The discussion of two-engine models got me looking into The Rule Book (always risky bidness).

I had assumed that you can't stop and/or back up during Low Speed.  But The Rule Book says that you can't exceed 60 degrees of attitude (except for taking three warnings), but doesn't actually prohibit stopping or backing up.  Maybe with just the right headwind you could stop or back up.

Is this currently done?

Yeah, OK.

I was looking for it in Section 11, Low Speed Flight.

The rule that makes stopping and/or backing up a "all or nothing" DQ offense sure would put a lot of stress on the center judge.  If he DQ's a guy, the guys feels bad.  If he lets it slide, he's screwed everybody else.

Maybe a 10-second penalty would be better.  That way, the judge could singe him a little without going directly to capital punishment.  "Accidental stop due to gust", -10 seonds...don't come so close to a stop next time.

 Z@@ZZZseems to many judges are snoozing helicopters stop and go backiwards hellcats and corsaires dont...

     I consider the judging in our carrier events to be seriously flawed and it is not the rules that cause this, it is the judges we use and I'm as guilty as the next one. There are many different causes for this that could be pretty much cured if we could recruit a person to judge that wasn't involved with carrier flying. He would be big, mean, not afraid to use force, carring a gun, a friend of no one (prefably hates everyone) well I think you get my drift.
     The trouble I have is with a new flier is that I don't want to drive him away so I don't call every infraction that the inside judge is there to enforce (a terrible injustice to the new flier) because I figure if I did I would never see him again in a carrier circle. So that sets up the chain of future passes for these fliers that after a while is the norm. The rules are quite clear about how the event is to be flown and what you shouldn't do while flying to avoid being DQed.
     The new flier spends his money and builds his plane and then is put off the event on his first contest because the inside judge is an A-hole. Now I hope you were paying attention to the above sequence and you will notice that something is missing. What is missing is "PRACTICE", "PRACTICE", "PRACTICE".
     My personal opinion is that carrier is probably the easiest CL event to "fly" there is and I can hardly believe it when I go to a carrier contest and find many of the fliers haven't flow sense there last carrier contest they were in. So they make the same mistakes over and over again and this becomes their norm and to some extent the carrier norm.
     The judge should go over the rules at the pilots meeting before the events start explaining what he is looking for and will judge you on. If its a multi-day contest he should do it each day before the flying starts. He should ask if there are any questions or clarifications and clear them up then, and if you miss the pilots meeting tough sh-t on you (or you better know what your doing) I hope you put in a good flight.
     Oh, and don't forget that when you are doing all that practice flying you better have someone (on occasion anyway) out in the center of the circle judging your flight and giving you plenty of feed back.
    Well thats sort of what I think anyway. eric

That was then but this is now. Reminiscing about how things used to be is a waste of time. You only remember the the things you want to anyway. Read the rules, build a plane that meets the rules and go learn how to fly it. Practise and become completive if that is your goal. Whining and making excuses why you or someone else can't learn a new or different way of doing something tries my patience! If you choose  to fly "old school" then fly nostalgia, that's why it's there!
The only reason there aren't the numbers flying control line (all control line not just carrier) is it just doesn't have the appeal it did 50 years ago when there weren't a lot of hobby choices to do.Now look at what a kid can do! There are probably 50 different activities for young folks to get involved in. What kid wants to hang with a bunch of old grey haired dudes flying toy airplanes on strings in circles! Just ask one sometime!
That's the truth 

Skyshark58   Fly Carrier-Get Hooked

     Funny you should mention the triangle Bob. I have always been at a loss as to why we use a hand held triangle to measure the 60 degree maximum angle of attack during the LS portion of the flight. It is impossible to hold the triangle in the proper position through out the entire LS portion of the flight. The judge has to line up the 60 degree angle on the plane and keep it there for plus or minuse 4 minutes. His only reference to keep this triangle level so the measurements are correct is at the bottom of the triangle (you know, the shortest one on the triangle) this assuming that the flight is over level ground. Of course the judge cant be looking at the triangles 60 degree line, the airplane, and the base of the triangle all at the same time so he is usually looking at the plane and moving the 60 degree angle to contact the plane (there for almost never getting a reading that is accurate).
     There is a way of measuring this angle with much more accuracy but for some reason the triangle seems to be the preferred instrument. Back in 1989 Joe Just wrote an article in the Hi-Low Landings about a hand held stick with a wheel on it that would always show the 60 degree angle correctly. The wheel is a piece of Plexiglas that has lines running at 60 degree angles across the face of it and a small weight at the bottom of the wheel to hold these line at a 60 degree angle. You put the plane on or between the lines and it is very easy to see when the plane goes over 60 degrees.
     I have used this type to measure the 60 degree rule and it is so much easier to use than the triangle. The 60 degree rule seems to be the one that is always brought up by the people that watch our event and as it stands right now we not only don't measure it as accurately as we could we seldom use the infraction to police the flight. Many fliers go by the assumption that if they correct the plane back to the 60 degree angle they don't get a ding. The rule clearly states "When the 60 degree limit is exceeded, the contestant will be notified immediately and must correct model attitude immediately. Failure to do so will result in loss of low speed score". A maximum of three notifications will be given. Sounds pretty clear to me.
     We need to remember to have someone judge us while we are flying the LS portion of the event (while we are practising) and tell us when we are exceeding 60 degrees. Sort of like when the stunt fliers ask someone to curteak them while they are practicing. eric

To Eric and all,  no matter what you use to judge the 60 degree angle, it is a judgement call.  When I was doing it there were many contestants right on the edge.  To me if they went past the 60 long enough for me to get my hand up past my waist, the hand went on up for a foul call.  The momentary stoppage is the hardest to judge.  But, when the plane goes backwards because of a gust of wind, to bad, end of flight.  Another thing is I only called fouls or backing up during the scoring portion of any attempt. 

In the years I did it, only one person argued about my calls.  Then after I quit doing the center judging was I told that I was doing it all wrong.  I always sighted down the lines.  Not off someones shoulder.  Just have to get my SkyRay going as the MO-1 will probably never fly.  DOC Holliday