I originally agreed with Wayne that R/C would be the wrong way to go in any of the C/L events, and maybe I still do. However, I had an interesting conversation with Mike Gretz who simply asked, "If they're having fun with it, why not?" The idea is to let people enjoy carrier and if using R/C helps, and perhaps gets more participation, maybe it should be considered. There are several reasons I can think of that somebody might want to use R/C:
1. Working bellcranks and handles are not available on the regular retail market. I make this rather bold statement because Brodak 3-line bellcranks and, to a lesser extent, handles have such poor quality control that few (none?) work properly out of the bag. If I were new coming in to the event, this would be a huge source of frustration for me. (We old-timers often have a stash of high-quality GS and LR hardware that we will continue to use forever.) Also, the price of the Brodak setup is really quite high, and radio may even be less expensive.
2. If they're coming in from R/C, they may own the equipment and know how to use it. It's pretty cheap and easy to use in any case.
3. If the modeler likes electric controls, which have been legal forever, avoiding the insulated lines is an advantage in convenience and reliability. Yes, performance is slightly enhanced over insulated lines, but using John Vlna's thin polyurethane insulation technique, the insulation is very thin and the performance difference is quite small.
So I'm not convinced my original negative reaction is the right one, and we should think about this carefully. Particularly, who will be using R/C? I don't think the present serious competitors are going to: We have our three-line stuff working very well and don't see R/C as adding any advantages for us. I think the R/C is going to be used by Sportsmen-type fliers, who just want to have fun, and newcomers, so maybe it won't hurt us and could help us.
Finally, I note that there are three proposals about R/C in Carrier: One to ban it entirely, one to allow it entirely (except for aerodynamic control of elevation) and one to permit it for throttle control only. The first two are easy to enforce at a contest. The third, throttle only, doesn't strike me as too difficult to enforce, and is the sort of thing that would appeal to beginners and Sportsmen who don't want a lot of tricked-up controls anyway.
I haven't decided how I feel about all this, but I am keeping an open mind on the idea. Maybe we will hear from some of the people who are using R/C control for sport flying now to know what they are thinking. And, as Mike said, "If they're having fun with it, why not?"
Pete