Jury Report on ASIAN – OCEANIC CHAMPIONSHIP FREE FLIGHT F1A F1B F1C
FAI Jury
Kevin Dodd | AUS | President |
Shigery Kanagawa | JPN | Member |
Bold Bekhbat | MGL | Member |
Dates
19-22 July 2014
Location
‘Darkhan Noyonii Fhudag’, 50 km east of the Mongolian capital city Ullaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Information
Bulletin 1 was distributed after the CIAM Bureau meeting in December 2013.
Bulletin 2 was distributed late June 2014.
Bulletin 3 was made available a few days prior to the championships.
A website was established for these documents and other information, however its access was not always reliable.
Participation
Six countries participated in the AOC: Australia, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Republic of China, Republic of Korea.
Accommodation
Various tourist hotel options had been listed in the bulletins and could be booked via the organisers. The majority of the accommodation was within 40 min of the flying field. Due to heavy rain a couple of days before the event and the time taken for the run off from the mountains, the accommodation initially reserved for the Australian team was flooded and alternative accommodation was made available by the organisers. Free camping with facilities were provided at the flying field.
The Jury were accommodated in adequate accommodation 20 min from the flying field.
Adequate breakfasts and lunches were provided on the flying field.
Flying site
An area of approximately 7km by 5 km of short smooth grass was provided. There were no trees and any rain quickly soaked into the ground. There was an airbase in the distant vicinity which did not restrict flying.
Weather
Very heavy rain was experienced two days before the competition and several late night thunderstorms during the period. There was an interruption of 15 minutes to the 6th round of the F1C competition while light rain cleared. Wind was experienced on two days in the afternoon but did not exceed 9m/s. In general the weather for the entire competition was extremely good.
Competition
Model components carried identification letters which could be read by the timekeepers. Unfortunately the control over this aspect will require greater emphasis in any future events. While national abbreviations and numbers on the wings was a requirement, the Jury had to bring this to the notice of several Mongolian competitors.
The on field organisation initially was haphazard, and required Jury intervention to achieve the required set up. The starting time for the events each day was punctual. The schedule was adhered to throughout with round times indicated with consistent, clear announcements with language interpretation. An air horn was used to mark the commencement and end of each round.
Scores were announced after each round both via a large television screen and computer printouts on a notice board.
F1A- There was 4 full teams plus 2 competitors from Australia. Four individuals made a full score after seven rounds requiring the first ‘fly off’ for the event. Three competitors scored full points in the fly off requiring a second fly off round. Chimed Ganzorig, (MGL), successfully defended his position as previous champion to take first place with Phil Mitchell, (AUS), second and Kim Won Chol (DPRK) third.
F1B- In this class there were 5 full teams and a sole flyer from Japan. At the conclusion of the seventh round 6 competitors had scored maximum points. One fly off was required with M Gongor (MGL) taking first place, S Solongo (MGL) second and V Morgan (AUS) third. Initially WU Yunsheng placed third but was disqualified when the model was weighed and was confirmed to be underweight.
F1C- Two full teams (MGL) and (CHN) competed in this round with two flyers from Australia. During the F1C competition one of the Mongolian flyers was observed to be flying with a model which was not registered by him. The Organisers and Jury, after a lengthy search of records and entries, approached the Team Manager and the competitor at the conclusion of the fourth round to make enquires about the model in question. Subsequently, the competitor was disqualified from the event. One fly off was required to determine the winner, T Khishigbat (MGL), second JBattugs (MGL) and third Zou Jiong Yu (CHN).
Model checking during the event included line length, model weight and rubber motor weight checks. Processing of the winning models was carried out with the full Jury present with the exception of F1A where no podium finish checks were carried out. The scales provided for this process, while accurate, were totally inadequate for the size of the models being processed and required some adaption as suggested by the Jury. F1C area measurements were not calculated however by using the specification sheet details from one of the competitors (current F1C World Champion) and the fact that the three models to be checked were the same as that on the specification sheet, a minimum weight calculation was able to be applied. Motor capacities were not checked.
Timekeeping
The timekeepers were generally young students and gained experience in the task during the running of the Mongolian Cup prior to the FAI event. During the Mongolian Cup, the Jury requested that the Organisers supply tripods for at least one set of binoculars used by the Timekeepers. The tripods were produced but were totally inadequate for the task, being too small. The Timekeepers were briefed in groups at the flight line on what they should be checking with the model prior to each attempt and the Jury sampled that this was being adhered to during the entire event.
On several occasions a multi rotor RC model fitted with a camera and being controlled by one of the Mongolian helpers was observed to be flying low down the flight line during the early rounds of the F1B competition. The person controlling the model was told to refrain from this action by the Organisers then the Jury. Later in the day prior to the start of the sixth round, the RC pilot once again flew the multi rotor machine down the flight line only to have the model intercepted by a rolled up coat launched from the Australian team, this caused the model to impact with the ground heavily. The model was not seen again at the event.
Opening and Closing Ceremony
The opening ceremony was held at the Chinggis Khaan Statue. Speeches were translated from Mongolian to English.
The closing ceremony was held in the grounds of the National Culture and Recreation Park in Ulaanbaatar and the venue was a very suitable reception area within a large scale ‘pirate ship’ The ceremony commenced with the Organiser presenting a thank you speech to those present then the prize giving segment. The Mongolian Cup awards were presented first. Following this, the 2014 FAI Asia Oceanic Championship medals and certificates were presented by the three Jury members along with the trophies. The F1A,B,C Challenge Trophy was presented to the winning country, Mongolia.
The FAI Jury President closed the 2014 AOC event with a speech and invited those countries present to join with other nations of the World for the 2015 FAI World Championships for Free Flight in Mongolia.
Protests
There was one protest which was withdrawn.
Observations and suggestions
The Mongolian Organisers tried extremely hard to present an event to FAI standards. There were several areas where there could be improvement and these were passed onto the organiser of the 2015 World Championships. The Jury felt that they had to make some kind of comment to the Organisers of the AOC event and left them with the following on the report to the Organiser: “Mongolia needs to continue to build on its experience working within FAI rules and guidelines”.
The Jury were well looked after, being provided with clean adequate accommodation, transport to and from the flying site (20min each way) and a Ger at the field for meeting and privacy. Interpretation did make the situation harder to work in and I personally felt that there was some meaning lost between the Jury and the organisers as a result of this.
One suggestion based on observation during the event and the problem with the various languages used, was that in the circumstance of pending danger, such as a model not following the normal flight path and impacting close to competitors, not everyone was aware of the danger from the shouts of warning in a foreign language. In considering this problem two suggestions come to mind. (1) During the first briefing, everyone is made aware of a standard warning shout, preferably demonstrated, in whatever language is to be used. (2) CIAM adopts a universal warning, expression, language to be used at all competitions. In full size aviation this warning is universal, ‘mayday, mayday, mayday’.
Conclusions
The Jury wish to thank the Mongolian Air Sports Federation and the Mongolian Aeromodelling Sport Association for a successful Championship.