National Free Flight Society

Jury Report on Free Flight Asian Championships 2012 F1A F1B F1C

Jury Report on Free Flight Asian Championships 2012 F1A F1B F1C

FAI Jury

Ian Kaynes

GBR

President

Shigery Kanegawa

JPN

Member

Bold Bekhbat

MGL

Member

Dates

July 15 to 22, 2012

Location

The field of “Darkhan Noyonii Khudag”, 50km east of the Mongolian capital city Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Information

Bulletin 1 was distributed after the CIAM Bureau meeting in December 2011.

Bulletin 1 followed in May, including details of accommodation.

Bulletin 3 was published a few days before the championships, adding details of model processing schedule.

A web site was established at which these documents and other information and news could be found

Participation

Five nations participated in the Championships: China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (PRK). /P>

It was understood from the organisers that they had checked the current status of PRK membership, it was not possible for the Jury to confirm this without internet access. Late in the event it was found that the PRK team had not produced FAI licences. The team manager stated that they had licences but had not brought them. On the basis of these facts The Jury told then manager that proof of licences should be sent immediately after their return home and the results would be provisional until that evidence was received. After leaving the Championships, access to the FAI web site showed PRK as a suspended member. The organisers were then requested to finalise the awards and results without PRK. During August the FAI membership of PRK was normalised and the FAI Executive Board agreed to their request that their status be backdated to the time of this Asian Championships. The results including PRK thus stand.

Accommodation

Various tourist hotel options had been listed in the bulletins and could be booked via the organisers. These were country hotels including rooms in Mongolian “gers” and were typically 30 km from the flying field, which required a journey time of about 40 min. Free camping was available on the flying field.

Adequate breakfasts and lunches were provided on the flying field and evening meals were taken at hotels.

Flying site

This is one of the best free flight flying fields in the world. There was an area of at least 7km by 5km of short smooth grass. The only changes of surface on the field were a very few ditches or ridges which were clearly visible. There were no trees. Heavy rainfall quickly soaked into the ground. There was an airbase in the vicinity but this was sufficiently far away that it did not restrict flying.

Weather

Just before the Championships there had been storms with heavy rain. A storm also occurred during the first day of the preceding open international event, but without impact on the flying. The weather on F1A day was cold and overcast with intermittent rain, but with very light winds. There were then more storms overnight but the F1B/F1C day remained dry. It was very cold at first then became warmer and brighter later, remaining quite windy all day.

Competition

At model processing competitors were issued with labels to place on each part of their models showing the letters A, B, C, D about 3mm high. This was irrelevant since the model components have to carry identifications in letters 10mm high, which can be read by the timekeepers at a much greater distance than the close scrutiny required for these labels. The application of the labels appeared not to be controlled. There was no check for models having nationality abbreviation and national number on the wing. The requirement for models to have these numbers was repeated at a team managers meeting.

The organisation on the field was very efficient. The schedule was adhered to throughout with round times indicated with consistent and clear public address announcements.

Scores were announced by displaying a computer print of the results of each round, which was made available during the following round. This was an adequate solution for the small numbers involved in the event.

F1A. There were 3 full teams plus 2 flyers from China and a sole Japanese flyer. The team competition was closely fought between Mongolia and PRK, while the only individual to make a full score of 7 maximum flights was Chimed Ganzorig of Mongolia. The winner was thus the person who had provided the main impetus and advance work for establishing this championships.

During round 6 there had been an interruption when a helicopter from the local airbase performed a low flying display over the starting area. Models being towed at the time were brought down and given an additional attempt when flying restarted after a 10 minute delay. The organisers explained that the day had been scheduled for the lunch break but the helicopter was late. This was the only movement seen from the airbase.

F1B. In this class there were 3 full teams and Korea and Japan did not participate. Again the event was won by a Mongolian with the only full score, ahead of two Chinese flyers, which country won the team event.

F1C. In common with current free flight events, this event had less support than the other classes. There was a full team from Mongolia and sole flyers from China and Japan. The scores achieved in the wind were low. It was run by a Mongolian competitor with the Chinese flyer second despite having recorded a zero time in his first round.

Model checking during the event consisted of some line checks and weighing some rubber motors.

Processing of the winning models was the only inadequate part of the organisation. The majority of the checks were carried out without two-thirds of the jury present, unaware of where it was happening. It consisted of checking model and rubber motor weights for the last model flown, not all models used by the competitor. One rubber motor appeared fractionally over-weight but had been wiped before further checks were carried out after which it was within weight. There were no measurements of area, without which weights of F1C models are meaningless as regards meeting the loading rule. Motor capacities were not checked.

An unofficial event for a small number of competitors was held at the same time as each Championship event. Launch positions were separated from the Championships positions and there was no impact on the Championships.

Timekeeping

The timekeepers were generally young people and students, some with little experience of timing free flight models. Some problems were uncovered during the first open international preceding the Championships and the Jury requested the timekeepers were briefed about these. This appears to have been successful since there were no complaints or problems with timekeeping during the Championships.

Opening and Closing Ceremony

The opening ceremony was held in the open air in front of the Chinggis Khaan Statue. Speeches in English or Mongolian were not translated, but representative competitor and organiser both read their oaths in the two languages.

The closing ceremony was held outside the Baigal Camp Hotel on a pleasant sunny evening. It included prize-giving for the other events held during the week in addition to the Asian Championships awards. Mongolia provided new trophies for F1A, F1B, F1C individual championships and for the F1A+F1B+F1C Challenge classification (won by Mongolia). It is understood that these trophies will now be formally donated to FAI for use as perpetual trophies for Asian FF Championships.

The banquet was a good buffet style meal inside the Baigal Camp Hotel. The evening concluded with an impressive firework display while the FAI anthem was played.

Protests

None

Observations

This was the second Asian Free Flight Championships, the first having been held in Kazakhstan in 1998.

The confusion about the participation of PRK was unfortunate.

It was a pity that China and Japan could not send more competitors to the event. Also Kazakhstan and Indonesia had expressed interest, but this did not materialise into any competitors.

Competitors from neighbouring Russia had been keen to compete, but could not take part in the Asian Championship because of the FAI definition on continental regions. Some flew in the adjacent unofficial event.

Mongolia has expressed interest in running future championships and the Jury will respond to their request for a detail critique of this championship. The major points have been mentioned in this jury report.

The Jury were well looked after, being provided with a ger as a base on the field. An interpreter was very supportive of the foreign jury members for contact with the organisers and on occasions the third jury member. It would have been helpful for the Jury to have had some specific meetings with the organisers since, being accommodated in different hotels, most contact was on the field when tasks related to the flying were the priority.

After completion of registration and model processing an event was held to introduce young people to aeromodelling, which was helped by several of the organisers and competitors of the championships. About 60 young children attended with parents for a session making and the flying a Japanese simple rubber model which they all seemed to enjoy.

The local TV station made frequent visits to the event and this resulted in good evening coverage of the Championships, including interviews with the Jury and good action shots of competitors and models.

Conclusions

The Jury wish to thank the Mongolian Air Sports Federation and the Mongolian Aeromodelling Sport Association for a successful Championships.