Stop The Madness!
 

What i really, REALLY HATE is when events insist on impounding all radios, even 2.4. One club impounds all radios (including 2.4) as a way to manage the flightline. They only let out 5 radios at a time so that no more than 5 airplanes fly at one time. Madness! Because of this there are rarely more than one or two planes in the sky at one time. Most pilots spend the day waiting for a radio to come back to the impound so they can fly. The scale rally in Kitchener is a perfect example of how EVERY event should be run...set up 5 flightlines, everyone keeps their 2.4 radios, impound the 72's, then get in line at a flight station when you want to fly...simple and easy.

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

I have to agree with you. I feel it is mainly the old guard in the clubs not keeping up with the new technology.
I am pretty sure I know what club you are refering to saying they are managing the flightline by impounding all radios. I say bull! Pilots need prep-time with their radios and planes before going out to fly. Others can be flying during this time. If they are so concerned about controlling the flightline, there are other ways to approach it. 2.4g does not need to be impounded. Why create the extra work for your club members when it isn't needed? Ever been to a busy indoor flying evening? Lots of 2.4 activity with no issues!

Chris

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

Great points Chris. I'm sure 99% of 2.4 owners will agree. I sure hope managing the flightline by impounding radios is a thing of the past at the many events i plan to attend this summer.

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

it's done not for freq controle but flight line control, the honour system works fine for most events, but one guy hogging the flight line can make it tough for others to get flight time, so there needs to be some system in place to keep it fair.

do you have any ideas how to make the flight line run smooth and NOT impound radios? we are all ears!

Bill

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

Good point made by Canadian Pilot.

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

Easy! One Flight Line Boss near the flight line. 5 large cloths pins to attach to radios or pilots and a queue line. No pin no fly! Flight pin is given to Flight Line Boss after the pilot is finished flying and turned over to the next pilot who is ready in the queue line. Complete control.
I would also be kind and give him some shade and change him with someone new every hour or two.

K/W Scale Rally has a nice system for running their flightline control but it requires manpower. What I mentioned above only requires one person.

As for hogging the flight line the impound won't work as all the inconsiderate pilot has to do is keep his radio and go back out with another plane and keep flying.

The biggest problem with only letting out 5 radios is the bottleneck it creates.
With a funfly you want to keep all 5 flying stations filled with pilots flying and keep turning the flightstations over to new pilots who are ready to fly. The pilots want to fly and watch the flying along with the spectators.

In a perfect world the 5 radios would work but hard starting engines, range checks, technical issues and other simple prep work on the aircraft slow things up. Then 1 or 2 pilots will be flying with 3 empty flight stations and a handful of pilots who are ready to get into the air but can't because they are not allow to have their radios.

Chris

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

We put the board somewhere near the people in charge. Have a lineup section on the board(wire) for next in line in order and most is done by the pilots with no impound. The odd tweak by a person in charge.

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

Bill and Norm,
I stated a better way in my very first post. Your way has all the pilots standing around at the radio impound waiting for a radio to come back. This severly limits the number of planes in the air at any given time, as pointed out by Chris. Don't you want lots of flying at your event? And i pitty the club member who has to spend the day searching out radios from guys who fly, but do not bring their radios back immediately. Also note that the guy who wants to fly a lot is not preventing anyone else from flying at the same time. If anyone wants to fly they get in line at a flight station, just like the guy who is flying a lot. Finally, did you know that a growing number of events are becoming "2.4 radio only" events, with no radio impound at all?

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

At the Joe Nall event with over 1100 regisitered pilots, the radio's were NOT impounded. Only 2.4 radios are allowed at this event.

On the Classic Flight Line there were 6 flight stations. If you wanted to fly you lined up behind the guy in front of you who was next to fly. There were sometimes three in a row waiting to fly at each of the 6 stations. I saw no one hogging the flight line.

After you used up your tank of gas you had to go back to your pit to fill up, and this technique stopped the pilot from instantly going back up in the air if it happened that there was no one there wanting to fly.

The previous year they had 7 flight stations, but found that 6 made for safer flying in the air. All pilots had to have a spotter, and a unique feature at the Joe Nall event for me was the use of a loud horn that went off by pushing a BIG button if the spotter felt that the pilot was losing control and might cause damage in the pits or to spectators. It was NOT to be used for deadstick landings, just an emergency.

Re: Stop The Madness!
 

the horn idea is a great idea.....might not be a must for our little fun fly, but at bigger zone events with lots of spectators it might save an injury.

Bill