I have been thinking of how to put together a format for a fun flying event that would even the playing field for all airplanes involved. It would be fun to incorporate all aspects of flying: Load capability, Speed, Short field, fuel burn etc. to come up with the ultimate BC airplane/pilot.

Over here on the coast, we have several grass strips as well as gravel bars, sand bars etc. An example would be: Start at a place that has fuel available. Everyone starts with full tanks. The airplanes would be weighed and weight added (people, Sand bags etc.) to the weight the pilot chooses. The more weight, you carry, the more points you get. Then the clock would start when the airplane took off. You would do three take offs, climb to 1000ft agl and land patterns that would all be measured and totaled. All strips would be optional with different degrees of difficulty. Some "strips" would require bushwheels and borer props for example while others would be state grass strips that just about any single engine could land at. At each strip, you would pick up a "card" to verify that you landed there. If you choose not to land, you would have to circle the strip twice or so to simulate the approximate time it would take to land/takeoff. After completing the circuit, you would land and record your total time, refuel and weigh the airplane again.

So, you would get a great score if: You carried a decent load, had short take offs and landings, cruised at a decent speed, were able to land at all the strips, and burned a small amount of fuel doing it.....all in a short amount of time.

So, now the complicated part. Who is going to come up with a "formula" to make this fun and work. For examples sake, the formula would take into account the difference in cruise speeds of a Mooney and a Super cub, and the fact that the cub landed in several places that the mooney could not but the mooney took less time to make the circuit. Or, the C-185 carried 1000 pounds of "useful load" but burned 30 gallons doing it while the cessna 172 carried 500 pounds but only burned 15 gallons?

Anyway, I don't want to get too complicated, but it seems like a fun way to burn avgas and see what airplane/pilot can do a little of everything.

Any Ideas to Add........

Oh, and bonus points of Stealhead brought back!

You need to think less and fly more....Your weather must be crap too....Seems all I've gotten to do in the last three weeks is think about flying. Sounds like a fun idea...would be a logistical nightmare though.

highroad wrote:Who is going to come up with a "formula" to make this fun and work...?

I will. Declare me the winner and we'll just go have a beer.

Good concept, making it fair and equeal for all types is the brain teaser for sure.
The most fun I ever had in a flight contest was also pretty simple and low tech: you're in your ready to fly plane, a few hundred feet away somone releases a small helium balloon and trips the stop watch. You bust the balloon, the time stops. Some times were measured in seconds, others minutes, and for some the clock is still running! It is much more difficult then one may think. Of course it would have to be split into classes, other wise the Cubs, Highlanders and S-7S's and similar would clean up, on second thought, one class only would work just fine.

AvidFlyer wrote:You need to think less and fly more....Your weather must be crap too....Seems all I've gotten to do in the last three weeks is think about flying. Sounds like a fun idea...would be a logistical nightmare though.

Weather has been poor but got out and flew this evening during a break.

Where is Scolopox? He's an engineer and should be able to whip something up for me........

courierguy wrote:Good concept, making it fair and equeal for all types is the brain teaser for sure.
The most fun I ever had in a flight contest was also pretty simple and low tech: you're in your ready to fly plane, a few hundred feet away somone releases a small helium balloon and trips the stop watch.

What kind of FPM does a H. balloon make?

Wasn't there a guy who would put on a poker run a while back? Seems like around Boise? Off airport stuff? That has always sounded like fun to me. I could dream up a pretty fun off airport run around here but it gets scary thinking of some one bending their airplane or getting hurt.....

I love the idea.

Don't air races use some sort of handicap system for different types? That system could probable be modified weighting the backcountry aspects like landing distance and takeoff distance more heavily.

The Biggest Loser (on TV) uses percentage lost to calculate winners (losers). Can percentages somehow eliminate differences between aircraft? Then again, what are we trying to compare? Pilots or airplanes?

Alex

highroad wrote:

courierguy wrote:Good concept, making it fair and equeal for all types is the brain teaser for sure.
The most fun I ever had in a flight contest was also pretty simple and low tech: you're in your ready to fly plane, a few hundred feet away somone releases a small helium balloon and trips the stop watch.

What kind of FPM does a H. balloon make?

less then 1,000 fpm, more then 100, 3 to 600 if I had to quanitify it, I was flying something with a 1,000 climb so that wasn't the hard part, lining up on it, while climbing, was a blast and much easier once you eyeballed the proper lead: you never aimed at it, always where it would be when you got there. Most times its declared "too dangerous" (?), and never has seemed to catch on, too bad its great fun.

Throw out the balloon and start the clock.

UtahMaule wrote:Wasn't there a guy who would put on a poker run a while back? Seems like around Boise? Off airport stuff

That was Scouter114. I'm pretty sure he doesn't frequent this site anymore. And it was going to be down in the Owyhee's but don't think the weather was cooperating during the time they were trying to plan the event.