F3J is flown without skegs. Pilots routinely put their planes in the 100. There is a reason for this other than they are good. It is that they are allowed to land in any direction they choose! Unless the CD has designated a "no fly" zone, the planes take the best approach, into the wind, into the landing zone.
At nearly all the major contests I've attended you are forced to land in a certain preordained way. The reasoning has to do with safety. You can't have 300 pilots landing whatever way they choose at a place like Visalia; it would be chaos. Pilots are told they will get a zero if they fly over the pits, or over the launch or landing areas. In this case, when you are landing sometimes straight downwind, I would argue that the skeg is a very good thing. For those lucky enough to have a large field with plenty of different approach patterns the skeg debate is probably a non issue. With a tight field and limited approach patterns more often than not I think the skeg helps the pilot. When landing downwind without a skeg, all the talk about energy management goes by the wayside unless you have a ton of experience in this style of landing. It is what is not natural, not the skeg! JE -- Erickson Architects John R. Erickson, AIA > From: "Aradhana Singh Khalsa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 09:17:19 -0700 > To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: RE: [RCSE] Emphasis or de-emphasis on landings > > Well, now I've entered the great debate with one of our best glider guiders, > teachers, and debaters. Thanks for the response, Gordy! Okay, here goes... > > American... > Whether skegs were invented by Americans doesn't it make a good idea or bad > idea by itself. I'm 11th generation American, and I don't like them. I can > see that some Americans do like them. Most of my American friends and model > sailplane mentors don't like them. > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
