Jury Report on Free Flight Junior World Championships 2012 F1A F1B F1P
FAI Jury
Srdjan D. PELAGIC |
SRB |
President |
Wilhelm Kamp |
AUT |
Member |
Joze Cuden |
SLO |
Member |
Dates
Location
Menges, Slovenia
General
Flying field Kamnik-Menges polje is between small towns Kamnik and Menges 20 km north from Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. It is well known for SM competitions for more than 20 years and there was held World SM Championships 1996. In the middle of the field is a small farm surrounded by trees that were to certain extent obstacles during F1B competition. In general the field was adequate for junior FF World Championships. In some cases when wind speed used to come to 5 m/s some of the models landed in distant corn fields or in populated area, but all except two were successfully retrieved.
Information
There were three Information Bulletins and a professionally prepared WEB site www.lzs-zveza.si which contained all necessary information.
Participation
World F1A, F1B and F1P Championships was attended by 76 junior competitors from 16 countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and USA). Participation per classes was:
F1A 15 teams 40 individuals
F1B 11 teams 29 individuals
F1P 5 teams 13 individual
Accommodation
The flying field was in a very popular tourist area so a lot of hotels and hostels were at disposal to the participants. The Championships HQ was in Hotel Harmonija in Menges, but most of participants were accommodated in nearby Spa Snovik and small hotels and hostels. Prices for boarding and lodging were very acceptable. Beverages were available at the flying field during the whole day. Hot food was served in a dining tent for lunch after the fourth round every day. Participants used their own cars for transportation to the flying field.
Flying site
Flying field Kamnik-Menges polje is between small towns Kamnik and Menges 20 km north from Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. It is well known for SM competitions for more than 20 years and there was held World SM Championships 1996. In the middle of the field is a small farm surrounded by trees that were to certain extent obstacles during F1B competition. In general the field was adequate for junior FF World Championships. In some cases when wind speed used to come to 5 m/s some of the models landed in distant corn fields or in populated area, but all except two were successfully retrieved.
Weather
Weather was sunny and very hot with temperatures of 30 to 37 °C in the afternoon. Wind speed changed from 0 to 5 m/s and it was increasing during the day so usually the highest wind speed was in the seventh round. This resulted on the first day to decrease number of competitors with “full houses” from 10 to 3 from 6th to 7th round.
Competition
FLYING: Weather conditions were good for flying, but difficult for competitors and all participants because of the high temperature and a very dry air. Timekeeping was very correct. The participating teams provided some foreign timekeepers, which contributed to the impartial timekeeping.
DATA PROCESSING: There was a computer centre in a trailer in the field, with very qualified operators (Aljosa Znidarsic and Miha Cuden). Results lists were written by hand during all rounds and placing lists calculated by laptop computers were printed and posted at the information board after each round. Scores during the rounds were presented on a very practical foldable and portable scoreboard. The IT team also posted the results list to the NAC Slovenia WEB site after every round. On the second day because frequent change of starting line position importance of presentation at the score board decreased.
Opening and Closing Ceremony
Opening ceremony was nice with some speeches and folk’s dances at the sports ground of a school in Menges attended by some Slovenian and local authorities. The Award Ceremony was on the last day in the Castle Jable, an attractive location. Winners were awarded with the FAI diplomas and medals and with the cups donated by the organizer with some presents of modelling materials. The “best of the best” have received six FAI perpetual trophies to keep them on their shelves till the next World Championships. These were: Russia as the best overall team and best F1P team, Czech Republic as the best F1A team and three best individuals: F1A – Nikolay Lomov (RUS), F1B – Brian Pacelly (USA) and F1C – Taron Malkhasyan (USA). In addition to that there were awarded six FAI Perpetual Trophies. The cup French Challenge went to Russia as the best overall team in all three classes. The closing banquet at Hotel Harmonija was fine and friendly with tasty food and drinks.
Protests
There were no official protests.
Observations
EXCURSION: There was a break after the second competition day and participants used their free time to see attractive Gorenjska, a part of Slovenia where the Champs were held. Many of them visited Bled and Bohinj, two beautiful glacial lakes. On the last day there was an excursion to Velika Planina (Great Mountain) near Kamniska Bistrica to altitude of about 1600 m.
REMARKS: The FAI Jury made the following remarks during these events:
a) Replacement of starting line was necessary to ensure equal conditions for all;
b) Scoreboard was light and not fixed so stronger wind use to turn it down;
c) In F1B two competitors wound rubber before beginning of the round and were requested by the Contest Director to let the motor run down and to rewind it during the round;
d) Umbrellas were ensured for time-keepers and drink water was distributed to them;
e) Some discussions with the organizers and replacement of starting line during lunch on the F1P day delayed beginning of the fifth round;
f) There was not separated, fenced space for Jury conference,
g) Only adults allowed to be at the starting line were TMs, but because there were no officials to take care of that TKs, SD and CD were requested to intervene at times;
h) Application of locators and blinking lights on models was helpful in retrieving models;
i) Two models of Israel team were not found till the end of the Champs and with help of the organizer local police office was notified with precise description of the models so to be returned to the owners later when found.
Conclusions
2012 FAI World Championships for Free Flight Model Aircraft held in Menges (Slovenia) were conducted in accordance with required standards for such events and were successful. However we recommend to CIAM and to future organizers to consider following: There are less and less big flying fields in the world and the following items should be considered: a) to define precise conditions for FF flying fields for the Championships; b) to think about modification of technical specifications of the models or flight characteristics; c) to think about new technical aids for retrieval of models; d) to require potential bidders to organize at least one World Cup or Op. Int. at the field for future Championships to prove how good is it for this purpose.