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Quad racing it McCoy field.
#1

Firstly a show of hands.

Who is interested in being involved in some FPV multi rotor racing at McCoy park?


Also post up if you have any objections or suggestions along these lines

Especially put up your hand if you feel that you might like to be the organiser/driving force behind making it a success.

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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#2

I would love to give racing a go, I saw the pics from last Sunday and raced down this Sunday and only Jason, Peter and Bob were there!

I have to be very non committal as I have a very busy couple of months coming up though. That MultiGP Tsunami track looks easily doable at PRCAC
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#3

Hi, Jason. I’d like to give it a go even though I probably come last because I’m not very fast yet but that doesn’t worry me at all I would be very happy for the experience and I’m sure there are other guys in the club who would be very interested in racing as well and we may be able to get a couple of guys from other clubs, long for the day a suggestion may we could have a sausage sizzle as part of the entry fee.
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#4

Absolutely I'm interested. My lack of free time has kept me away from the club over the last 5 months which is why I've turned to quads lately as I can easily zip down to my local parks and fly for an hour or three rather than lose the day. I'm keen!

We need to work out how quads and planes can fly at the same time though. It's really awkward expecting fixed wings to stop flying while quads are in the air, so I'd say that if we can't find a "simultaneous" solution then it's not fair for fixed wing pilots (hey guys, I am into both and I'm trying to be even handed here!)

FrSky Q X7 Mode 2, Turnigy 9XR Pro and Evolution. Multirotors, planes plus a couple of heli's. Too many to list.

Aaaaand if the wife is reading this: "The club made me buy these planes, I had no part in it, honestly!"
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#5

It was discussed that every 20 mins or so the Quads have a run. Not sure how long they normally last but if your talking races then I would suggest 5 minutes? give or take. This would still give fixed wing plenty of air time.

It wouldn't kill me to miss flying for one day, but then again, why risk it.
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#6

Hey Chris, Sounds like a good start.

Medium to long term probably needs some additional planning, because that's only 3 flights in an hour. Quad flying typically has different usage patterns. Most quad enthusiasts have upwards of 12 or more batteries (because the flight time is usually short and turnaround time between flights is quite short). This would result in a long break between flights.

Good for those who are into planes and quads, like most of us here, but for quad-only enthusiasts, I don't think it would be enough to entice them to join. Having said that, are we intending to promote the club to quad pilots, or are quads just seen as being a fad/flash in the pan?

More of a rhetorical question than anything as it really needs to align with the club's future strategy (which I'm not up to date on) but I thought I'd pose these points/questions to get people thinking about it.

FrSky Q X7 Mode 2, Turnigy 9XR Pro and Evolution. Multirotors, planes plus a couple of heli's. Too many to list.

Aaaaand if the wife is reading this: "The club made me buy these planes, I had no part in it, honestly!"
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#7

(09-03-2016, 05:02 PM)symowallo Wrote:  Absolutely I'm interested. My lack of free time has kept me away from the club over the last 5 months which is why I've turned to quads lately as I can easily zip down to my local parks and fly for an hour or three rather than lose the day. I'm keen!

We need to work out how quads and planes can fly at the same time though. It's really awkward expecting fixed wings to stop flying while quads are in the air, so I'd say that if we can't find a "simultaneous" solution then it's not fair for fixed wing pilots (hey guys, I am into both and I'm trying to be even handed here!)

We had both going simultaneously a few weeks ago, so I dont think that is out of question... we do though need to work out safety and communication between pilots. Doing a lowpass with a bunch of quads running the track is not going to end well (10m rule during racing might be a simple solution), or having to land with a race on might be 'dramatic'!! Deadstick's would have to take priority obviously.

Need to think also some plane pilots dont feel comfortable with quads racing around when flying, especially less experienced or those trying to practice landings. So need to find space in each hour for clear air. I get 3 races an hour might not be enough but dont think we need 12 either... need to find the compromise that works... 6? Note we are talking racing, not flying time, quad flyers can free-fly as they do now.

Another approach is say till 11am it's planes and quads free-flying, then racing starts after 11am...

