P30 and Coupe d’Hiver Postal

P.30 and Coupe D’Hiver Postal

Full rules for the 2024 P30 and Coupe d’Hiver Postal can be found here

The 2024 competition will consist of one round which will be run between 1st September to 31st October inclusive. The round will consist of several flights to an increasing maximum time as follows:

The maximum for the first flight of each entry will be 90 seconds. If this is achieved, the entrant is permitted a second flight of maximum 120 seconds, and so on, the maximum increasing in increments of 30 seconds until either a max is not achieved, or flying cannot continue (e.g. because the model is lost or damaged and can’t be repaired in time). The score for the entry is the total flight time including the sub-max final flight.

Final Results 2024

Congratulations to Simon Richardson for a superb set of times with his Emphemeral to the overall win. Andrew Longhurst wins the P30 class with his Sandbox? and Simon also takes the Coupe Class as well with his Etienvre

Name	Model	Class	Timer	Score	Pos
Simon Richardson	Ephemeral	P30	Self	988	1
Simon Richardson	Etienvre	Coupe	G Law	318	2
Andrew Longhurst		P30	J Paton	295	3
Jim Paton		P30	A Longhurst	223	4
Chris Brainwood	Etienvre	Coupe	I Taylor	204	5

Flight Times

Name	1	2	3	5	6	6	Location	Date
Simon Richardson	Max 90	Max 120	Max 150	Max 180	Max 210	238	Montrose	19/9
Andrew Longhurst	Max 90	Max 120	115				Port Meadow	11/10
Jim Paton	Max 90	Max 120	73				Port Meadow	11/10
Chris Brainwood	Max 90	114					Luffenham	26/10
Simon Richardson	Max 90	Max 120	108				Port Meadow	31/10

Simon Richardson had a great session flying in the postal and has set a high target to beat

I had an excellent flying session today recording times for the P30 postal competition. I have found a new flying site at Montrose which is about 45 minutes from my home. It is an ex World War I airfield and has quite a lot of space, not dissimilar to The Meadow. However, it lies between a sewage plant and the sea and is often quite windy. So with 2 mph winds rising to 5 mph, I thought this morning was too good an opportunity to miss.

I decided to use my Ephemeral01 P30 that I built 18 months ago. it was my first attempt to build a P30 down to 40 g, but it is quite delicate and I have hardly flown it. My plan was to get to Montrose early and do the 90s and 130s flights on a long motor run when there was no wind. I then hoped to take advantage of the evaporating dew to get some gentle buoyant air for the longer flights. I am reluctant to fly the model in the middle of the day, because it just has a tip up tail DT and can easily get sucked up into a thermal and never be seen again.

After a test flight sorting out the GPS, the first two competition flights went well with the model flying at an altitude of 20m or so – easy going with two minute 4×1/8 motor runs.

I then nearly goofed. I misread a tendency to power stall as a power turn and increased the right thrust. The model did an even bigger power turn when I increased the turns for the 150s flight wasting a lot of energy. Luckily the sun was now warming things up and it caught a thermal which took it up to nearly 40m. I even had to RDT and it recorded 164s. Phew!

For the 180s flights and beyond I needed thermal assistance, so I changed the motor to 5 x 1/8. This gave a sharp climb and it caught a good thermal, but the model was now drifting over the adjacent sewage works. I hoped it would overfly them but sadly it landed between the two huge open sewage pits. The plant operator was only too happy to retrieve the model for me, saying it had missed a very smelly demise by just one metre!

The max was now up to 210s and it was time to get serious. I changed the motor to 6 x 3/32 and put on max turns. Once again the model caught a huge thermal and went up to an altitude of 115m. I RTD’d at 180s beyond the sewage plant but it took a minute to come down.

I was beginning to wonder whether my luck was going to run out and I would end up losing the model, but I decided I would try one further flight aiming for 240s. The model caught a thermal once again but it didn’t go as high as before and went out of sight behind the sewage works at 238s.

Congratulations to all competitors in the 2023 P.30 and Coupe D’Hiver Postal for staying the course and being patient whilst we got the Fly-Offs done. The final results are:

Position	Name	Model	Class	Score	Location	Fly-Off
1	Simon Richardson	Ephemeral	P30	270s	Hazelhead, Aberdeen	331s
2	Simon Milan	Skyscraper	P30	270s	Port Meadow	143s
=3	Andrew Longhurst	Piffle	P30	270s	Port Meadow	0
=3	Andy Blackburn	Sweet P30	P30	270s	Port Meadow	0
4	Chris Brainwood	Etienvre	Coupe	253s	Port Meadow
5	Gary Law	Etienvre	Coupe	213s	Port Meadow
6	Gary Law	Sweet P30	P30	104s	Buckminster

Prizes are due as follows:

Overall Winner: Simon Richardson with an Ephemeral P30
P30 Winner: Simon Milan with a Skyscraper P30
Coupe D’Hiver winner: Chris Brainwood with an Etienvre Coupe.

All winners are due some Tunnocks comestibles, and as the overall winner Simon R will be the recipient of a “Completely Useless but Mildly Decorative” trophy as specified in the rules as soon as I can get one organised.

We will be running a repeat of this event next year but I think we’re probably going to change the way that it’s done, because running a fly-off during November and December seems to have been a bit of a lottery.

OMFC P30/Coupe Postal Fly-off

Max starts at 90 seconds with the max increasing by 30 seconds

R1 90s max

R2 120s max

R3 150s max

R4 180s max

R5 … and so on. Flying stops when the max cannot be made.”

