Club Homepage Forums The Cessna 150-152 Fly-In Fly-In Questions nerf ball drop

Hey.......I need some info on the rules

Each contest flight usually consists of 6-8 planes. Each plane must have a pilot and a "delivery specialist" (aka bombardier). Each plane will be given 3 nerf balls, with sequence numbers written on them (e.g. the 3rd plane gets the nerfs marked "3").

All the planes in each flight lined up then launched about 5-10 seconds apart. Each plane follows the plane ahead and makes one nerf drop from 200' AGL, then the whole flight comes around and make one spot landing. Do that cycle a total of 3 times.

The target for the nerf drop is a plastic kiddie swimming pool. Judges on the ground measure the distance from the target to where the nerf hit and give you a score. Add up the scores from 3 nerf drops to get your total score. There are people on the ground holding flags to give you an idea of wind direction and velocity.

For the spot landing contest, there are two green lines painted about 80' apart on the runway, creating Green Acre. You try to touch down (with any part of the airplane) within the green acre. Outside the zone gets 0 score. Scores are also given for "style and grace".

Take a look at these videos to get an idea of the process.

Clinton 2013 Flying Contest - Part 1 [youtube.com]

Clinton 2013 Flying Contest - Part 2 [youtube.com]

Hard floor of 200' agl. Three passes alternating with the spot landing contest, a delivery specialist in the pax seat, and a pilot. Try to hit a barrel or get as close as possible to the barrel. Final resting place distance from the barrel minus 100 gives your score. Distances greater than 100' are a score of zero. High total score for three drops wins!

6 hours and I still cant gent under 6 feet

works best when I approach in a slip

at clinton I ned some one dumb enough to fly with me..............hey boops........is that a martin in back?

The rules from 2002 in the June issue make a little more sense to me. When one drops a "bomb" it goes off on the point of impact, not where it stops rolling. My feeling is that the score should be from the point of impact. If the score is going to be from where the bomb comes to rest, where is the accuracy component of the event?

It's too hard to pin down the point of impact. The Nerfs don't leave a mark where they first hit.

Having been rumored to have been involved in the testing of new nerfs for this year and as it is rumored that this might give me an unfair advantage. I can probably assure you that the data gathered probably revealed some interesting differences between nerf types and differences according to which side of the aircraft the nerf was dropped from. All relevant data has been forwarded to Dr Catherine Cavagnaro who will no doubt obtain a second doctorate on the basis of the probable subsequent paper. She did tell me there was so much data that it might take her a few years to get the paper written.

A long winded way of saying that this contest should not be taken too seriously.

My aim was so awful, I think the first one I dropped landed in eastern Des Moines - Mark and Ron had a heck of a time finding that one