Jury Report on 1990 Indoor Free Flight World Championship F1D
FAI Jury
Ian Kaynes | GBR | President |
John Worth | USA | Member |
William Henderson | CAN | Member |
Dates
June 20 to 25
Location
West Baden, USA
Background
The 1990 World Championships were hosted by the USA following arrangements made after the December 1989 Bureau meeting. Despite the very short time available for preparations, the organisation was both complete and efficient, largely following the pattern of the previous Championships at the same venue in 1988.
Accommodation
Satisfactory food and lodging was provided on the university campus within walking distance of the dome. Adequate packed lunches were provided at the flying site on competition days.
Flying site
The Mini-Dome of the East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, is an excellent building for indoor flying.
Participation
There were 25 competitors from 9 nations. This was fewer than in 1988, but this may have been influenced by the necessarily late selection of the venue.
Competition
The organisation of the competition was again thorough and efficient. At least six and a half hours were available for contest flying on each of the three flying days. This was sufficient and the planned contingency of allowing reflights (on days 1 and 2) to be taken on the following day was not required.
The geometry of the site tends to concentrate flying in a small central area. Restrictions on steering were imposed within this area and this appeared to operate effectively. Despite there being no more than six models in the air at any time there were a significant number of mid-air collisions. Combined with hang-ups on the girders, this appeared to result in more models being damaged than in 1988.
Timekeeping
This was undertaken very efficiently and no problems arose. Many of the timekeepers had experience of timing at the 1988 Championships.
Protests
There were no protests.
Closing Ceremony and Banquet
FAI medals and diploma were presented after a good dinner at a Johnson City hotel. The awards were augmented by plaques provided by the organisers. The Alphonse Penaud Diploma was presented to Jim Richmond. It was notable that Mr Richmond had retained the World Champion title to make this his sixth receipt of the title.
Recommendations
The current rule on model steering was found to be less precisely worded than is desirable. The organisers chose to allow the competitors to take the most lenient interpretation, both as regards when steering was justifiable and fTwo recommendations were made in 1988 and are repeated here for action by the Free Flight Subcommittee:
An organisers guide for indoor competitions should be produced. The need for this was emphasised by the smooth organisation of this event as a result of the experience in 1988 and this experience should be made available to future organisers through the publication of a guide.
The FAI processing certificates are irrelevant for indoor models and their use should be reviewed.
A further recommendation made now is that the subcommittee consider the scoring system for indoor. The winner is currently determined on the two best flights from six and this gives no recognition to competitors achieving a larger number of consistent good flights. In conjunction with this the subcommittee should consider any other specific changes to promote reliability and robustness of models.or how long to steer. In sites such as this it may be beneficial to reduce the extent to which steering is allowed. The Free Flight subcommittee will be considering the state of the present steering rules.
Another aspect of excessive leniency to competitors concerned some disregard of the stated closing times for flights; fortunately, the flights made in contravention of the timetable had no influence on the results.
Conclusion
The Jury wish to thank the Academy of Model Aeronautics for a very successful World Championships.