At 07:03 09/07/2009, you wrote:
I think the Biplanes add interest to the competition, and if I remember correctly AA is designed to take precision flying to a wider audience, so to exclude something that the public can easily identify with as different seems at odds with the AA concept. Biplanes have made a big resurgence over the last 3 years in F3A including winning the last worlds, People who know nothing about pattern or RC are always drawn to these aircraft. Good for the spectators.8 kg limit sounds good also. Nice balance of size, cost, ease of transport.
Hi Mike,Thanks for the input. I must say I nave not seen any biplane at freestyle meets in Europe for years, but I have no strong opinion for nor against. I am only trying to keep rules as simple as possible. In the event we still allow biplanes, should they have the same wingspan limit as monoplanes or a lower one ? Also if you want to keep a weight limit, then I would recommend setting it lower than 8 kg. Many 2-metres planes that are not derived from F3A planes never exceed 6 kg, even with heavy gasoline engines, particularly as most AA planes have a lighter, open bay r wing structure, as was evident during WAG in Turin and even the fully-moulded, composite plane by Ales Zapletal weighted not more than 4.9 kg. It is my impression that the only reason to set a weight limit at 8 kg would be to allow large capacity tanks for smoke systems, which is something I really would like to discourage, as polluting by disseminating smoke fuel over the ground is really a thing of the past and actually illegal in a growing number of countries. It has been amply demonstrated that ribbons, smoke cartridges, fireworks etc. are quite effective and much less polluting. If you really want to set up a maximum weight, I feel that 7 kg would already allow any kind of structure and engine with still a large margin.
Comments ? Guy R.