Entering Flight Data

To enter flight data, select Flight Data from the Contest menu. Choose the contestant from the pull-down menu or enter the NAR/Team number. Choose the event from the pull-down menu. As a shortcut, you may double-click on a cell in the Results view to jump directly to the corresponding contestant and event in the Flight Data dialog. Select the flight from the pull-down menu or choose New Flight to add a new entry.

For new flights, add all available information into the displayed fields. If a number is not available (for example, due to track lost or timer malfunction), leave that field blank. After inputting the data, press the Add button to enter the flight. An error message will be displayed if any required inputs are missing or any inputs are badly formatted. After successfully adding the flight, the score will be calculated and displayed. For events with U.S. Performance Records, that score is checked against the current record, and a message is displayed if the score broke the current record. Note that normal procedures for registering records still apply, i.e. the model must be returned, the flight card marked and submitted to the contest board.

Certain events have special circumstances for entering data, and are discussed below.

Altitude
Altitude data must be entered in degrees. Negative numbers and decimals are allowed. If a track is lost, do not enter any information for that station. In the Preferences, you can specify vertical midpoint or geodesic calculations. In Setup Tracking, you can set names for the tracking stations, and setup for redundant tracking (two sets of trackers at each of two stations). When redundant tracking is used, multiple altitudes and closures will be reported, representing the various combinations of trackers. Only those combinations with closed tracks will be used to compute the average altitude, rounded to the nearest meter. Flights which were lost or did not close are automatically marked Track Lost or Track Not Closed. The required closure is set at 10% and cannot be changed.

Duration
Timing data may be entered in seconds (e.g. 92.17) or in minutes and seconds, separated by a colon (e.g. 1:32.17). If a timer malfunctions, do not enter any information for that timer. If both times are available, they will automatically be averaged to the nearest second. If neither time is available, the time is reported as 0 seconds and marked as Lost By Timers. The option to include additional timers is not available. If the contestant provides additional timers, those times may be averaged manually before entering into ContestManager.

Drag Race
Only one entry should be made for each contestant. The "Place" value is the place that the contestant was awarded (i.e. first place is 1, second place is 2, etc.). If you know of any way to automate a pairing ladder system, I am open to suggestions.

Research & Development
The project name may need to be shortened to display neatly in the Standings view. The "Place" value is the place that the contestant was awarded (i.e. first place is 1, second place is 2, etc.). Duplicate places may be awarded, but places may not be skipped.

Craftsmanship Events
The first "flight" entered for a craftsmanship event is the static score, and any subsequent flights represent the actual flights for that contestant. Contestants with only static points and no flights recorded are automatically disqualified. The prototype name may need to be shortened to display neatly in the Standings view. Fields are available for each category of static and flight points, together with the maximum allowed points in each category.

Unofficial Flights
Flights that are deemed unofficial (e.g. track lost, timer malfunction, catastrophic failure, etc.) do not have to be removed for scoring purposes. However, the Standings view will only display the first 2 (3 for altitude events) entries, official or not, so this may cause some confusion. To avoid confusion, it is generally best to remove unofficial flights.