Yes, Tom, the winning 1.2g F1D's used at Slanic most often used fix pitch hubs, starting with Jim's win in 2002 and ending with Kang's win last year. And, with the new 1.4g F1D rules, fixed pitched hubs will continue to be the most used at Slanic and other very high sites such as Lakehurst. However, vp hubs will continue to be needed at Cat III and lower sites as well as the lower Cat IV sites such as Johnson City.
But, my post never explicitly mentioned vp hubs. These purchased vp hubs are just the tip of the iceberg. Although Kang has been openingly competing with a purchased vp hub since returning from Slanic, other F1D specific assemblies and fabricated parts are now being made quietly (and not so quietly) available for purchase. These include but are not limited to carbon composite prop and wing tip outlines. Even whole wings and complete planes have been offered for sale in the past year.
I would rather indoor duration stay as a competition between builder/fliers rather than just between fliers. Although my support (for what it is worth from a non-competitive F1D flier) is for a strict BOM rule, I think I clearly stated that it is more important to settle this issue soon. It is better to abandon the BOM rule completely, as was done in some FAI outdoor free flight classes, than to have a rule that is at best unclear because officials in the past have looked the other way when purchased parts/assemblies have been use by those fliers not podium competitive.
LeoP
Received on Thu Jan 08 2015 - 21:16:34 CET
This archive was generated by Yannick on Sat Dec 14 2019 - 19:13:48 CET