Jury Report on 2004 Free Flight European Championships F1A F1B F1C
FAI Jury
Dr Andras Ree (President) |
HUN |
Ivan Horejsi |
CZE |
Marius Conu |
ROM |
Dates
Location
Buzau, Romania
Information
Two bulletins were sent out to NACs before the event in time and contained the necessary information. One technical meeting was organized for team managers, officials and the jury. The meeting was rather short and efficient.
Participation
The final entry was a total of 186 competitors from 28 countries. The respective numbers in the three classes were the followings: F1A – 80 competitors from 27 countries FlB – 69 competitors from 25 countries FlC – 37 competitors from 15 countries.
Accommodation and food
Accommodation was organized in 3 hotels and a camping. The accommodation at the hotels and the food was good, the arrangement on the field for lunch was very good. We havent heard about problems. The local authorities attended the site two times to perform sanitary checks concerning the food service. These visits caused some delays, but that was beyond the responsibility of the organizers.
Flying site
The flying area was the old airfield just aside the town used before for training pilots. It was about adequate for the championship within the given meteorological conditions, the necessary interruption and modified maximum flight times.
Competition
The weather conditions were changing a lot, first of all the wind direction and speed. Besides good and calm periods we had thunderstorm, rain and fog as well.
In F1A the beginning of the contest was delayed by 1 3/4 hours because of visibility problems caused by fog which is very much unusual at this period of the year. The contest again was delayed by half an hour after the lunch break because of the first sanitary check (the timekeepers couldn’t get the lunch in time). The flight line was changed for the fly-offs to get the maximum distance to be flown over the field. Two fly-off were necessary (5 and 7 minutes) to decide the winners.
In F1B the conitions were changing continuously. The maximum flying time for the first round was reduced to 4 minutes because of visibility problems. We have seen a front coming therefore the scheduled beginning was not delayed. The line was changed after the first round. During the third round the front has arrived with a thunderstorm therefore a 30 minutes interruption was necessary because of the lightning activity and very heavy rain. The round was continued and finished, than the line has been changed again after this round. A third and fourth line change was necessary for the two fly-offs (5 and 7 minutes). Some claims arised against timekeeping during the morning rounds, but there were no problems later.
The F1C contest was delayed by 15 minutes, because longer time was needed to make decision on where to place the line (the wind was changing continuously). The maximum flying time for the first round was reduced to 4 minutes because of the wind direction to the town. During the day the wind was at a medium level, so just a few models were landed within the houses. The line has been changed for the necessary two fly-offs (5 and 7 minutes).
Opening and Closing Ceremony
The opening ceremony was organized at the main square of the town at the presence of local leaders including the mayor of Buzau. Space models were going to the sky and dropped small parashuts with the national flags of all participating countries. Besides the local authorities a large number of inhabitants were present. The prize giving and closing ceremony was at the beginning of the banquet at the main hotel. The FAI anthem was played at both ceremonies.
Protests
There were no protest filed during the championships. This was resulted – at least partially – by the very good cooperation between the experienced contest director, Dr George Arghir, and the FAI jury.
Observations
The random processing of the models was led by the contest director. In the future a separate staff dedicated only for that task should do this because the CD should concentrate only for the leading of the contest. There were no problem but any time anything can happen on the line.
The organizing activity were too much in one hand. There were no real problem, but again the sharing of tasks and responsibility is very important to be effective and to work under lower pressure and stress.
The test fuel for F1C should be provided free of charge. Any further demand is to be charged (based on preliminary order).
Conclusions
The 2004 Fl European Championships was a successful event in all of the three classes. Thanks to the hard working organizers, timekeepers, helpers, family members, local ones and from abroad as well. Thanks to them for the work and efforts made for the free flight aeromodelling community.