President's Trophy Air Race for Microlights???

[topflight]

Wouldn't it be fun if we can have the same race for microlights or is there already something like this for microlight pilots?

[John Boucher]

Pray do tell............

WHO IS GOING TO DO THE HANDICAPPING ?

[blainec]

My mate Chris and I have often discussed how you would go about the handicapping. If you consider all the rotax 912 planes that now fall in the microlight or sports pilot category the speed ranges from a Cheetah at around 90 mph to a samba at max permisable 120 mph. The solution is to allow each entrant into the race to nominate his or her own handicapped speed . You have a very tight range of slower than and faster then the nominated speed receives penalities. The winner would be the aircraft that flew the most direct route as close to the nominated speed . Let us not forget that this race is not about all out speed but rather good navigation skills and the ability to use the wind in your favour. This means that you would have to decide at which alttitude you should fly each leg (with the wind , and against the wind to maintain the best constant speed.)

Just a suggestion . I have flown two Presidents air races as a novice ppl pilot and learnt a whole lot . The atmosphere is electric. In theory all 110 aircraft should cross the finish line on the final day at the same time if they all acheive their handicaps. Beleive me it gets busy and the sterss level in the cockpit is high . At the end of the day its all about being with people who have the same passions as you . 110 planes each with pilot and navigator equals 220 new friends to be made.

I would be very keen to get a microlight air race going.

[John Boucher]

I have also flown in the PTAR and I agree about what you have said. A contentious issue however has always been the handicapping system. I remember us booking a test flight - in the test, our aircraft flew maxed out 110kts. We had test flown the aircraft so many times and used this as our nav speed! Come raqce day, we get handicapped 116knots! Effectively out of the race.... ok, fly for fun then! We flew on the tape and race result 109.9kts which would have given us a top 10 finish! That was with a Cessna 172. The next year we did it in a Mooney and was hc'd 147.2kts. We flew 146.9 and ended up 42nd - only losing 30 seconds over the 2 days - that made me feel better a navigator!

The handicapping system must be right or it'll just be a flying event with lots of fun!

[justin.schoeman]

The solution is to allow each entrant into the race to nominate his or her own handicapped speed . You have a very tight range of slower than and faster then the nominated speed receives penalities. The winner would be the aircraft that flew the most direct route as close to the nominated speed . Let us not forget that this race is not about all out speed but rather good navigation skills and the ability to use the wind in your favour. This means that you would have to decide at which alttitude you should fly each leg (with the wind , and against the wind to maintain the best constant speed.)

This is precision rally flying, and there are plenty of them happening arround the country, and most of them open to microlights. No real need for a separate rally competition for microlights.

BUT, an actual air race for microlights sounds awesome! Just make sure you allow PPLs in <450kg aeries to fly too!!!

-justin

[John Boucher]

I wouldn't mind doing it.... but a Cheetah doing 90mph? I have one of the older versions and let me tell you - 65kts (73mph) ground speed is what you block her at!

So, I provisionally request a test fly with a data logger!

[Morph]

We did somthing like this in our Competition.

However you selected your own speed.

You had to predict your flight time and fuel usage. The winner was the one closest in percentage terms to the final result. We had waypoints with observers taking the times at each point to prevent cheating
Great fun. We let the faster planes go first to automatically spread the field.

[Wargames]

Great fun. We let the faster planes go first to automatically spread the field.

Jeezz morph,

You really want me to go last huh???

Rather let me go first, so I can at least tell you who cheated if he didn't pass me.

regards,

[Morph]

In fact myself, Gadget, Ranger and Skidmark are going to be arranging the competition for this year. It will probably be located at Morning Star since we now have facilities there. We will combine it with a long weekend and invite the "buitelanders" from the rest of the country in on a Fly-in.

There will be camping and if it turns wet we can house guys in the club house and the hangars.

I see the only winter long weekend is in June, 14 to 16th. Might be too soon

Wargames you are more than welcome to volunteer your efforts

PS: we opted to spread the field that way rather than have some 120mph Sting screaming through a group of 45 to 55mph trikes You also don't want the field to arrive at the end all bunched up

[Wargames]

Hi Morph,

Just pulling your wing. If you need help, give me a buzz. in fact, add wargames to your list.

Ok, i concede. I will herd the sheep into the "kraal" then.

Is the namibia trippie still going to happen, because they were talking around that date as well?

[RV4ker (RIP)]

I have been involved in both handicapping and race as test pieloot for a couple years. It a simple concept. It not F1, so money can not buy you a winner. It more like golf. Handicap each aerie to level the playing field. Problem comes in when guys (like in golf) doctor it. A bit like playing K@k on purpose for 5 weeks leading up to the club champs to get a better handicap, then suddenly during comps you shoot a couple of 70's off a 7 Handicap after not breaking 80 for months... Similarly over boosting turbo's, running rpm past red line, negative flaps etc all add speed whcih give you unfair advantage. Will never keep everyone happy. Only the winner is happy with his handicap speed and then only after the results have been announced.

