technical College that could be a model for both an episode and a competition at FliteFest. The engineering department of Lima Tech hosted a “Cargo Lift 2000” competition. Each participant paid a $5 entry fee and received one piece of foam board (first time I had ever seen the stuff), two little dc motors (from some science supply catalog), two tiny press-fit plastic propellers, a piece of heavy wire and tiny cheap wheels for landing gear. The idea was to build an airplane limited to these materials that could carry the greatest amount of weight in the form of pieces of steel bar stock that was loaded into the airplane’s cargo box. A tether rig was made for the planes to hook on to that consisted of a laboratory DC power supply that ran through brushes out to thin wires that ran out to the end of a tether. The tether was only 2 fishing lines with snap swivels that clipped onto lugs made from paper clips on the the airplane’s wingtip. Participants loaded their plane with weight at their discretion and operated the power supply to fly their plane, when a successful flight of at least one complete lap was made, weight was added and flight re-attempted. This went on until the airplane would no longer fly, whereupon the last added weight was taken away and all the previously flown weight was weighed and recorded. The college put up significant prizes such as a semester of tuition and generous gift certificates to the college bookstore, which made for serious effort on the part of some of the participants.
I envision a similar event for FliteFest but use a power pod supplied by the event so that there is nothing but structure and aerodynamic design (also low cost) for the participants. I would still supply power from a DC power supply so that variable battery status would not be a issue. I’m guessing that RC vendors would jump at the chance to provide prizes for the promotion of the hobby.
Competitions like this are great fun and stimulate interest, participation and passion that just flying alone may not do. Beyond FliteFest I could see something like this becoming something local tech businesses could promote and sponsor at county fairs or stand alone events. I really like the objectivity of the competition, kind of like a tractor pull, where quantifying achievement is simple.
I envision a similar event for FliteFest but use a power pod supplied by the event so that there is nothing but structure and aerodynamic design (also low cost) for the participants. I would still supply power from a DC power supply so that variable battery status would not be a issue. I’m guessing that RC vendors would jump at the chance to provide prizes for the promotion of the hobby.
Competitions like this are great fun and stimulate interest, participation and passion that just flying alone may not do. Beyond FliteFest I could see something like this becoming something local tech businesses could promote and sponsor at county fairs or stand alone events. I really like the objectivity of the competition, kind of like a tractor pull, where quantifying achievement is simple.
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