Please everyone post your thoughts and concerns...
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#8

The beauty of FPV is that you don't necessarily need to exclusively fly where you physically are, Track could be on far side of reeds under power lines and still well within safety guidelines. Any plane hooning around there is asking for trouble!
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#9

Hi guys. Yes we need this sorted out the sure . I myself are hovering well I hope and I now need to practice flying circuits I’ve considered coming down during the week when the runway is empty that would save causing problems to the plain guys , of course it would be good if some of the other quad guys could join me but work commitments are a problem, the battery life my quad at the moment is about 6 to 9 minutes depending on how I fly the quad.
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#10

Yes I'm not just referring to racing though. I also mean general flying. Quads on the plane circuit are a bit boring really but if the committee rules to allow the quads to join the flying circuit I'm all for it. Same rules applying to quads as they do to planes, etc etc.

At the end of the day, what is the club's strategy as it pertains to attracting new members? Is the club fixed wing 80% with multi's and heli's 20%, or something else? Is the club/committee interested in attracting multi-only pilots, or are quads always going to be seen as a secondary thing? Heli's appear to be dying out in general - try selling a second hand heli right now - and those who fly heli's within the club tend to also fly aircraft.

So to summarise, my questions are:
  • Is the club going to try to attract multi only pilots or are they just seen as being a little "sideline activity" in the eyes of the club?

  • Will the club, the committee and its members ever support the setup of a semi-permanent quad track that can be flown at the same time as fixed wing operations? Ie. not just racing, but general circuit-type flying?

FrSky Q X7 Mode 2, Turnigy 9XR Pro and Evolution. Multirotors, planes plus a couple of heli's. Too many to list.

Aaaaand if the wife is reading this: "The club made me buy these planes, I had no part in it, honestly!"
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#11

semi permanent anything is a problem with PCC being a flood basin. Anything we want will need to be setup and taken down each flying session.

good questions... we may not be able to answer definatively though, nor would I try just yet. I would like to believe we can accommodate all RC flying, but I think the flow of the discussion to date and the committee members I spoke to, is an openness to try and see if we can find the happy medium for all.

BTW we have had the gates up and quad flying at the same as plane flying a few times now without incident (that I know of)... though I did notice Jason has been struggling to manage the two transmitters at the same time with the FPV goggles on. Smile wait till we introduce the pylon racing too!!
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#12

I wont speak for our current committee but as an example from the past; The "Heli area" never existed when the club founded but was adopted when members started mowing the area and using it for hover practice. After it was demonstrated that a heli could safely be hover/flown in the area, It was "officially" adopted by the committee when electric heli's really took off a few years back. The club logo almost ended up like this:
[Image: kpKHEGR.png] Paranoid

Back then, the committee didn't need to make a special effort, it was the club that made it happen collectively.

Even at 60 members there was always lulls in flying for either planes or helis to get the sky to themselves otherwise planes and helis co-existed in the pattern.

FPV makes things damn easy, there is nothing stopping you hugging the earth and going where no plane or heli flyer dares to travel!

Here is my proposal for the new Quad pattern at PRCAC, the circuit ceiling is 15ft:
[Image: M0QU5us.png]
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#13

Wow... looking at that photo... we really need to get council to put a backhoe through that trench... you can actually see it... if you look at some of the recent aerial video on the forum, it is all silted up to the left edge of your 'quad track'.
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#14

Hahaha I love the circuit, it's great.

I've never seen heli's on the main circuit at the same time as planes though. The little heli area is pretty useless if you want to have some fun with a heli, it's really only good for practice (hence it being called "practice area":-)) I guess that why fixed wings always gave main strip time to the heli's.

FrSky Q X7 Mode 2, Turnigy 9XR Pro and Evolution. Multirotors, planes plus a couple of heli's. Too many to list.

Aaaaand if the wife is reading this: "The club made me buy these planes, I had no part in it, honestly!"
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#15

Bob and I are setting up the Gates for the Quad course
And we have it all to our selves!!
And its a top morning for flying so far

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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#16

Ah man, wish I could have made it down today. Have fun guys!

FrSky Q X7 Mode 2, Turnigy 9XR Pro and Evolution. Multirotors, planes plus a couple of heli's. Too many to list.

Aaaaand if the wife is reading this: "The club made me buy these planes, I had no part in it, honestly!"
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#17

Whoops, I slept in! Is it still set up?
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#18

HI, Kiran. If I knew for certain that you were coming down we could have left the gates up for you I left about one I’d finished my quad practice and nobody else except for Pete and myself with their, so I put the gates away, maybe next time.
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