Flight B/C

[bernard]

[coachchuckaahs]

Welcome to Flight 2024!

Flight is once again sponsored by the National Free Flight Society

Our website, https://www.freeflight.org/science-olympiad/, has been dramatically updated, including new videos and better organization. Plenty of resources for both building and flying. As always, if you have questions after viewing a video or reading a document, this forum is the best place to ask so that all may benefit.

A coaches clinic is now available at https://youtu.be/86pl2Ftj9JM, which goes over the basics of the rules and rule changes for this year. As always, the actual rules and the FAQ's on the SO site are the definitive rules. These resource will help you but ALWAYS read the rules and understand them, not our interpretations.

With that said, here are the primary changes we see from last year:

• Changes to box dimensions
• Only one box must be presented
• 1.5g motors
• No black marking bonus
• No build log
• No log cover sheets
• Flight log now a bonus, not penalty

The biggest changes are in the box dimensions. The B division box is slightly larger in some dimensions, allowing more stock box options
The C division box is smaller in width and height, but slightly longer, which should make for a better flying plane

As always, look the rules over and understand them before competing.

Coach Chuck

[randomdogonapc]

YES RULES ARE OUT!!! I’m so excited to get building this year. Good luck everyone!

[pumptato-cat]

Woohooooo let's get the new Flight thread started!!
I never stopped building but I'm definitely excited to see what the new season brings(hopefully a redemption season for me because states was horrifying last year). Excited to be flying again :D

If you guys have any questions please, please please post here! It'll help other people because they'll be able to see the answers, whereas if you PM/email and ask, that information isn't able to be archived here. The indoor free flight community is the kindest and most welcoming group I've ever seen--I asked a bajillion questions last year so don't be afraid to join the conversation! :)

Also, if you're confused on where to start, the links Coach Chuck(🤩) posted are amazing. There's also 12 years of archived forums that have amazing advice and information, especially 2015-2016. Try reading them, and if you're confused on the terminology(I definitely was) don't worry--it'll come eventually. It's a steep learning curve but there's nothing better than seeing your plane do perfect circles a couple of inches below the ceiling rafters. Good luck, and have a great season everyone!

[ykm849]

Hello! I wanted to ask a quick question. What is the better kit to purchase as a stock kit? Im trying to decide between the Stinger Div C or the Freedom Flight Kit Div C for the 2023-2024 season. I would really appreciate if someone could tell me

[randomdogonapc]

Hello! I wanted to ask a quick question. What is the better kit to purchase as a stock kit? Im trying to decide between the Stinger Div C or the Freedom Flight Kit Div C for the 2023-2024 season. I would really appreciate if someone could tell me

Hi! A lot of the time, both kits will offer you similar, if not the same levels of performance. This year’s stinger doesn’t look too different from last years, and I personally know some people who have gotten amazing flight times with it. However, I used the Div B Freedom Flight Kit last year, and it got me 6th in the state in my first year of flying, so it’s really a toss up unless any of the kits have major issues.

[ykm849]

Yeah, there isn't really a difference. I recall J&H's planes descending faster last year; something about the symmetrical airfoil whereas FF kits didn't have that issue--but in most competitions I attended, one kit didn't seem to win more than the other. However, I do think FF had a slight advantage last season. It really depends more on the person flying the kit, not the kit itself. Like random said, both are great.
Don't spend too much time picking between the two and just buy one! I think I agonized over this for couple of weeks when I first started and I lost a lot of time I could have spent flying or reading about other topics.

[ykm849]

thanks pumptato-cat and randomdogonapc! I just ordered myself a freedom flight model kit because it seemed more challenging to build and also more cool looking. I hope I can make it to top 10 in states here in Michigan, but I've heard that the Michigan Flight Competition is really competitive, but Ill take that challenge C:

[randomdogonapc]

thanks pumptato-cat and randomdogonapc! I just ordered myself a freedom flight model kit because it seemed more challenging to build and also more cool looking. I hope I can make it to top 10 in states here in Michigan, but I've heard that the Michigan Flight Competition is really competitive, but Ill take that challenge C:

Good luck! It’s definitely possible to place top 10 at states, but you’ll have to work hard for most of the season. Best things to do if you’re starting out are to learn as much as you can about building and trimming a plane, mostly at this point trying to understand all of the weird flight lingo that we use. Once you have a model to fly, you can post any questions you have about your plane(but make sure to include your trim settings!) and the coaches or me or pumptato can try to answer for you(but the coaches are definitely smarter than me lol). Just make sure that you’re having fun while remaining reasonably competitive.

[bjt4888]

thanks pumptato-cat and randomdogonapc! I just ordered myself a freedom flight model kit because it seemed more challenging to build and also more cool looking. I hope I can make it to top 10 in states here in Michigan, but I've heard that the Michigan Flight Competition is really competitive, but Ill take that challenge C:

Ykm,

If you want to advance quickly in the event, read all the info carefully at the links that Coach Chuck posted in the first entry of this forum topic. Coach Chuck and I and the other members of the NFFS Youth Development Program worked pretty hard to create new pictorial, text and video that is in the NFFS Science Olympiad web pages. The material covers quite a number of the basic (and advanced) questions that typically post in this forum every year. The material is quick to read and look at. It shouldn't take you more than an hour or two to read the basic material and watch the basic videos and will be well worth it.

And yes, to echo PumptatoCat and Random, either the Freedom Flight or J&H Aerospace kit would be quite competitive. I have a bit of info on the Freedom Flight that Dave Ziegler okayed me to share. The kit uses dihedral vs. winglets on the wing this year in order to increase projected span and effective wing area. The stabilizer is also increased in size about 30% vs. last year and has a slimmer airfoil height as this seemed to produce good flight times in testing. Also, the kit has instructions for building to fit the 8-ream paper box suggested in the rules and also instructions for a slightly larger airplane if you should decide to build a custom box to the limit of the rules. A word of warning on building custom boxes: It's tricky to build a perfectly regular "right rectangular" box, so I would suggest to build about 0.5cm undersized in each dimension (maybe, if you want to be aggressive, 0.3cm undersized in the height dimension only as you can easily trim height if necessary after the box is finished).

I don't have similar info on the J&H kit, but also witnessed very good flight last year from them.

Brian T