OTS Pattern Procedure

I have built an OTS plane for this season and was wondering about the pattern.

1. Part of the sequence shows 5 inside loops, followed by 5 outside loops, then two laps of inverted flight.

The inside loop diagram shows an upright recovery, but the outside loop diagram says you can start inverted or upright. Can you finish the inside loops with a half loop to the inverted position, then do two laps before starting the outside loops? I would then expect to recover inverted and continue with the inverted flight.

2. How do you enter the overhead eights? Looks like you enter from the side. Are you going upwind or downwind?

3. I have been told that even though the diagrams show "Lazy Eights", the correct maneuvers would be round circles. Is this correct?

Thanks,

Ron King

LAST EDITED ON Mar-22-04 AT 04:45 PM (CDT)
 
At VSC this was the explained accepted method: IN IN IN (gettin olde) side loops are entered from level upright flight as in he AMA pattern, only you do five and exit in the same manner.
Outside loops can be entered from level or inverted flight. For level flight, you climb to the altitude of the top of the loop and enter from the top, not unlike an outside square and leave in the same place. For inverted entry, fly past the base of the loop,( about a 1/8th lap) go inverted and enter the five loops and exit level and go right side up about 1/9th lap past the bottomof the loop.
The overhead loop is entered from about 60 degrees, go into an "S" (the inside part of the loop like the horizontal eight) and when directly overhead, enter the outside part and repeat three times.
Leave the overhead eight from the intersection at 60 degrees. In other words it is not entered from a wingover.
The horizontal eight is entered from the left or the inside part first. Do the loop but at the intersection the plane should be vertical as in the AMA figure eight. This is backwards from the AMA eight as the inside loop is to the left and the outside to the right, assuming you are flying counter clockwise.
The hardest part of the Olde Time pattern is not leaving out one stinkin manuever. Ask how I know this
Forgot the inverted flight. Two level upright laps, do a half loop, go for just over two level inverted laps, once past the full lap point, go upright from a half loop and do two level upright laps. In other words do not do six inverted laps, just two, with two level upright laps before and after.

ty,

Yea, and it's easy to forget to do the wingover as well! Ask me how I know!! Now that Ron is completely confused I guess I will give him some instruction from inside the circle - whenever we can get out to fly around here again???????

LAST EDITED ON Mar-22-04 AT 04:53 PM (CDT)
 
HI Jim, I did forget the wingover at VSC. Here I just forgot to answer the question about inverted. But I did forget the inverted part in my last contest. A very famous Nats winner at VSC also forgot to do the vertical climb and dive and did my wingover. He said, "Ty, that wing over you forgot, I found it". I didn't feel too bad when a gent of his caliber forgets two maneuvers. No names.

Okay, you have clarified, terrified, and confused me. Thanks, guys. Good job.

Ty, I think your first sentence was talking about INside loops, correct? Enter upright, exit upright? Basically, I get the impression these are all just separate maneuvers and there's no effort to make them flow together. Maybe I'll learn the flow after I try them out. This just gives me more chances to crash models.

Actually, I understand everything you are saying, except for the overhead eight. I understand that we enter from the side instead of the middle of the maneuver, but how should I stand? Facing toward the judges (like the regular stunt pattern) or with my back to the judges and facing downwind? Plus, you are saying the bottoms are at 60 degrees? My diagram showed the bottoms at 30 degrees.

Jim, I will be happy when you back to the 'hood. I don't know if you heard, but I may have secured a permanent flying circle here in Gainesville. Plus, I got tired of looking at other people's property and have gone in with a group that's planning to buy 40 acres of farmland around here. Let me know when you finish your latest launch expedition.

Ron King

Ron,

I'm here now until the 6th of April then back out for DTV-7. I would like to get a flight or two in next weekend weather permitting!

