Jury Report on 2003 Free Flight World Championships F1A F1B F1C
FAI Jury
Ian Kaynes | GBR | CIAM FF S/C Chairman |
Andras Ree | HUN | Delegate, CIAM 3rd Vice President |
Gerhard Woebbeking | GER | Delegate |
Dates
From July 21 to August 1 2003
Location
Kunszentmikl¢s, Hungary
Information
Two bulletins were issued. This basic information was available in advance from the competition web site, but some of the maps were not of sufficient resolution to be able to read the text. Bulletin 2 was issued less than one month before the Championships and was not seen by some teams. There was very little additional printed information at the event.
Participation
267 competitors from 37 countries.
Accommodation
Teams were not provided with accommodation or food. A list of hotels and their contact details were published for teams to make their own arrangements. Some were at a considerable distance from the flying site. A basic packed lunch was provided to officials on the field.
Flying site
The flying site was a flat grass-covered area of national parkland. There were a few obstructions, the single most significant of these was a river close to the starting area. A temporary bridge had been made for the 2002 European Championships and this was re-erected close to the launch area, but on many occasions the wind was blowing more parallel to the river and the lack of another crossing point downwind was inconvenient. Because of the parkland rules, cars had to be parked near the road and equipment carried to the launch line, with the line used this was not too great a distance. Retrieving by motorised vehicle was not allowed.
Processing
This was carried out efficiently in the town hall. There were some complaints about adhesion of the stickers and about the quality of fuel. A new batch of fuel was mixed was gave no problems.
Competition
Although the weather before and after the Championships was warm and sunny, the three competition days had poor weather. There were storms overnight before the F1A day and it rained for several rounds of the competition, but was sunny for the 2 flyoff rounds in the evening.
F1B day started with rain and mist. The start of the first round was delayed and the maximum reduced to 3 minutes to keep within the visibility. For rounds 2 and 3 there was little winds and good visibility, so an extended maximum of 4 minutes was set to take advantage of this exceptional weather. Normal thermally conditions then developed and a standard maximum of 3 minutes was flown for the remaining rounds. For several round the wind was almost along the starting line but the contest director appeared unwilling to move the launch line, even when he seemed to agree with the jury that the line should be moved. Three rounds of flyoff were flown during the evening.
F1C day dawned dry and much brighter than previous days, but by round 5 heavy rain arrived. The round was interrupted and completed after a 30 minute delay. Another storm arrived during round 6 and flying was again stopped. The starting line was under water and there were complaints about the conditions on the ground and the wet state of models. These were considered by the jury and a restart was announced and, after a delayed for more rain, round 6 was restarted, two flights were made and then the heavy rain started again. The jury then considered a protest against the weather but meanwhile the contest director did not stop the round. When the protest was upheld the only course of action was to extend the round to replace the time lost to unflyable weather. This produced a protest on behalf of one of 2 flyers who had flown before the rain. This protest was rejected. Flying was terminated for the day and round 7 flown the following morning with an extended maximum of 5 minutes. 7 minute and 9 minute flyoff rounds were flown. There were still three competitors with full scores and now with thermal conditions. Another 9 minute maximum was set, which was made by two of the flyers. The jury discussed the situation with the team managers and it was decided to continue the following morning. A clear result was then achieved with a single flight.
Timekeeping
Most of the timekeepers were from Hungary and were experienced. Some were lacking adequate binoculars and tripods, and this caused problems on a few flights.
Opening and Closing Ceremony
The ceremonies were held in Kunszentmikl¢s. The opening ceremony was on the sports field and was followed by a team managers reception and meeting in the town hall.
The closing ceremony was held in the Sports Hall and the banquet in the town hall, for which there was no charge.
Protests
The following protests were received and considered:
1. That the timekeepers timed the wrong model for a competitor in round 5 F1A. Rejected, the jury found no evidence of incorrect timing.
2. That F1C round 6 was not stopped during heavy rain which reduced visibility. Protest upheld, round extended by 15 minutes.
3. Adequate notice of round starting was not given and the round duration was longer than advertised. The protest was rejected: adequate announcement of the start of the round had been given so that there was no confusion of flying time. Round extension followed protest 2.
Two competitors were disqualified. In F1A a towline was found to be longer than the permitted 50m, in F1B a model weight was below the minimum.
Lessons From European Championships 2003
The Jury Report from the 2002 European Championships (held on the same site) included some suggestions for this Championship based on the experience of the 2002 event. Almost all of these suggestions were followed, except for the requirements for the contest director. While this aided the event, the problems that arose were different from the 2002 Championships. There were complaints that experience from 2002 unfairly aided European teams in this World Championships.
In general it is recommended that CIAM do not award additional events to the same site until after completion of an event. This would allow experience of one event to be taken into account when voting for future championships.
Conclusions
The Hungarian Federation are thanked for running this Championship.