Jury Report on Free Flight European Championships 2012 F1E
FAI Jury
Srdjan Pelagic |
Serbia |
President |
Wilhelm Kamp |
Austria |
Member |
Marius Conu |
Romania |
Member |
Dates
Location
Information
Participation
Attended by 26 junior and 38 senior competitors from 13 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Netherlands, Switzerland and United Kingdom). Ten countries had both senior and junior teams.
Accommodation
The Championships HQ was in Hotel Sun Garden in Turda, but most of participants were accommodated in nearby Hotel Strejeris and small hotels and hostels in surrounding vilages. Prices for boarding and lodging were very acceptable. Beverages were available at the flying field during the whole day. Hot food was served for lunch after the third round every day. Participants used their own cars for transportation to the flying field.
Flying site
The flying field was at the large military training ground of several thousands hectares some 20 km south from town of Turda. At the same location were flown many FAI F1E Championships and World Cups, but these particular slopes were selected for the first time in order to ensure flying undisturbed of road traffic and visitors.
These Championships were flown from the saddle like ridge above two semi-circular valleys positioned north and south of the ridge. North valley was divided into two parts – left deeper and more difficult for retrieval and the right more convenient. The south valley was shallower and larger with a road in the middle that made easier retrieval by cars. In general the field was adequate for F1E European Championships. In some cases when wind speed used to come to 5 m/s some of the models landed behind distant hills in the valley and were retrieved with remarkable delays.
Weather
Weather was sunny and very hot with temperatures of 30°C to 37°C in the afternoon. Wind speed changed from 0 to 5 m/s and it was increasing during the day.
Competition
Weather conditions were good for flying, but difficult for competitors and all participants because of the high temperature and a very dry air. Timekeeping was very correct. The participating teams provided some foreign timekeepers, which contributed to the impartial timekeeping.
There was a computer centre in a tent in the field, with very qualified operator (Adrian Draghici). Results lists were written by hand during all rounds and placing lists calculated by laptop computers were printed and posted at the information board after each round. The IT team also posted the results list to the Romanian Modelling Federation WEB site after every round.
Competition flying was successful although because of frequently changing wind direction starting line position had to be replaced several times. This always caused excitements of both the organizers and the competitors. The organization team lead by Cringu Alexandru Popa and Viorel Saliestean did its best to make this event successful. Overall organization of the event was successful and in accordance with the standards for such events.
Opening and Closing Ceremony
Opening ceremony was short with some speeches in front of the townhouse in Turda. The Award Ceremony was on the last day in a large and attractive classy restaurant of Hotel Sun Garden. Winners were awarded with the FAI diplomas and medals and with the cups donated by the organizer. The “best of the best” senior competitor Alain Roux (France) received “Europameister F1E”, a FAI perpetual trophy donated by the German NAC in 2008 to keep it on his shelf till the next European Championships. The closing banquet, which followed the award ceremony, at the same place was fine and friendly with tasty food and drinks.
Protests
There was one protest, which was denied and protest money shall be transferred to the FAI bank account. It was also one formal complaint (in writing), which was upheld.
Observations
European Championships was preceded and followed by two F1E World Cups – Memorial Popa Cringu and Turda Cup. Both of them were successful, but the first one must be remembered for high number of 82 competitors out of whom 20 were juniors.
There was a break after the first World Cup and participants used their free time to see attractive salt mine near Turda. Also on the awarding day many participants visited a very attractive Cannon of Turda some 15 km from the town centre.
The FAI Jury made the following remarks during these events:
a) Frequent replacement of starting line was necessary to ensure equal conditions for all;
b) Application of locators on models was very helpful in retrieving models;
c) Both valleys used for competition had excellent slopes, but required special skills of participants in preparing models for flight;
d) Juniors showed very big devotion to F1E and skills in preparation and launching models – especially girls (European Junior Champion is Magdalena Orlova – CZE);
e) Models should carry model’s ID code in accordance with SC4 Volume ABR B.17.8 – not additional organizer’s ID marks.
Conclusions
2012 FAI European Championships for Free Flight Model Aircraft (Class F1E) for Seniors and Juniors held in Turda (Romania) were conducted in accordance with required standards for such events and were successful.
We, the Jury members, recommend to CIAM to consider following:
a) F1E is a class convenient for all ages of competitors from 10 to over 70 and deserves to be much better promoted by CIAM so to be flown in much more countries then nowadays;
b) It is necessary to continue development of the new technical aids for easier retrieval of models;
c) to require potential bidders to organize at least one World Cup or Open International event at the field for future Championships to prove how good is it for this purpose
d) Alternate markings are undesirable and should not be used in future Championships.