In past they issued you with Handicap speed based on the POH figure for 7500ft at 75% power regardless of age or condition of aerie. Many did not come and fly a a result. I know for eg that there are 2 182RG's in air race which are faster in a straight line than ours, maybe due to different rigging, new engines (ours is 27 years old and never been opened), props 3 blade/2 blade fewer nicks less wear and tear etc. etc. All these things affect the performance of the aerie. Some types are able to exceed this POH book speed (like Beech for eg) and some are not (like Cessna & Pipers). So what to do. One of the guys then came up with the test flight with a gps logger and it would be applied to a formula to solve the fact that certain types were continually doing better than others seemingly regardless of pilot experience or ability. Enter the GPS age. Last year was the first year that GPS logger were issued to every competitor, thus giving the jury/judges the ability to check every flight on a per second basis. Results were interesting to say the least.....

Basically the thinking is as follows... You fly in a square at a given altitude (any safe altitude). You fly the test flight (square usually 4 compass points N E S W) with a test pilot who is rated on your aerie so you can not open cowl flaps, fly skew (ball out), 50% throttle, activate wing boots etc. (to check you flying balls to the wall) and a logger to record the speed alt direction etc. for later analysis?The avg of the legs 1 & 3 and legs 2 & 4 are the calculated. The wind is adjusted for and an avg speed is allocated, based on avg speeds calculated above. Below the results from our test flight.




I don't know how you fly balls to the wall with a trike? (Bar to the balls maybe ), but bottom line is handicap is relative and as long as all have a chance of getting there or there abouts it more about navigation and accurate flying than anything else. Some guys need a periscope they fly so low (less than 50ft) others need binoculars they fly so high. (Turbo's often go to 15000ft to get benefit of the hair dryers). regardless of what alt you fly the theory is if you fly staightest you should win, but you need to work with terrain, wind and aerie... HUGE AMOUNTS OF FUN regardless of position. (We got a top 30 in our first race and have never been back below 50th even though in 2005 we flew shortest distance bar 1). Still keep going back.

It is not difficult to organise and depending on numbers would be a great deal of fun. i would suggest we do one near Harties sometime in Winter (less turbulent WX and not such an early start is required... The PTAR is based on 320-350nm a day over 2 days. Most fly in region of 2-3 hrs per day. I would suggest maybe something slightly shorter for the ML types. Maybe 100miles which should take avg trikes around 2 hrs. GT450's less than hr, but remember it far more difficult to navigate at high speed low down and longer you spend in a tail wind the more it benefits the slower boys)

PS
If anyone is serious to try get something like this off the ground I am sure SAPFA will make loggers available for donation and I happy to do the admin (as long as I can fly as well). We have done a mini air race at Britz every year for past couple running up to the PTAR as a practise and it huge fun...

[Rudix]

This sounds like fun !

Maybe we should try a short local (GP) test run, 100 miles sound about right. I like the idea of choosing your speed and then sticking to it, not so sure I would like to run a 2 stroke Rattax flat out that long and flying a trike with the bar in your belly for 2 hours won't be much fun either.

If the results are based on accurate flying (track from logger) and good navigation it can be a fun without stressing the planes or the pilots.

So, who says YES ??

[John Boucher]

I say yes.... however, it is going to be a seriously illegal race! If you have to check the aircraft for eg. ATF iro 503 / 582 then only old Vliegvark will take part

[Rudix]

I say yes.... however, it is going to be a seriously illegal race! If you have to check the aircraft for eg. ATF iro 503 / 582 then only old Vliegvark will take part

No checking !

And the final destination is secret till you are in the air so there can be no surprises waiting !

[John Boucher]

Just dont arrange the race in 2010... You guys are going to controlled airspace. Poor ATC's that are going to handle all the illegal m/light traffic

From Avcom

Dear Sir/M'am

Would you please be so kind as to forward the following information to me? 1. Actual figures/number of the ammount of aircraft movemnts you had at your airfield over period 01 September 2007 to 31 October 2007.

The National Security Council together with the CAA (Civil Aviation
Authority) decided to change the unmanned VFR area under the CT TMA (MSL - 2000') to controlled airspace during all games played at Greenpoint Stadium during the 2010 World Cup in a 50NM radius around
the stadium.

The SA Air Force is also planning to strategically place Tactical
Mobile Radar (TMR) systems in and/or around this area to provide the security forces with a radar picture, early warning capabilities as well as relay for better vhf communications.

We are looking forward to working with you to make the 2010 FIFA
Soccer World Cup a successful aero-secure event.

Your co-operation in this regard is highly appreciated.

Air Force Greetings