A while back, when I was seriously involved in scale competition, one topic that was often talked about was scale speed, which is usually thrown into the general catchall 10th maneuver in the AMA rule book and as Scale Realism at the Top Gun Scale Invitational. Scalelike speed is not an actual maneuver on your flight card but, rather, something that is judged throughout your entire flight round. And I think because of the need to keep things as simple as possible for both pilots and judges, we won’t be seeing speed in a category of its own anytime soon. But one of the most common downgrades that scale pilots receive is for flying too fast. Any way you look at it, speed is a low priority on the score sheet and, in general, is not well understood. And I agree that more emphasis should be placed on the issue of speed because when it’s right, everyone notices.
In general, if you give the flight judges what they want (a good smooth presentation flown at the right speed), then they will give you what you want in the form of a high flight score. So here’s the rub: If you question the judge and he says that you are flying too fast and you realize you can’t do anything about it, you’re a hurtin’ unit! Let’s take a look at achieving more scalelike speeds.
To read the article from the April 2017 issue of Model Airplane News, click here.
