What happens when you crash at a contest?

[Paul Taylor]

How is your flight scored should you crash? Do you get scored for the patteren that you flew? Or is is a DQ?


Then what do you do, break out your backup plane and fly again?

Thanks
Paul

[john e. holliday]

In my experience, when you crash after doing the reverse wingover, you are scored for the manuevers done up to the point of the crash.  You lose the manuever point from that point on including pattern points.   Later,  DOC Holliday

[Jim Thomerson]

The rules, don't have them in hand, say something about being able to break out a second airplane if your first is unflyable after a crash.

[frank carlisle]

both are correct Paul. You lose all the points from the maneuver you crashed in including pattern and landing points. You can bring out a backup at that point.

I nosed over on my landing at SIG and that was counted as a crash. No damage to the model though.

[RandySmith]

"""both are correct Paul. You lose all the points from the maneuver you crashed in including pattern and landing points. You can bring out a backup at that point."""


Hi Frank

You can only bring out a  backup if you have  another flight left, you do not  get  to fly another  if there is  not  another  round.  Just wanted  to  clarify  that  point.
Killer is  when a contest has  2 rounds with scores  added  together  any crash  puts you  at the  bottom

Regards
Randy

[frank carlisle]

thanks Randy--I guess we got that one worked out. The only thing we left out for Paul is to pick up all the pieces.

[Steve Scott]

Bob Furr was with us flying in Beginner at Sig.  He was flying some combat type ship ('ya flies wot 'ya brings).  He also commented he NEVER puts up a practice flight the day of a contest.  "If I'm gonna crash, I'm crashing for POINTS!!"

My first flight I flamed out at the top of my 3rd outside loop - just as the maneuver was completed.  I almost crashed but managed to save the ship and did land it.  Got points for the outside loops and the landing - nothing in between.

I almost lost the 2nd flight as I nosed over on takeoff.  They let me take an attempt and I made a (barely) successful final flight.

Seriously, I've crashed at many a contest - almost always because I tried to do something I'd never tried before or flying with a different handle than I've ever flown a plane with.

I've never crashed because of hooking the handle up backwards although I've seen some pretty experienced competitors do that very thing.

It happens.  Just learn from it.   

[catdaddy]

.  Why do you think I go by Rudderless??? 

I thought it was because of what happened in Texarkana a couple years ago.   De Hill said it was if your plane was possessed by a demon. I'm glad you weren't hurt, but it sounded like a very funny takeoff.

[Jim Thomerson]

On the other hand, in OTS, if you crash, and your airplane is flyable, you fire it up and complete the pattern.  In OTS a crash does not cost you pattern points, even if your airplane is demolished.

[RandySmith]

Rootbeard, I forgot to mention, that it is considered polite to pick up all the pieces. And keep grinning as you do so.  That way they think you are a good sport.  ha. Good thing they can't hear me mumble. 

The  nice thing about  MONOCOAT   when you crash  you have a plastic bag to carry the pieces  home in !!
 
Randy

[wwwarbird]

Uh, start thinking about what to build next as you walk out to pick up the pieces.

[Zuriel Armstrong]

Paul,

For your first contest I promise two things:

1.  I'll bring Paper Towels for crying 

2.  I'll bring a plastic bag for the parts 

How much more of a friend could I be than that!!!

[Paul Taylor]

Paul,

For your first contest I promise two things:

1.  I'll bring Paper Towels for crying 

2.  I'll bring a plastic bag for the parts 

How much more of a friend could I be than that!!!

Zuriel,
You are such a nice guy, with friends like you who needs .......

I do not care if I crash and burn, I am there to put some faces with some names (handles) and have fun.
Ryan or (someone else) is going to take home the blue ribbon any way in my class.

Who knows, I might even make a new friend or two.
 

[Garf]

I put one in the asphalt at the 97 NATS. That was the first and the last time I lost line tension on that plane. It was my best ST .46. 

  "SAVE ALL THE PIECES"-Phil Brown

[L0U CRANE]

A few things in here that sounded just a bit fuzzy to me...

1. Under AMA Rules, the flier signals the start of an Official flight by turning to inverted at the end of the first wingover in the Reverse Wingover figure. You might confuse and tick off the judges if you do the first wingover, then pull out upright, but they should recognize that you were not declaring the start of Official scoring at that point. (You could, if the wingover sounded okay, start the "Officializing" wingover with the inverted recovery a lap or two after bailing out...)

2. UNLESS you have declared your flight Official (by the inverted turn out of the first wingover), your flight can - should - be considered an Attempt. Even where a meet adds the two Official flight scores to determine placing, an Attempt is not an Official. Most meets allow three Attempts to get two Official scores, whether they use best single flight, or best totalled score. Some might even allow two Attempts per round to score one Official flight...

3. I don't think FAI current rules have the AMA declaration thing. You signal to start engine and your flight is Official. (Haven't read the new Encyclopedia F-A-I-tica in the past few days, so I may have some part of this not quite precisely accurate.)

But, to the first actual question, when I crash at a contest, I bite back the tears, pick up the pieces, and tell those who commiserate at my loss that, "I'd never liked that model anyway. Now I can build something RIGHT..."

Incidentally, I think it is looser than we've been saying, here, to substitute a 'backup' for the initially entered model. The judges should accept the flier's statement that he considers the first model unflyable for whatever reason. (If the backup model hasn't been Appearance Judged, it should be before it flies, and THAT appearance score entered on the scoresheet.)