SO National Wright Stuff 2002
Posted May 2002
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 Tom Lewis, an earth science teacher from Spencerport, NY and a Science Olympiad coach at his high school, gave each of the blocks of contestants a quick briefing regarding contest ground rules prior to the start of each hour-long flying block. |
 Ray Harlan brought a specially rigged digital scale setup for weighing the models, complete with a wind shield. Models were weighed in a vertical, nose down attitude within the box, held securely by a fixture. |
 Roy White brought his pole and was kept busy during the testing and competition retrieving models from baskets, girders, and other 'model magnets'. Roy is famous for his retrieval work at the West Baden, IN, contests back in the late 1970's and early 1980's. There he climbed out on the girders to release models trapped nearly 100 feet above the atrium floor! |
 An open test flying session was held from 6 AM to about 8:20 AM. The first block of official flying began at 8:30. This overall floor shot was made during that test period. You can see the curtain rails as well as girders and pipes, all of which made for some exciting bounces. |
Pictures and text by Bob Clemens
I was there because Don Steeb and I were event directors for the high school division competition. Don is a long-time friend, fellow modeler and Rochesterian. We have worked together running Wright Stuff high school competitions for many years at the Rochester Regional and also ran the event at the NY State competition at West Point in 1999. In addition, we both have served as mentors to various Rochester area high school and junior high students over the past seven years.
The site at the University of Delaware was a gymnasium with lots of floor area but also with a cluttered ceiling. Two sets of suspended partition curtain rails as well as basketball basket units along both sides were particularly troublesome. The "B" division (middle school) was at one end, the "C" (senior high) at the other. The no-man's land in the center served as a part-time test flight area. Tom Sanders and Roy White ran the "B" competition with John Clapp and his wife helping as timers. We had indoor veteran Ray Harlan volunteer to help with processing, timing, and model retrieval. Despite the ceiling obstacles, a winning flight of 3:42 was recorded to win the high school event (complete results can be found in the Indoor List archives). The very last flight of the day, just over 3:30, took second. At least three four-minute flights were recorded during the pre-contest trimming session, but could not be repeated in competition.
