On Saturday, December 1, 2012 the Sun Valley Fliers of Phoenix, AZ hosted the first Starter Scale contest at their Cave Buttes flying site. This event was advertised as a teaching event only for newcomers to scale competition, and it featured the new US Scale Masters entry level Pro/Am Sportsman class. Contestants were eligible to enter Pro/Am Sportsman provided they have not previously competed at any level other than USSMA Pro/Am Sportsman, AMA Fun Scale Novice, or any other scale R/C contest above the novice level. To obtain a “static” score the contestant needed to provide a picture, artist’s rendition, or box top artwork proving that his/her entry is a model of a full size man carrying aircraft. This documentation automatically scored 25 points for static without any further judging of the model aircraft. If there was no documentation, the static score would have been zero. Any scale or semi-scale model aircraft was eligible for competition including ARF’s, ARC’s, & built-up models, with glow, gas, electric, or turbine engines.
Flight judging was performed under the same 100 point per round criteria as any other scale contest, with a few exceptions designed to make the newcomers more comfortable.
The
5 mandatory flight maneuvers consisted of
Each contestant also had to select and perform 5
optional flight maneuvers of their choice.
Other exceptions to
flight judging included
- missing pilot figures, or
- missing full scale operating features such as flaps and/or retractable landing gear.
These exceptions and variances are only applicable to Starter Scale events; USSMA qualifier and Championship contests will continue to operate the Pro/Am classes under customary flight judging rules in the Scale Masters Guide.
Starter Scale contests are also designed to make it easy for clubs and contest directors to operate such events. The contest is a one-day event and there are no trophies to be awarded. The Sun Valley Fliers chose to sanction their Starter Scale contest with the Academy of Model Aeronautics, as they do for any contest held at their field. The entry fee was a modest $20 per pilot/model and the entry fees, after deducting contest expenses, were returned as cash prizes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers.
We
were delighted to have eight newcomers register for the Sun Valley
Fliers Starter Scale contest, and there was a very wide variety of
model airplanes competing.
John Deacon | Glow fuel powered Scratch-built Dragon Rapide twin |
David Zorria | Gas powered Balsa USA ¼ scale Fokker D-VII |
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Ron Peteric | Glow powered
World Models T-34 Mentor |
Jason Stanley | Electric ASM F7F Tigercat twin |
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Derek Micko | Electric Dynam Me-262 twin |
Rusty Fried | Gas powered Top Flight P-47 Thunderbolt |
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Jim McEwen | Turbine powered Skymaster JAS-39C Gripen |
Mike Dolan | Electric powered Dynam Me-262 twin |
What made this event a true success in the eyes of our contestants and the club was the amount of personalized contest experienced help we were able to provide to each newcomer pilot. Each contestant had assistance in selecting the five optional maneuvers they would perform based on their type of model and their own comfort level with each maneuver. They had help in filling out the round flight sheets and caller card, and the caller cards already had all the mandatory maneuvers printed on them. Bob Frey talked with each pilot and his caller before starting their round about how to describe their maneuvers to the judges, how the caller would inform the pilot of the next maneuver to fly, how to set-up the maneuver entry and when to call the maneuver start & completion, as well as the importance of prototypical smooth flight and power management between maneuvers for flight realism scoring. Each contestant was provided with an experienced caller if they wanted or needed one. At the end of each round, the flight judges provided feedback to the contestant group on what they noted as the most common general errors that were made most often during the round. All the contestants were complimentary of the assistance they had received and many commented that this helped them to understand how and why things were done in a contest setting, making it much less stressful and more enjoyable to participate.
We used a 100 point normalized scoring methodology for the flight scores, but the actual raw scores of the judges ranged between 74.5 and 91.5, with the majority in the mid-80’s. The contest results are shown below:
Place/Prize | Name | Model Flown | Static Score |
Normalized 2 Rounds Avg |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st / $53 |
Derek Micko |
Me-262 | 25 | 99.714 | 124.714 |
2nd / $30 | Rusty Fried | P-47 | 25 | 97.214 | 112.214 |
3rd / $20 | John Deacon | Dragon Rapide | 25 | 94.900 | 119.900 |
4th | Jim McEwen | JAS-39C Gripen | 25 | 94.764 | 119.764 |
5th | Mike Dolan | Me-262 | 25 |
93.143 |
117.672 |
6th | Ron Petterec | T-34 Mentor | 25 |
92.372 |
117.372 |
7th |
David Zarria | Fokker D-Vl | 25 |
90.725 |
115.725 |
8th |
Jason Stanley |
F7F Tigercat |
25 |
85.479 |
110.479 |
In closing, I would be remiss if I did not mention all the helpers that truly made this a successful and exciting event. In addition to Eric, Kent, and Bob previously recognized, many thanks go to Bernie Boland, Autumn Boland, John Geyer, Howard Kennedy, Austin Goodwin, Jay Steward, Gene Peterson, Charlie Beverson, and Frank Moskowitz the President of the Sun Valley Fliers.
Michael Peck
Arizona Area Director