2012  ALES #4    Saturday, July 21, 2012   -   Results

This was the 4th of 5 MOSS sponsored Altitude Limited Electric Soaring (ALES) contests for 2012
Click HERE for info on the other events

Location: Ohio Willow Wood plant; 15441 Scioto Darby Road, Mt. Sterling, Ohio 43143

2012 MOSS ALES #4 

CD’s Report

The 4^th event of the MOSS Altitude Limited Electric Soaring Series is in the books

After missing the 3^rd edition because I was flying F3K at The Bruce, I was guest CD of the day.  My intentions were to give Greg a break so he could have more time to fly.  But he talked me into flying and I am glad I did, it was a wonderful day of weather for soaring..  It worked because he was equally familiar with the routine and software and indeed we tag teamed the scoring during the meet allowing us both to fly.

This being the 4^th ALES meet in the series, it was free to those who had flown in 3 of the previous events.  It is part of Greg’s “fly in 3, then fly for free” program.  For others it was the low low price of $5.  Greg put out a donations jar to help cover lunch which this time featured some really good all-beef hot dogs!  They get my vote for future gatherings!

It was a wonderful day for soaring, probably one of the coolest we have had for months after a heat wave and drought has been dominating our weather. Thermals were in general mild and not too strong.  Later in the day they became gentler.  All during the day they were not followed by a great deal of down air.  The gentle thermals of the day showed up in the scores where often both groups made there times. This was in great contrast to the air for ALES #2, where the thermals were too strong taking you up too high too fast and when you bailed out of the too strong air, there was nothing but sink that took you down in sub max time.

The day dawned with a formable cloud shelf stretching from horizon to horizon to the South.  It was a sight to see fro those of driving in from the North. The sight cool breeze out of the North was much welcomed and soon the cloud shelf moved off.

Apparently I-71 was completely shut down somewhere in Columbus, so a few of the flyers straggled in as a result.  We were a casual group that day, so we didn’t sweat it, and sure enough more and more people showed up.  We finally had the pilots meeting at about 10:15 AM instead of the advertized time of 9:30 AM and began the first round immediately after the meeting

We had 9 pilots show to fly, with all 9 making official flights.  At least 3 others  showed up to help and socialize (Ron, Al and Carry)

Ron was busy helping Paul Weise for the first several rounds, but did not seem to have his rumored Electric Tragi with him.  Will he have it ready for the last MOSS ALES meet in September?  Or is it just a rumor!   Time will tell.  It was good to see you Ron, thanks for coming out with us electric guys.

Al helped by timing as there was an odd number of pilots leaving the flight group with the higher number of pilots a timer short.  Al timed for me in all of the rounds in the 2^nd flight group as well as many other flights in the first flight group.  Thank you Al!

When Carry was not busy goating for air by flying between and during rounds,  he also was seen timing many of flights.  Carry, you win the chief “goat award”, but seriously, it was good to see you and thanks for helping with the timing too!

Right before the start of the first round we had some visitors show up who learned of our meet from the internet.  It was a group of 2 young men and their mother who drove down from Marysville.  Apparently they were doing a 4H project on gliders and wanted to get some first hand observations.  We joked about putting them onto Carry who was not going to be flying in the meet, as Carry usually has no shortage of things to say.  At the time however, Carry was doing some sport flying, so Mark Groves took them under his wings.  Mark took them out to the flight line and had them watch from there.  I think that was a good move because they could see things a lot better from there.  In talking with the mother, it was obvious that our particular flavor of gliders was but one small slice of the overall model airplane glider activities.  I briefly tried to explain the different kinds, winch launch, electric motor launch, hand launch, etc.  Throw in variations of the theme, and you get Nostalgia, Woody, Thermal Duration, the F events (F3x’s) and it probably all seems overwhelming to a newcomer. Mark mentioned to her the NATS was coming up soon, and indeed the family has relatives near Muncie, so perhaps she will show up with the family again.  I pointed her to our website and told her she could correspond with us from there, so hopefully we can let her know of further activities.  I did mention that we also flew at Area 51, which is a lot closer to her, and the Dayton group flew in Yellow Springs.  They stayed for several rounds.  I hope it was a good experience for them

Since I was keeping score, I opted for individual time cards for each round.  Note, I did not say “score cards”   These time cards wore super simple, having only the info on them that was pertinent for the timer. Just the pilot’s name, round number, flight group number, a place for the flight time (with the annotation of “min:sec” so things got written down that way) , a place for landing points, and a place for the timers name (this was done for convenience in case there was a question about what was written down)  

Having these individual time cards for each round was a good thing as it allowed me to score the ones that were completed and send the next round out to fly with a new blank card..  Once they were scored I put rubber bands around the cards from each round and had them for reference if needed.

