At the February 2019 club meeting there have been accepted significant changes to the Flying Field Rules as follows:
Muffler Requirements – Giant Scale
- Single Cylinder Engines with displacement of 56cc or over are required to have full length “cannister style” mufflers or Tuned pipes to assist in reducing their noise footprint.
- Multi-Cylinder Engines with an individual cylinder displacement of 36cc’s or greater are required to have “cannister style” mufflers or Tuned pipes to assist in reducing their noise footprint.
- If an aircraft, by design or by assembly, is not capable of accepting cannister-style mufflers or tuned pipes per the requirements described above, the airplane may be tested to see if it is in compliance with the current sound guidelines/Sound test present in the club bylaws.
- If the aircraft meets the sound rules without the described exhaust systems above, it will be permitted to fly.
- Members are also always afforded the ability to have their airplane tested in lieu of the above “exhaust type” measures to ensure compliance with the sound rules to avoid making changes to aircraft that would otherwise meet requirements.
Sound Footprint – “Prop Rip”
Definition: “Prop Rip” is described as the point at which the aircraft's propeller tips achieve high subsonic and possibly super-sonic speeds resulting in a loud and audible “cracking” or “ripping” noise over and above what is observed under a lesser throttle position or “loaded” condition.
- It is realized that “prop rip” can occur accidentally under certain flying conditions and a pilot must make all efforts to minimize “prop rip” at all times.
- If a pilot’s aircraft and engine enter a condition where “Prop Rip” occurs, he/she must immediately reduce power to eliminate the excessive noise.
- If a pilot continues to maintain the high level of noise caused by prop rip in excess of 5 seconds, the pilot is to be advised of the condition/warned and asked to refrain.
- If the pilot continues to create the excessive noise via Prop Rip again after being advised/warned either in the same flight or subsequent flights (exceeding the time limit set above for curing accidental ripping-conditions), the pilot and subsequent aircraft will be grounded.
- If a member is not following the advisement/warnings from club members or officers (as this is a community enforced rule), the members are to advise the Club Officers for further review and official action.
- As with any of the rules, by-laws of the club, or required conduct, failure to follow these items and/or willingly ignoring them can lead to further actions up to and including expulsion from the club via established guidelines in the By-laws.
Flight Safety Rule Addition
- Pilots are not to purposely put their aircraft into a position where it is executing a maneuver of any nature that is considered “high energy” (High energy described as high speed and/or high airframe stress) in the direction of the flight line/pit area, parking lot, or spectating areas.
- Due to the possibility of failure of a component at any time for any reason, pilots must be diligent to ensure that they maintain all safety boundaries and make all attempts to avoid putting their aircraft into an attitude or course where if a failure were to occur, the aircraft could continue on into the designated Pit, Parking, or Spectator areas.