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Jury Report on 2017 Indoor Free Flight European Championships F1D for Seniors and Juniors

Jury Report on 2017 Indoor Free Flight European Championships F1D for Seniors and Juniors

FAI Jury

Andras Ree

HUN/TD>

President

Wilhelm Kamp

AUT

Member

Mihail Zanciu

ROU

Member

Dates

March 14-17 2017

Location

Slanic-Prahova (Romania)

Information

There were two pre-contest bulletins with all necessary information. Hard copies of a final bulletin were distributed to all teams at the team managers meeting.

Accommodation

Participants were accommodated mainly at Hotel Roberto in Slanic and in other private pensions. Breakfasts and dinners were served at the hotel restaurant, the lunch at the flying site in the salt mine. Food and accommodation were good. Transportation to and from the salt mine was by vans provided by the mine through the tunnel in a 10 minutes long ride, because the escalator is still out of service because of safety reasons.

Flying site

The event was organized in the salt mine of Slanic-Prahova. Several FAI Cat 1 events took place in this salt mine, before in the Mihai, now in the Unirea mine hall: World Championships 1970, 1982, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2014, 2016 and European Championships 1991, 1997, 2015. The organizer succeeded to run these events according to the FAI/CIAM standards in spite of financial restrictions, with support by local authorities and a few sponsors. Therefore it deserves appreciation of all participants.

Flying site is positioned at an unusual location in the not operating part of the salt mine. There are two halls suitable for indoor competitions: one (Mihai) where indoor competitions usually were being held with a ceiling at 63,5 m height and is not used for visitors, and the deeper (200 m under the ground, called Unirea) arranged for tourist visits. This time a limited part of this lower level was used for the competition. The site was divided into flying area, preparation area, practicing area and restricted area (forbidden admittance). One table with chairs was provided for every competitor, place for the computerized data processing, a tent for model processing and a table and chairs for the jury.

Bottled water was available at the flying site every day. There was also a restaurant with good lunches. At this level of the mine the toilets are much better than that of in Mihai, with warm and cold water for washing hands, but located at five minutes walking distance!

The competition area was about 30 x 75 m and 54 m high, and allowed flying of up to 12 models at the same time. Seniors and juniors competed simultaneously without any problem. Timekeeping was without any problems or complaints. Illumination of this hall is much better than that of in the upper hall Mihai, formerly used for indoor competitions.

Participation

Class F1D for seniors and juniors was participated by 28 senior competitors from 11 countries (CZE, GBR, GER, FIN, FRA, HUN, LTU, POL, RUS, ROU, SVK) and 9 juniors from three countries (LTU, ROU, RUS).

Contest organisation

The outer weather conditions are nearly insignificant here. Air temperature was about 11°C that is about constant throughout the year. The humidity varies with the seasons, the Winter time is the driest, now it was about 50%.

Model processing and rubber testing: Model processing was in a processing tent where scales and the necessary dimension limits were provided. The rubber weight was measured by a small electronic scale, but the traditional scale for measuring the model weight needs improvement.

Flying: Two rounds were flown on each of the three contest days with 3 hours round time and the lunch break in between. The Contest Director kept the contest well in hand providing efficient flying procedure. Timekeeping was fair and correct. The teams had a pair of timekeepers for a day, different for each day.

Briefing: One smooth and short team managers meeting was held in the evening of the practice day.

Data processing: Data processing was running on a computer located in the preparation area. It was equipped with a printer and a large monitor to follow the standings during the contest. This system was running by skilled operators. All necessary data were posted after each flight to the monitor.

Protests

There were no protests or complaints during this championship.

Ceremonies and Prizes

The opening ceremony was held in the salt mine, it was short and friendly. The closing ceremony was held at Hotel Roberto in Slanic and was followed by the closing banquet in the restaurant of the same hotel. The three best individuals and three best teams received the FAI medals and diplomas in both senior and junior classifications. The organizer awarded nice cups to all team members of the best three teams and the best three individuals also in both classifications. The senior winner (after 2013 again) was Ivan Treger (SVK), the best senior team was Romania, defending the title they earned two years ago. The best competitor in junior classification was Bulai Calin (ROU) and the best junior team was also Romania. The following FAI perpetual trophies were awarded: – Challenge Cup to the best senior competitor: Ivan Treger (SVK), – Champion of Europe London 2003 to the best junior competitor: Bulai Calin (ROU), – HunIndoor Cup to the best senior team: Romania, – Transitional Cup to the best junior team: Romania. It is worthy to note that the best flight of Ivan Treger (29:43) was new world record in Cat 4 sites!

Conclusions

The organizers showed up great enthusiasm and ensured a very pleasant event. Some competitors still prefer the former competition hall Mihai because of a much bigger flying space, less drought and the bigger height (about plus 9 m) in spite of the poorer illumination. The following remarks concern the new F1D rules: Models should be marked in the future as proposed for the April CIAM Plenary meeting. The marking was already applied as local rule after the agreement of the participating junior teams at the briefing. The contrary, it was experienced, that the FAI ID number of a competitor appeared not on the motor stick, but on the short boom holding the stabilizer. The lighter rubber made the flights shorter, but the best flight was close to 30 minutes. The flights of best competitors are closer to each other.