2011 F3A World Championships : Muncie, IN, USA. 25 July – 01 August
Results link: http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/finalresults.pdf
Photos link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/modelaircraft/sets/72157627301376102
With our Integral model packed we set off to Auckland International airport on the 20 July. We had no check-in issues and received excellent service from Qantas as we headed for Muncie, USA – the AMA Headquarters and flying site.
Our first point of entry to USA was LAX. Thank goodness we had an early arrival as customs clearance and security checks were lengthy and time consuming. From LAX we had only one stopover in Dallas Fortworth – an enormous airport, before arriving in Indianapolis some 25 hours after departing AKL . We had no problems with the transport of the model box on any of the flights. The batteries caused some concern going through the Security screening in and out of every airport but after swabs by the explosive personnel we were ‘good to go’ every time.
After collecting our luggage and the model box at IND we picked up a rental (take your pick!) vehicle. We got a Dodge Caravan Grande …VERY nice and the perfect vehicle for any F3A modeller. The plan at that time was to stay the night in IND and head to Muncie in the morning but we drove out of the airport, onto the loop freeway and drove … easy as! Before we knew it we’d been driving for an hour – no problem then we started to see signs for Muncie, so kept driving, arriving in Muncie at 9.30pm and rocked-on up to our Hotel, one night early. Luckily our room was vacant so we checked in and unpacked. Excellent … no damage what-so-ever to the Integral J but it was evident that US Customs had opened the box for inspection! Feeling relieved and not tired we went out to find somewhere for a bite to eat which was not a mission – the area was the hub of Muncie hotels with plenty of places to eat.
On Thursday morning we headed out to the AMA Headquarters and immediately encountered (100F = 38C) the intense heat the region had been having and high humidity (100%). These record highs were to continue throughout our time there and proved difficult, at times, to acclimatise to. The USA Free Flight Nationals were being held at the AMA flying site. The site is incredible with two sealed runways and a third grass runway. The sealed runways were the official sites and the third was used for practice (which pilots did prior to their official flights when the competition started). There was also sealed Control-line circles, so every fraternity was catered for. There was even a model shop adjacent to the site with access off the sealed road around the fields. With very few F3A people around, we headed back into Muncie to WalMart to get some basic essentials.
Friday 22 and we’re up early, packed the model into the Dodge (Jwe liked that vehicle) and went back out to the AMA site to meet Colleen, who was the AMA/FAI Co-Ordinator for the W/C. With a few official matters taken care of we headed to one of the practice fields, located about 40 mins. from Muncie on a site which was the birthplace of Wilbur Wright and housed a small museum commemorating early flight. Here we met pilots from Norway and the South African team. The field had some beautiful shade trees J, access to electricity in the pit areas, a large undercover area and cold drinks, etc. This was to become our daily practice site which, as days passed, also attracted teams from Japan, Finland, Israel and China.
On our return to Muncie we stopped in at the AMA site and found people flying on official Site #1. We met up with Wolfgang Matt flying his Peridot and the rest of the Lichtenstein team. Stefan Kaiser was flying his Amythesis (bi-plane). He flew extremely controlled, big manoeuvres, quite slowly and he was very gentle on the power through the rolls, etc. A very impressive flying styles.
Saturday was pretty much a repeat of Friday except when we stopped in at the AMA site there was only two fliers from Brazil flying on Site #1 so we dragged the model out and went to fly. Just after we had taken off a lightning storm struck (these storms roll in very quickly) so we landed and by the time Noeline retrieved the model, there was massive lightning and nerve-rackingly loud thunder with BIG rain drops. The ‘Heavens opened’ within seconds. It was somewhat scary for us NZers who don’t get to experience thunder and lightning storms to that extent. We sheltered for about 15mins while the storm passed then went flying again. This, we came to experience, was a regular occurrence in the late afternoons. There was also often heavy overnight rain.
Sun 24 : The start of Official activities. A little cooler (96F) as we drove out to the AMA site at 9am. We had our Official Practice flight at 11.20am on Site #3 (before Registration & Processing - that was just the way the timetable worked). Noise was 94dB and flight time was 8 mins 10 sec (including landing) so that was OK – all good.