Name	Model	Total	R1	R2	R3	Timer	Date	Location
Andrew Longhurst	Piffle
Simon Richardson	Ephemeral	331s	Max	Max	121s	Self	9/11	Aberdeen
Simon Milan	Skyscraper	143s	Max	38	—	G.Law	11/11	P.Meadow
Andy Blackburn	Sweet P30

Fly Off Procedure

In the event of a tie, entrants will have a limited time period in which to perform a fly-off and submit a fly-off time.

All the flights for the fly-off must be made on the same day between 1 November 2023 and 10 December 2023.

The maximum for the first flight of each entry is 90 seconds. If this is achieved, the entrant is permitted a second flight of maximum 120 seconds, and so on, the maximum increasing in increments of 30 seconds until either a max is not achieved, or flying cannot continue (e.g. because the model is lost or damaged). The score for the entry is the total flight time including the sub-max final flight.

Scores must be submitted in the form of an addition of all the flight times and a final flight time total, e.g. 90+120+150+102 = 462.

Simon Richardson was the first to post some times in the fly-off. Here is his account of the flights and the GPS tracks of his flights

It was a bit of a rush but the wind was forecast to be 3mph later in the day. I was tied with meetings until 3pm so I was not set up and ready to fly until 4pm. This gave me about 40 minutes daylight before it became dark. It was cold (3 degC) and the grass still frosty from the night before. Condensation immediately formed on the mylar covered stab and unsupported tissue was quickly soggy (but fortunately most of it is underlain by mylar).

But incredibly for Aberdeen there was hardly any wind so I made three fights in quick succession. My first two flights were good – but I dropped the third. I changed the motor after the second flight and wound on another 200 turns but night was starting to fall and I launched into gentle sink.

Simon Milan was next to record his times at Port Meadow

For the record, herewith my disappointing P30 fly-off times at Port Meadow last Saturday morning, 11 November. NW wind about 4mph, temperature around 6 deg C. In these conditions I wasn’t expecting there to be much good air, and certainly nothing like the thermally conditions that helped my 3 maxes on 9 September. So I didn’t have any real expectations about challenging Simon Richardson’s times. Anyway:

Flight 1 105 secs Self-timed. Maybe a little lift, and an encouraging start!.

Flight 2 38 secs Timed by Gary Law. A slightly over-enthusiastic launch plus some turbulence meant less height gained than flight 1. Then found a severe downdraught during the glide phase almost causing the model to spiral in!

Total 143 secs

Never mind! It was all good fun, so hopefully we can do the same next year.

Name	Model	Class	Timer	Flight 1	Flight 2	Flight 3	Total	Location	Date
Andrew Longhurst	Piffle	P30	J.Paton	Max 90s	Max 90s	Max 90s	270s	Port Meadow	6/9
Simon Richardson	Ephemeral	P30	Self	Max 90s	Max 90s	Max 90s	270s	Hazelhead Aberdeen	7/9
Simon Richardson	JGP30	P30	Self	Max 90s	Max 90s	Max 90s	270s	Hazelhead Aberdeen	7/9
Chris Brainwood	Etienvre	Coupe	A.Trinder A.Blackburn	Max 90s	Max 90s	73s	253s	Port Meadow	9/9
Simon Milan	Skyscraper	P30	Self	Max 90s	Max 90s	Max 90s	270s	Port Meadow	9/9
Gary Law	Sweet P30	P30	T.Gautrey	23s	24s	57s	104s	Buckminster	15/10
Andy Blackburn	Sweet P30	P30	D.Lovegrove	Max 90s	Max 90s	Max 90s	270s	Port Meadow	16/10
Gary Law	Etienvre	Coupe	Self	54s	78s	81s	213s	Port Meadow	26/10

Gary Law’s Etienvre

Simon Milans O/D Skyscraper P30 Inspired by the Wakefield by Bob Hatschek flown into 2nd place in the 1959 World Champs.

Andy Blackburn’s SweetP30 designed by Spencer Willis

Andrew Longhurst’s OD Piffle P30

Simon Richardson’s OD Emphemeral 01 P30

Simon Richardson’s JG P30

Andrew Longhurst has done a very good introduction to Coupes in the October 2022 Meadow Flyer as well as an excellent article giving a more detailed approach to flying Coupes in the November 2022 edition of the New Clarion – the journal of SAM1066

For those wishing to build a Coupe there are numerous plans available on Outerzone

Three designs have been recently reprinted as free plans in Aeromodeller and have the advantage of a build article and trimming tips

Garter Knight – Bill Dennis revisits Derl Morley’s design from the 1960’s AM Feb 2022. The plan is also available on Outerzone -Garter Knight

Etienvre – David Beales builds Michel Etienvre’s 1954 design AM Sept 2015. This model was available as short kit from Hummingbird Model Products in the US along with a couple of other Coupe designs. The plan is also available on Outerzone – Etienvre

If you fancy building one I have started a build thread for the Hummingbird Models Etienvre on Hippocketaeronautics.com

Fluke – F1G model designed by Spencer Willis AM April 2018. The plan is available as a free download from the Aeromodeller website

For magazine back issues visit the Aeromodeller website

For P30s the Spencer Willis Sweet P30 is available from Free Flight Supplies as either a kit or plan as well as the Mayzee A P30, a tail less design

Also on OuterZone is the Teachers Pet by John O’Donnell, a very Coupe looking P30 and there is the Pongo too