HI Ron. Yes, the INSIDE loop is entered as per the AMA loops. I corrected my first response. Thinking too far ahead of my typing which has to be corrected for three minutes before sending.
The overhead is entered with your back to the judges. The only maneuver I enter in front of them is the wingover. Of course takeoff will vary with the preferences of the flyer, landing with the gods of fuel and wind.

I enter the overhead at about 60 degrees, not 45. The bottoms are at the 30 degrees but no lower.

Do you mean 60 degrees down from over your head? The correct overhead 8 is started at 30 degrees elevation. If you start at 60 elevation, you will take a big hit on your score!

Ron,

For the O'head 8's, they are shown with the LOOPS about 60º wide, so I think a tongue got over an eyetooth and he couldn't see what he was saying. I know he enters at a line angle of 30º from ground, or a bit more.... And, yes, the loops in the eights should be round and tangent -- like coins touching at their edges. It isn't mandatory that the eights be "Lazy" (insides PAST the downwind point), but it confuses judges less that way.

OTS maneuvers ARE separated and not intended to flow like the AMA Insides-Inverted-Outsides sequence... No one back then thought of that.

Outsides and Inverted can be entered from the top, upright. It is usually less confusing (to flier AND judge) to "whip over" for the Inverted.

There are no mandatory ways to do OT Pattern maneuvers. At a contest, if Event Director and judges want it a certain way, seems to me they should spell that out before any flights. About all that I consider basic in OTS is that there are no part- or half-figures added for entry or exit. (E.g., AMA Horiz and Vert 8s require a complete inside before kicking into the first outside.) So, and I hope all agree, in OTS you exit where you entered. You do ONLY the required number of repeats of a figure. Five each round loops, three each of the eights, ONE "Square" Loop, etc.

"Whipping-over" before and after Outside Loops, or Inverted, is not scored (exit from Inverted WAS scored in the 1951-52 AMA Rules, tho not now.) Since we could enter by diving into these from up high, that's not an essential move, thus unscored.

For Inverted, remember to do only two laps. "Whip it over" to inverted, establish level inverted for a short distance to your point, go round twice to that start point and beyond it a bit, not a lot, then "whip back over" to level upright flight.

Similarly, for Outsides: Set the entry point in your mind, and fly to it. The fifth time you finish an Outside, continue out flat, inverted, to show you've completed the figure, then 'whip over' to get ready for the next figure.

Partly because the rules are somewhat vague, the OTS pattern is enjoyable to fly, yet very difficult to fly well.

\BEST\LOU

LAST EDITED ON Mar-22-04 AT 06:19 PM (CDT)
 
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is probably worth a million.

320 X 220 Windows Media player 9 required (10.9MB)

http://www.aeromaniacs.com/FancherOTS0001.wmv

The best thing to do is get a copy of the OTS rules. For PAMPA events this includes the PAMPA rules and the 1951-52 AMA pattern. PAMPA rules requie flying the 1951-52 pattern, as does the GSCB rules. The 1951-52 rules do not flow, have vague and contradictory spots, and instructions where you don't expect them. (For example, the admonition to give a hand signal to the judges to make the flight official is in the last paragraph.)

Several comments are are perhaps not quite correct. #12 Overhead Figure Eight says that the loops are not to go below 30 degrees. It does not say they are supposed to be down to 30 degrees. Flying the loops anywhere above 30 degrees is just fine. I usually fly them at what I think to be 45 degrees. There is also no indication of where the wind and judges are. I would guess that the illustration shows the flyer with his right side toward the judges, but that is pure speculation.

Yes, the exit of inverted flight is scored.

The rules do not specify a level flight inverted exit from the outside loops if you enter from the bottom. There is nothing said about the exit. One can argue that the diagram sugests a level inverted exit before recovery to upright level flight. So far as I am concerned, if that is what the judges want, that is what they get. It is not against the rules.

So get the OTS rules and study them carefully, but stop before your brain turns to mush.

40 acres, that'll hold a circle or two. When we start mowing???