My observation on setup of the airplane mission is that is the line is too
tight, then the airplane may not release.
The tautness is specified in the Field Setup instructions:
  "Finally, use the thumb-gear at the arrival end to put tension on the
string until the cantilever (tire/arm weight) sits mostly level."

If the airplane does not release during a tournament match, then the
scoring follows Rule 34, Model Damage, Bullet 6:   "Any model damage
obviously due to poor setup or lack of maintenance is scored with benefit
of the doubt."

Steve Scherr
VA/DC FLL Referee Advisor


On Sun, Oct 13, 2013 at 5:10 PM, Greg Trafton <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Hi, all.  We have a quick question about the airplane mission.
>
> On our mission model, when the lever is pushed down, the airplane
> sometimes does not launch.  Sometimes this is clearly due to the mission
> model itself (probably torque/friction causing the airplane to 'stick') and
> sometimes it is likely due to the robot not pushing the lever down hard
> enough / precise enough.
>
> If the model does not work correctly during the tournament, how would it
> be scored, since there is some ambiguity about whether it was the robot's
> or the mission's problem?
>
> (It's certainly possible that our mission model was built incorrectly and
> no one else is having this problem, but I thought I would ask).
>
> The picture here shows the lever pushed all the way down (by a coach) and
> the airplane stuck up above.  It does not launch after this. And the robot
> does not push and hold the lever down for long enough for a judge to tell
> if if it is a robot or a model problem.
>
> thanks!
> greg
>
>

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