Jury Report on Free Flight World Championships 1997 F1A F1B F1C
FAI Jury
Ian Kaynes |
GBR |
President |
Miroslav Sulc |
SVK |
Member |
Otakar Saffek |
CZE |
Member |
Dates
August 18 to 24
Location
Sazena, Czech Republic
Information
5 bulletins were issued. Information was complete and satisfactory, except that the final was issued early in August and contained some information which would have been better distributed earlier (e.g. highway stickers for cars, no discount available on car hire)
Participation
37 countries participated in the Championship, with 107 flying in F1A, 97 in F1B and 65 in F1C, including the defending champions flying independently in F1A and F1B.
Accommodation
The standard accommodation provided for participants was in the University of Agriculture near Prague, 35km from the flying field. The accommodation was adequate and the food fairly basic, considering the price paid in comparison to local hotels. Many competitors camped in the official camp site on the airfield and others stayed at hotels nearer the field.
Flying site
The grass airfield at Sazena is small but the surrounding farm fields extended to a large area. There were some crops but not in directions which affected the Championships flying. The organisers chose to position the flight line near to the downwind end of the airfield and judged the line position and orientation very well during the flyoffs to avoid downwind obstructions and maintain crosswind direction. Moving line position was carried out very quickly.
Organisation
The competition was organised efficiently. This was the first free flight world Championship at which model processing had not been carried out by the organisers prior to flying. Competitors appreciated the additional practice time and there were only slight problems of flyers wanting to check their motors or towlines at the same time just prior to the competition. However, a few instances were seen of model markings not meeting the Sporting Code requirements.
The seven rounds on each day were flown precisely to the scheduled timetable. The flyoffs were flown exactly as scheduled except for a delay of just 15 minutes when moving the starting line in F1B flyoff. The draw for starting places in the flyoffs were also conducted very smoothly. A superbly efficient organisation of each day.
A scoreboard was maintained but times were entered only at some time after the end of each round.
Timekeeping ran smoothly with only occasional incidents of the usual problems of timing the wrong models or over-runs during F1C mass launches.
Competition
Very good weather and good organisation aided the successful completion of each class within the scheduled day. The extended first round in each class offered little challenge to top class models and FF subcommittee should consider allowing a moderate increase in this maximum when the weather is good. The F1A flyoff had 48 competitors in the flyoff and the organisers handled this number smoothly (aided by experience of the World Cup event a few days earlier). The use of 5 second motor run in F1C concluded the F1C flyoff in two rounds. F1B models still have considerable performance and three rounds were required in this class and also in F1A. Each of the three classes concluded with a final flyoff which was a climax to the day and the winner was clear, with no problems of visibility or obstruction on the field.
Closing Ceremony
A final celebration was held at the University on the final evening of the championships. A meal in the usual restaurant was followed by a prize-giving in the theatre and the evening concluded with drinks, snacks and a jazz band in the college club. A pleasant end to the event.
Conclusions
The jury wish to thank the Czech Republic organisers for a very successful championships.