By Jim Bonnardel
I believe the overwhelming opinion was that the Dead Stick Challenge game is a keeper! This was the first time we tried this event, and it took a couple of players to go through before we fine-tuned the game.
First change was the “Mulligan” rule (and yea we also defined what a Mulligan is, a do-over). At first I was asking pilots to call their mulligan BEFORE the airplane touched the ground, but that proved to be just a tad bit of cognitive stress on the pilots, so we changed it to simply applying power and going again. You still got 3 mulligans for the event.
First change was the “Mulligan” rule (and yea we also defined what a Mulligan is, a do-over). At first I was asking pilots to call their mulligan BEFORE the airplane touched the ground, but that proved to be just a tad bit of cognitive stress on the pilots, so we changed it to simply applying power and going again. You still got 3 mulligans for the event.
The next change was we went to 3 “play’s” per pilot because as a competition, it goes really fast. You are done in just a couple minutes.
Last change was only providing 10 seconds of motor on power. I’m SO GLAD we didn’t do 20 seconds! OMG, it was amazing how many pilots were successful right up to 199ft with just 10 seconds of power~!
So with that, we began the game. Pilots did high-power launches to get to their best height and then it was on! Early pilots were treated to calm winds, pilots who launched a bit later, were treated to the typical AM thermals that the Electroglide pilots all love!
George Sullivan was the brave soul that stepped up first. His first RTH (return to home) was not so successful, so as he went out to the field doing the walk of shame, Brad went ahead and launched. Brad, being the first pilot to launch and return, set the bar at 42 seconds of glide, and a BULLSEYE 30 point landing. Well now…. thats showing the gang how its done! There was more excitement as we saw virtually ALL types of aircraft come to the line. EDF, Military, Sport, Micro, & Trainer. Balsa and foam planes!
Corey even stepped up with his Helicopter, and did 3 Autorotation landings that of course gave him the opportunity to be flawless with his landing placement in the target. He was the only pilot to get all bullseye 30pt. landings.
What was also interesting was how the pilot’s paid attention to the contest, and learned from each other VERY FAST! It was Brian G, who very early in the event, did the first DOWNWIND landing and showed how he had so much flight control right up to the stop GENIUS! Pilots watched where the lift bubbles were, pilots timed their landing and then dove in, committing like a pro! The longest flight (coast) of the day was Jim’s 1:51 with a 30 pt landing. That was a single round worth 131 points!
All in all it was very exciting to watch, and we have to give thanks to the Pilots who KNEW that sign-up order breaks ties (and it DID) and jumped in early, not knowing what the best strategies were. There was 1 tie between Brian G and Bob S who both scored 177. BRIAN got the placement since his sign up was ahead of Bobs. Mulligans were spared (meaning people didnt use them all) because many simply couldn’t remember to use it in time! Remember, first time with this game… I think we did pretty darn good.
Scores were varied and impressive. Getting 1 point per second of airtime, and then the landing bonus of 30, 20, 15, Scores were worthy!
In Finishing order:
Brad B 16th 123
Steve M 15th 131
Mark D 14th 132
Jon U 12th 163
Bob S 11th 177
Brian G 10th 177 * signed in ahead of Bob S
Larry K 8th 209
Alex S 7th 210
Quan N 6th 223
Jovi 5th 269
Scott V 4th 276
Phil 3rd 277
Bruce D 2nd 314
Jim B 1st 323
Congrats to the winners, THANK YOU to all the pilots for participating. Its the club’s membership that makes these events fun, and through participation, continue.
Next month, BOMB DROP!!
