Very interesting video. I had not considered electric powered Free Flight (capitalized this time).

I am not particularly interested in changing rules, as I am a sport flier, not a competitor. But, I am "downstream" in a manner of speaking. Without organized completion there would be no P-30 models or probably precious little else. Competition give focus. That is good. A great many of the available plans and kits (all of the really cool ones, it seems) are for competition models.

And, well yes. Insurance coverage would be nice. But for the limited flying I do the AMA charges too much. And provides me with a magazine that I do not want. The Park Pilot program seems interesting but I have been unable to get any response from the AMA.

Your reply had given me some things to think about. I appreciate the time you spent in replying to me.

It is ironic that I have stumbled on a video of a 2017 Bowden Trophy contest. It is being flown on an airfield, that many of us would almost kill to be able to fly on. Of course we don't have to resort to such drastic measures. We just have to move to the UK.

Regards,
Ed OBrien
in the wilds of Connecticut

If you do what you have always done, you always get what you always got.

It seems that to help with the problem of decreasing field size for may of us the solution is to come up with a new event which is supposed to help the problem. Then free flightiers being what they are, proceed to develop the models so that continue to out fly the smaller fields.

How about an event in which the model has to land within a designated flight time, say 45 to 50 seconds? With points subtracted for over or under running the target time. Serious deductions for overshooting.

My son and I watched this event at a 2000 FF contest in the UK. Great fun was had by all contestants and the models ALL STAYED ON THE FIELD. There were even spectators, other than us. It was an event for diesel power but I do not see why it could not be adapted or rubber power. BTW, DTs were not allowed to bring the model down on time. No other gimmicks were allowed either, other than a fuel shut-off. The flight pattern had to reasonably mimic the flight of a "real" aircraft: take off, cruise, land in its wheels. We could even have them ROG from a card table or similar platform to keep some of us from having to kneel. (Please don't make me kneel unless I have something sturdy to help with getting up.)

Any thoughts on the subject? It is still a competition, just not a competition for "the long flight", a dream we all share. Maybe we need to adjust the dream to fit our circumstances.