SEN 3186
- The 2024 FAI Southwest Regionals Model Airplane Championships
- Free Flight Aeromodelling Facebook Group
The 2024 FAI Southwest Regionals Model Airplane Championships
From: Peter Brocks
The first America’s Cup contest of 2024, the FAI SWR, was held on January 13 and 14 at Eloy, Arizona.
The weather was nearly perfect, just a few clouds but also all blue skies. The temperature at the 8:30am competition start was 42°F (6°C) but then warmed up to about 72°F (22°C) both days. The wind started out at 6 mph (2.6 m/s) out of the SSE during the first 2 rounds and then became variable in direction and with a low velocity. For the fly-offs at about 3 pm the wind was mostly out of the NNW at 3 mph (1.3m/s).
We had 42 sportspeople flying in the 8 FAI freeflight events. The contestants were from AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, NV, OK, OR, PA, TX and UT. We had 6 ladies flying FAI events: Julie Parker (F1Q, F1S), Janna VanNest (F1S), Tiffaney O’Dell (F1G) and Jasminka Pecenkovic and the sisters Noa and Anat Goldstein (all 3 flying F1A). We had 4 FAI Juniors competing: Daniel Guo, John Mah-Gersting, Anat Goldstein (F1A) and Adith Alagiri (F1B).
F1A had 16 flying – a new record. After 5 rounds there were 6 maxed out. Only Andrew Barron made the 6-minute fly-off flight and won the F1A trophy. Jasminka Pecenkovic was 2nd in F1A and Noa Goldstein 3rd. In F1B we had 9 competitors of which 7 made it into the fly-off. After the 2 fly-off rounds there were 4 F1B fliers still clean to attempt the 10-minute fly-off. This third F1B f ly-off was won by Jerry Fitch with Bill Booth in 2nd place and Ron Felix in 3rd. In F1C/P Guy Menanno maxed out with his F1C folder and won the silver trophy cup again. Bob Hanford flew his F1P model and was 2nd, Faust had some problems with his F1C model and flew only one flight for 3rd place. Julie Parker won F1Q and Jack Murphy was 2nd like last year.
On Sunday we flew F1G, F1H, F1J and F1S in 5 rounds. F1G had 8 flyers with 5 going through 3 fly-off flights (3, 4, 5 minutes). Walt Ghio won the Bear by maxing the 5 minute flight. Bernard was 2nd and Jerry Fitch came into 3rd place. The small FAI glider event F1H had 3 competitors. Blake Jensen and Ken Bauer maxed out and did a 4 minute fly-off, which Blake maxed and won and Ken missed for 2nd place. Jim Parker placed 3rd in F1H. 4 fliers flew in F1J. Guy Menanno maxed all 5 flights and won the Bear. Faust Parker placed 2nd and Glenn Schneider was 3rd in F1J. In F1S, the small electric event, we had 10 fliers of which 6 maxed the 5 rounds. Three maxed the first fly-off. The second fly-off was won by Janna VanNest, followed by Frank Menanno in 2nd place and Allan Mecham in 3rd.
A big thank you to all participants and to Mike Fruciano and my wife Brigitte who all made this contest a memorable event.
Peter Brocks, CD
RESULTS 2024 FAI SOUTHWEST REGIONALS AT ELOY, ARIZONA
Jan. 13-15,
F1A 1 2 3 4 5 FO FO FO Total
1 Andrew Barron 180 180 180 180 180 360 1260
2 Jasminka Pecenkovic 180 180 180 180 180 351 1251
3 Noa Goldstien 180 180 180 180 180 326 1226
4 Guy Goldstein 180 180 180 180 180 298 1198
5 Enes Pecenkovic 180 180 180 180 180 268 1168
6 Daniel Guo Jr 180 180 180 180 180 138 1038
7 Brian Van Nest 180 180 180 180 171 891
8 John Mah-Gersting Jr 180 180 138 180 180 858
9 Jim Parker 180 180 180 126 180 846
10 Risto Puhakka 180 180 180 114 180 834
10 Anat Goldstein Jr 180 180 180 135 159 834
12 Ken Bauer 180 180 119 180 108 767
13 Jim Farmer 180 180 180 171 51 762
14 Peter Barron 5 180 180 180 180 725
15 Sevak Malkhasyan 180 142 180 21 180 703
16 Peter Brocks 70 153 0 50 180 453
F1B 1 2 3 4 5 FO FO FO Total
1 Jerry Fitch 180 180 180 180 180 360 480 460 2200
2 Bill Booth 180 180 180 180 180 360 480 375 2115
3 Ron Felix 180 180 180 180 180 360 480 362 2102
4 Bernard Guest 180 180 180 180 180 360 480 289 2029
5 Larry Norvall 180 180 180 180 180 360 442 1702
6 Blake Jensen 180 180 180 180 180 360 248 1508
7 Walt Ghio 180 180 180 180 180 163 1063
8 Matthew Kruse 180 180 180 142 180 862
9 Adith Alagiri Jr 180 168 180 180 137 845
F1C/P 1 2 3 4 5 FO FO FO Total
1 Guy Menanno F1C180 180 180 180 180 900
2 Bob Hanford F1P 0 180 169 137 85 571
3 Faust Parker F1C 0 0 0 180 0 180
F1Q 1 2 3 4 5 FO FO FO Total
1 Julie Parker 179 164 180 180 180 883
2 Jack Murphy 180 180 166 159 154 839
F1G 1 2 3 4 5 FO FO FO Total
1 Walt Ghio 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 300 1320
2 Bernard Guest 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 191 1211
3 Jerry Fitch 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 180 1200
4 Tiffaney O’Dell 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 169 1189
5 Darold Jones 120 120 120 120 120 180 240 135 1155
6 Alan Petersen 120 112 120 90 120 562
7 Frank Menanno 77 76 120 73 63 409
8 Peter Brocks 120 120 42 0 0 120
F1H 1 2 3 4 5 FO FO FO Total
1 Blake Jensen 120 120 120 120 120 240 840
2 Ken Bauer 120 120 120 120 120 158 758
3 Jim Parker 120 120 120 118 120 598
F1J 1 2 3 4 5 FO FO FO Total
1 Guy Menanno 120 120 120 120 120 600
2 Faust Parker 120 120 120 120 76 556
3 Glenn Schneider 120 54 120 104 90 488
4 Don Bartick 120 54 120 61 59 414
F1S 1 2 3 4 5 FO FO FO Total
1 Janna VanNest 120 120 120 120 120 120 177 897
2 Frank Menanno 120 120 120 120 120 120 156 876
3 Allan Mecham 120 120 120 120 120 120 150 870
4 Larry Norvall 120 120 120 120 120 86 686
5 Stan Buddenbohm 120 120 120 120 120 85 685
6 Jack Murphy 120 120 120 120 120 49 649
7 Julie Parker 120 120 103 120 120 583
8 George Morris 120 120 120 120 71 551
9 Charlie Morris 120 110 120 120 36 506
10 Rick Pangell 115 105 0 0 0 220
Free Flight Aeromodelling Facebook Group
There is a Facebook group with the above name. It is believed that the only Admin is the well known Romanian flyer Tamara Kiss. In the last few weeks there have been far more non-modelling posting than modelling. Numerous flying people have complained about these posting but nothing has happened. Other people have offered to help. Flying people are leaving the group. If there is a SEN reader who is a friend of Tamara could offer to help her get rid of the spam.
It is possible that the people that the group was set up for not longer use it but there are others that do so if that is the case ….