The Japanese team flew their Official practice flights directly before us. Suzuki, Hatta then Onda. It was also the first time we’d seen the Australian team, who had arrived to watch. Their Official Practice time wasn’t until 16.45.
In the afternoon we headed back out to the Wilbur Wright practice field where Norway and Japan were flying again. Ross had two good flights then we could see another storm heading our way so we went and looked through the Wilbur Wright Museum onsite. It was excellent. When we came out there was thunder & lightning and very heavy rain – water up to your ankles in the parking area. We sheltered with Suzuki and Onda until the rain stopped then went back to Muncie.
Mon 25 : Early start – out to AMA for our Official Processing. It was very overcast so there were no Official Practice flights.
Official Processing : 8.00am Austria … 8.25am N.Z.
Competitor No’s were done by a draw … Noeline drew No 69 for Ross. The Integral weighed in at 4.992kg with the heaviest of our batteries and prop. So again – OK and all good. Chatted to several people then went for breakfast and out to the practice field again.
11am temp only 74F. There were many teams at the field today. We only got one flight before the thunder so packed up before the storm arrived. We called in to AMA site on the way back. Official Practice flights were being flown. We spoke with Don Szczur who had been involved in the Judges training flight earlier and said that the judges would be ‘hot’ on distance … 150 – 175m! and on the opposite rolls and spin rotations … no pausing on the change of direction; just one continuous flow. France flew shortly after that. Christophe (CPLR) flew BIG!, soft, slow manoeuvres with quite sharp, definite points. VERY TALL !!! but nice and (of course) accurate.
The Official Opening and Welcome was on Site #3 at 5pm. All teams paraded to their National anthem with their country name and flag into a semi-oval where there was welcoming speeches and handing back of previous trophies, etc. There was a dinner on site in the marque.
The Official Team Managers meeting was at the AMA headquarters at 7.30pm (88F). The Draw was handed out and the flight draw gave Ross good times and with no ‘Guns’ ( apart from Andre` from Sth Africa J)in our flight group, [except on the second day, Ross was 2nd up on Site #1 … this we came to find (and our score reflects) was not a good time to fly … the sun was directly on the pole on right side]. Five Junior pilots who would compete for the (1st) Junior W/Champs title and clarification was given to how the Junior pilots score would count for the Team placing, if their score was higher than a senior pilot in their team. There was extensive discussion on Electric – procedure and safety, etc. then all the TM’s drove to Site #1 and Site #3 for further clarification on flight line procedure, safety, emergency drill, first aid, etc. Special mention was made of the quick and violent but short duration of the storms and that the sites would shut down. All electric models were to have voltage checks in the ready box before noise testing and they would be weighed after every flight. Random checks would be made on any model after landing, by way of the pilot drawing out a black or white ball from a bucket. Black = reprocess, white = only reweigh [for electric] . (Just ask Suzuki from Japan which ball to get J … He got the Black one every time.)
9.45pm left AMA site to go to the supermarket (for bottled water) and back to the hotel.
Tues 26 : 1st Official Preliminary flight. Ross was flying at 14.30 on Site#3.
We had two practice flights on the grass site at the AMA field then headed to Site #3. 2.15pm to Ready Box 2 as we were second up after a Judges break (Andre – Sth Africa first up). 2.20pm We moved into Ready Box 1 where the battery check was done. Voltage – 41.8 The battery was then disconnected.
When Andre landed we were instructed that we were ‘On Time’ so we connected the battery and went to the Noise Testing circle. The Noise Testing Officer raises his arm and clock stops during noise testing. As soon as he drops his arm the time starts again so it’s out to the flight line …. Take Off !!!
