Jury Report on Free Flight Junior World Championships 1988 F1A F1B F1C
FAI Jury
Pierre Chaussebourg | FRA | President |
Martin Dilly | GBR | Member |
Pawel Wlodarczyk | POL | Member |
Dates
August 8th to 15th, 1988
Location
Leszno, Poland
Information
Advanced information was good and provided in time.
Participation
There were 112 competitors from 19 nations.
F1A 54 competitors from 19 nations, with 17 full teams
F1B 37 competitors from 16 nations, with 10 full teams
F1C 21 competitors from 7 nations, with all 7 full teams
Accommodation
There were three places for accommodation : – on the airfield , at Gliding Center, at Rydzyna Palace , 8 km from Leszno, at Rokosowo Palace , 20 km from Leszno. All three were excellent.
On the competition days, lunch was served in a glider hangar . The food was adequate and excellent.
Flying site
The Championships were held on the famous airfield of LESZNO well known for its gliding activity . This field is large enough but model retreiving could have been a problem without a good organisation between participants and a previous information from the organisers to the local people.
Weather
This was undertaken very efficiently. The only significant problem arose when a pair of timekeepers stopped their watches in error when a model hung up on girders. The very similar model that they should have been timing continued in flight nearby and the Jury advised the Contest Director to accept times from watches which had been started on that flight by other observers, including a Jury member.
Competition
Model processing was carried out in the Gymnasiun of LESZNO Gliding Centrum where black and white pictures were pinned on the wall were illustrating the history of Polish participation in FAI competitions . Prestigious old genuine Wakefield models from 1938 could be seen in this place.
The organisation on the field was excellent. The scores were given to the score board directly by mean of walkie-talkies . Ten minutes after the end of each round, Xerox copies of full results were available and distributed to Jury members and Team managers on the starting line.
Public address system was good and efficient. Translations were excellent by efficient persons.
Processing of the winning models could be done on the airfield, in a bus with experienced people and adequate equipment within a very short time.
After each event, prize giving ceremony was held near the starting line FAI medals and trophies were awarded to the individual winners by the FAI Director General and FAI Jury members.
Timekeeping
Timing was efficient, with no major problem. Timekeepers were experienced people from Poland and from the different countries participating.
Opening and Closing Ceremony
The Opening ceremony was very impressive. It took place at the airfield. The usual speeches and teams presentation was followed by a big air show (some locals said : “the best one ever seen on this airfield” ) with all kind of models and full size aeronautic activities.
The Closing ceremony was held in the park of Rydzyna palace, with the participation of a young children group showing traditional songs and dances from Poland. The prizegiving was impressive, with FAl diplomas , Polish Aero Club medals and marvelous trophies for all individual winners and winning team members. The ceremony which lasted two hours and half ended with a chamber orchestra concert with fireworks to Handel’s firework music.
Protests
There was no official protest. The competition was run in a very good spirit. Many team managers or trainers were very well known “senior” competitors.
Conclusion
These Championships were very well organized. The Sporting atmosphere was excellent.
F1A, F1B and F1C classes look to be appropriate for Juniors , even if some countries must do some efforts in the F1C class. Maybe a special simple competition based on F1G and F1H classes could be added for younger people (12 to 14 years old maximum).
The Jury wants to thank all the people who have worked to make this competition so successful and enjoyable , and also the Aero Club of POLAND to have got the idea to start World Championships for Juniors.