A lessoned learned was that I found it best to physically hand out all the score cards at the beginning of a round directly to the pilot.  From there it was his responsibility to keep track of it.  This worked well, far better than other systems I used in the past, because when a pilot came to me asking where his score cared was, I had one reply (I passed it our directly to you!)  As a result, there were very few instanced of missing score cards, and when there was one, it was the case of the flyer giving it to an intended timer, then getting someone else to time

The scoring program that I used was the one that Greg had been using at the other 3 prior ALES meets.  It is super simple, and very intuitive. Long story short it worked great!  I had a few inquires about where to get it, etc.  It is available for free, from the Chicago SOAR group here: http://www.soarchicago.net/news_view.aspx?articleid=17  yes, the program is dated 2009, a tribute to the fact that it works and has not required follow on updates so common to many of the more complex programs that are out there.  Many of the other clubs in the Ohio Valley Soaring Series (OVSS) are also using this program as their standard scoring program.

The day started with Eagle Eye Bill Hoelcher specking one out.  I stayed with Bill for a while, but when I got my model “Ava high” I decided to push forward and be conservative. This left me about a minute short on time, where as Bill made his time and nailed the landing.  Bill score of 10:00 with 45 landing points put him in the lead after the first round. 

Also, in the first round, Paul Weise maidened his model, first time with power on!   He requested, and I allowed it, to launch from a different location away from the rest of the group, for safety reasons, being this was his first ever powered flight with that model.  It turned out to be uneventful.  I heard comments from the field that the model climbed out well with plenty of power.  Paul launched with the rest of the group for the remainder of the meet.  Thanks for the extra caution Paul!

Jim Van Dyke put a bit of time on the entire fight group 2 in round 2 allowing him to take over 1st place in less than great air

Joe Mekina scored a 10:04 with 50 landing points in round 3 where the rest of flight group 2 dropped some time thus moving him into first place

Round 4 flight group 2 all made time with most making good landing points so the lead did not change hands

In round 5, Jim Van Dyke buried us all, putting time on the entire 2^nd flight group.  This was essentially the contest.

Round 6 saw all of flight group 2 making time, so nothing changed in the top 5.

In round 7, the final round, Jim left the door open by not making the time with only 5:17,  Joe Mekina was the only one however in a position to catch him and Joe dropped badly too, making only 5:41 dropping him to 5th place overall.  A strong finish by Bill Hoelcher who made the time in the final round  secured his 2nd place spot behind Jim Van Dyke. So, the day ended just as it started, with Bill making time and nailing the landing, a sign that the earth is still spinning on it’s correct axis.

Don Harris who was bouncing around the second and third slot  actually dropped a few places in the Jim Van Dyke burry us all round, and he though he did not have a shot at placing, so he told me he switched to his other heavier model.  But in the ever getting better flying conditions, Don secured his third place finish by making time on his final round with Bill while others dropped time.  A surprise to him when the final standing were announced!

I was one of those who just couldn’t make the time on the final 2 rounds.  In both rounds, I went the wrong way, then when I tried to travel to the lazy thermals that were sustaining others, I was just below the air that would have taken me up.  Oh well, that is model airplanes!

Greg Bell was coaxed into bringing out his Big Bird floater by Skye, and for the last several rounds also dominated his flight group.  A drop here and there by others including myself in the 2^nd flight group and Grep moved up to 4^th place. Good finish Greg!

Jay Watkins had some good afternoon rounds, and he related to me that they were some of his personal best, Good flying Jay

“Crash” Malcom did not live up to his reputation this gathering as he did not crash an airplane.  Good deal Skye!   On one flight I was told he did some exceptional low level flying getting back from far downwind.  Good flying Skye!

Mark Grows had a couple of good rounds in the late afternoon air, Good flying Mark!

Several us of hung around after the meet and did some more flying as the flying condition wer perfect for flying.  Winds were less than 3 mph and variable, with thermals abundant, all the way up till we all finally packed it in at 5:30 PM

I got a chance to fly Al’s hyper wing, and Al flew several other models he had with him

About 4:30 PM,  Bill Hoelcher and Greg Bell went back up in search of the late afternoon lift.  They called a friendly 10 minute challenge, and some 15 minutes later, they both called it off as they were both specked out riding what seemed to be an endless late afternoon high altitude wave.   I tossed out my hat for a landing target, and Bill put it to it, hitting my hat, and literally coming to rest with the hat touching his model.  Greg landed a bit short, but still concluded his long flight in a good way.  So, this one came down to a landing contest!     