It was a good flight – nervous (naturally). When we landed we were advised the total on-time was 7 mins 20 secs. YES !!! Ross did his random draw – OK, no black ball so took the model for reweighing. Wgt – 4.975kg … All good J We took the model apart and went to retrieve our first W/Champs score sheet which was recorded as Flight 4 (just the way the Judges draw worked). Average Score 352.6 - the scores ranged from 324–370. We were very J … 1st flt and NO Zero’s! We watched Chip Hyde fly on same flight line then went to Site# 1 to watch Christophe and Andrew Jesky fly.
Wed 27 : Site #1 7.45am - Temp 71F, Bright, Sunny, Wind L>R upwind … SUN on R marker pole !!!
8am – Demo flight for Judges
8.15am - Andrew (RSA) first up
8.24am - Ross : Volt 41.7 Wgt. 4.982kg Flight 2
Could not see the model clearly through the haze and sun. Avg score 320.4
Thurs 28 : 10.57am Site #3 Temp 98F Volt 41.7 Flight 3. Very hot and humid! Avg score 349.4
Fri 29 : 15.21pm Site #1 Flight 1. Avg score 365.8 … Last Preliminary round
On Saturday the Reserve Day prior to the semis and finals we visited the US Air Force museum in Dayton, also the site of the Jet World Masters Championships, where there had been some disastrous encounter with a tornado. The museum is absolutely fantastic and must be on every aviation enthusiast’s to-do list.
Semi- finals was the top 30 flyers from the 4 preliminary rounds, flying 2 flights of a Known finals schedule (F11) which when added to their normalised result from the prelims decides the top 10 who then fly for the individual World Championship title.
The standard of flying by all 30 contestants was excellent and most enjoyable to watch, the only mishap was Angus Balfour of Ireland. He lost one cell of his engine flight pack but still got through albeit with a smaller flight size than normal.
The finals were then flown the next day with two flights of F11 and two flights of Unknown schedules (two different schedules, UK1 and UK2) which usually have plenty of snaps. The flying from the top 10 guys was exceptional but in saying that three flyers stood out, CPLR from France the reigning W/Champ ,Tetsuo Onda from Japan and Andrew Jeskey from U.S.A. (whose snapping manoeuvres were outstanding as he never missed one that we saw). These three finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd with CPLR and Onda tying for No. 1 spot, both getting 2 x 1000 scores. So the Final result was determined from the semi result scores which meant that CPLR was once again the World Champ.
On the completion of flying, there was a medal and trophy presentation at the flying site then it was a rush to get to the Closing Banquet back in Muncie. That was a very ‘official’ dinner.
Equipment - most competitors flew ready builts with Oxai and Sebart being the most common. The Sebart Pro Wind and the Axiome, probably the most popular models. Talking to one of the Italians the Pro Wind was far and away the most used model in Italy and 50 entries at a comp being quite common. Comp-ARF had a few Integrals but only two of the new Valiant.
Powerplants - electric was used at least 65% of competitors. Of the IC motors, all but two were YS engines; those being the OS-2000 which did not seem to have anywhere near the same sort of horsepower.
Radio gear was dominated by Futaba with JR being the next most popular, flown by only a few pilots.
In general, we thoroughly enjoyed these W/C but the international economic situation coupled with higher entry fees plus travel costs resulted in a slightly lower number of entrants this time. With the availability of reliable top class aircraft and equipment, the focus now falls squarely on pilot performance and strict enforcement of the basic rules. The overall standard of flying continues to improve and it gets tougher by the year. This was definitely a great learning experience though and a lot changes, but our location makes it difficult for us to not ever stop trying to play catch-up. For N.Z. to be competitive at W/Champs in the future, it will require a team effort involving experienced coaches, judges and a larger competitive base of pilots. During the intervening years participation in the CAAOC championship is a good opportunity for exposure but due to our geographic remoteness it becomes very costly to participate regularly in such competitions.
We would like to extend a very Special Thanks to Dave Wright (NZMAA)and Colleen Piece (AMA) whose assistance was most appreciated and NZMAA for their contribution which eased the burden of entry fees.
Ross & Noeline CRAIGHEAD
Pilot and Team Manager
Amusing comments :
Marc Wolfe – Sth Africa … “Save the balsa forests - Fly FUTABA”