The Dead Stick Landing Challenge!
The dead stick landing challenge is an awesome challenge that my club and I really enjoy. The goal of this challenge is to stay in the air the longest without the motor on (hence the name dead stick). The challenge starts like this, the contestants line up with their airplanes and when the signal is given they through or take off their airplanes and have ten seconds to gain as much altitude as they can. Once the ten seconds have run out they must turn their motors off and try to stay in the air the longest. The last one down wins! As you can already tell, winning this challenge has as much to do with the airplane as it has to do with the skill of the pilot. This means you have to chose/build an airplane that glides well and learn its characteristics.
Rules(Up to Date)!
One good thing about this game is that there are next to no rules or limitations on what you can do! The only rules are...
- You can only run the motor for the first ten seconds of your time.
- The time starts when the plane leaves the ground or your hand, and ends when it touches the ground.
- Once you turn off the motor you can't turn it back on.
- Longest flight time wins.
- The airplane that is used must have a motor/engine.
- The wingspan of your airplane can not exceed 115% of the length of the fuselage of your airplane.
- The flight must be done on relatively flat land (so no steep slopes or cliffs).
- Have fun!
If we get enough contestants I'll consider getting a prize for the winner, and entries should be a video of your flight (with a stop watch if you can) and are due by Jan 1. Feel free to build an airplane specific to this challenge. Finally if you find any loopholes or explodes in my rules feel free to use them and have fun!
I may try this with one of my more under powered planes, for the fun of it