Over the next hour, Greg let Bill and myself fly his Reichard Magic  What a nice model!   It is simply amazing.  It has servo wing, with all the bells and whistles.  Putting it in travel mode was simply amazing, I was able to move across the entire field in seconds while giving up very little altitude. One one flight I shut off the motor at a low altitude with intentions of just shooting a landing.  But another late afternoon thermal was booming, and it was taking the model up with full landing flaps!  I took it up to way above 200 meters before putting it in travel model and zipping across the sky to get out of the thermal.  Eventually I eluded the thermal and was able to complete my intended landing approach.  I never really nailed the landing, but was close.  What a joy this model is to land!. .  Here is a link to the model available from Hobby Club: http://www.hobbyclub.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_60&products_id=1226

Thanks to Mark Groves for facilitating our flying at OWW, the dining canopies for the scoring tables, and also for cooking lunch!

Thanks to Greg bell for letting me CD, it was fun!

All in all, a good time, no crashes either!

Next meet, and final in the 2012 Summer MOSS ALES series, is set for Saturday, September 22

Joe Mekina
Guest CD of the day

Next up in the MOSS ALES series is MOSS ALES #4, Saturday July 21, 2012     Click HERE for more details

Here is an summary of results: see below for the detailed results

place	pilot	score	normalized score
1	Jim Van Dyke	6,317.99	1,000.00
2	Bill Hoelcher	6,264.76	991.57
3	Don Harris	6,170.59	976.67
4	Greg Bell	6,125.31	969.50
5	Joe Mekina	6,045.69	956.90
6	Skye Malcolm	5,984.37	947.20
7	Paul Weise	5,696.31	901.60
8	Jay Watkins	4,653.45	736.54
9	Mark Groves	4,506.46	713.27

Detailed Results from the WinSoar scoring program:

2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-results.pdf
2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-round-scores.pdf

Here is how the standings changed round by round:

2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-through-round-1.pdf
2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-through-round-2.pdf
2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-through-round-3.pdf
2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-through-round-4.pdf
2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-through-round-5.pdf
2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-through-round-6.pdf
2012-07-21-moss-ales-4-through-round-7.pdf   (same as final results above)

Pictures from the event:

Thanks to Greg Bell, Skye Malcom and Joe Mekina  for taking the pictures of this event

Clicking on a thumbnail brings up a full-size image (without the caption) suitable for downloading and printing.

The guest CD of the day was Joe Mekina, seen here with his helper Jay Watkins who helped with the time cards event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-001.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	A busy flight line, with Jim Van Dyke in the foreground launching, others in background are Al, Bill, Skye and Joe event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-002.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Bill Hoelcher readies his radian while his timer Mark Groves looks on event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-003.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Sky Malcom heads out with his Radian Pro and his timer Paul Weise event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-004.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info
Jim Van Dyke, the eventual winner heads out with his model with Jay Watkins his timer event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-005.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Joe Mekina with his Helium, Tim Horton's edition and timer Al Schmidt take a moment to pose before a flight event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-006.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Skye Malcom is all smiles with his Radian Pro. Paul Weise stands ready with the watch to time event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-007.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Bill Hoelcher lines one up for a landing event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-008.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info
Joe Mekina (behind) getting ready to set one down for landing points, Al Schmidt timing event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-009.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Jim Van Dyke about to get some landing points event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-010.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Paul Weise, ? And ? Relax in between rounds. Jim Van Dykes Prelude is under the green towel event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-011.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Carey Songalio rests in his easy chair as does Al Schmidt. These guys are laid back! event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-012.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info
Another flight group is hard at it, Left to right, Al Schmidt, Jay Watkins (hidden), Mark Groves, ?, Bill Hoelcher and Skye Malcom event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-013.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Bill Hoelcher with his high tech foamy, his trusty Radian event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-014.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Jay Watkins returns from yet another good flight event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-015.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	The custom made awards event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-016.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info
Paul Weise was sporting a small fighter after the meet event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-017.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Mark Groves relaxes with a pop. event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-018.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Jay Watkins takes time to pose for a picture event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-019.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Greg Bell was the winner of a hat, for his 4th place come from behind victory, Greg flew well in the final rounds and moved up event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-020.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info
Joe Mekina, CD awards Jim Van Dyke the first place award event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-021.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Joe Mekina, CD awards Bill Hoelcher the second place award event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-022.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	Joe Mekina, CD awards Don Harris the third place award event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-023.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	The happy winners: Don Harris - 3rd place, Jim Van Dyke - 1st place and Bill Hoelcher - 2nd place event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-024.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info
The happy winners: Don Harris - 3rd place, Jim Van Dyke - 1st place and Bill Hoelcher - 2nd place event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-025.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	The group shot, left to right: Don Harris, Greg Bell, Jay Watkins, Paul Weise, Joe Mekina, Bill Hoelcher, Skye Malcom and Jim Van Dyke event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-026.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info	The group shot, left to right: Don Harris, Greg Bell, Jay Watkins, Paul Weise, Joe Mekina, Bill Hoelcher, Skye Malcom and Jim Van Dyke event: 2012 MOSS ALES #4 picture: 2012-07-21-027.jpg location: Mt Sterling, OH date: 07-21-2012 revise info