F2A - 2004/11
By Dave Mark
Overview
Thirty-three Speed fliers from around the world competed in this CLWC, and 15 North American Speed Society (NASS) members volunteered their time to perform the jobs required for competition at this level.
Site preparation
Sunday, July 4, NASS members prepared the site for the Speed event. The Nats Racing circle, located to the west of the Speed circle, was used for line layout, fuel dispensing, tank flushing, pull-testing safety straps and wires, and staging fliers before their turn to enter the circle.
Height markers were installed at four points around the circle. AMA supplied a stand for the height judge—Al Kelly—and it was adjusted so that his eyes were at the exact level required by FAI rules. Four people timed flights with stopwatches along with the Trans Trace electronic timing system that Goran Olsson designed.
Model processing
Model processing was Monday, July 5, at Cardinal Hills Country Club. The aircraft were weighed, and the engines were marked to identify which ones would be used in competition. Control handles and safety straps were checked to verify compliance with the rules, and the models' wing and stabilizer areas were measured.
All of this data was entered into a computer program that Bill Lee designed and wrote. The software used the measurements to compute areas and indicate whether or not the models conformed to the rules. All airplanes processed that day were in compliance.
After the models were processed, the software randomly mixed the contestant list and created the flight order for the first day of competition. Then it shuffled the list by thirds to create the contestant orders for the second and third days, ensuring that no one flew at the same time each day. A printout showed the order and flying time for each pilot for each round of competition. In F2A, fliers are assigned a time to fly and are allowed six minutes to complete the task.
First day (Tuesday)
The event was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday. On the first day of flying, equipment was checked to ensure that each worker had the tools required for the job. It was learned that there were no instruments to measure line diameter. AMA was to provide measuring devices, and they were located at the tech impound area.
The site technical inspector, Carl Dodge, was contacted, and he said that the equipment supplied was inadequate. US team member Will Naemura saved the day; he loaned a set of digital micrometers that measured to 50 millionths.
The first modeler to fly was Peter Halman of Great Britain. As we began measuring his lines, Jo Halman—Great Britain's team manager—pointed out that the line-length and pull-test method did not conform to FAI standards. The line-length measuring system was modified, measured with a steel tape, and marked to everyone's satisfaction.
The pull test was to use a load cell that NASS supplied. The problem with the load cell was the method of anchoring it to supply a strong point to pull against. This was changed by adding a two-line flying handle to the cell and using that to pull the model, which was also accepted. Each model was pulled three times, and the safety strap was also pulled three times.
Peter Halman was ready to draw from the 5-gallon container of PowerMaster fuel for his first flight, when another difference between US and European modelers became apparent: many of the Europeans use small 2- to 3-ounce bottles to fuel their models. The 5-gallon tank had a large spigot, so a funnel was needed, but none could be found. To correct this, the outside of a fuel syringe was used as a makeshift funnel. At this point we were 25 minutes behind schedule and ready to fly.
Peter Halman set the pace with a good, clean 292.3 kph run. World Champion Luis Parramon of Spain was next, and his flight raised the mark to 295.6 kph. No other fliers came close to those speeds that first day. Ten competitors took reflights after they could not get their equipment to run in the Muncie air on their first attempts. At the close of competition Tuesday, 14 competitors had zeros for their times.
The Russian team members—Sergey Kostin, Dmitry Alyabev, and Konstantin Fedotov—posted zeros, to many fliers’ surprise; it had been rumored that Dmitry had turned 303.0 kph in Russia before the meet.
The weather stations that modelers used showed many shifts in altitude, density, and humidity during the day, making it difficult to tune the engine setup.
Second day (Wednesday)
The second day of flying, Wednesday, started on time at 9 a.m., with all equipment problems in the past. Jean Magne of France posted a 291.0 kph using a Halman Special engine. That speed held as fastest of the day until Luis Parramon flew at 11:28 with a 291.5 kph.
Many contestants were still having setup problems, and 12 took reflights when they could not get official flights on their first attempts. US team member Will Naemura turned a 288.4 kph on his reflight, which put him in eighth place. Nine fliers took zeros for the day, and five still had not posted times for the meet.
Practice (Thursday)
Thursday was scheduled for practice, and both circles were available. The British team practiced for more than 10 hours, trying to figure out the correct setup. They took readings from their Oregon Scientific weather station all day and made many equipment changes, logging every move as the day progressed.
Near the end of the practice session, British team member Ken Morrissey said that of all the world meets the British team had attended, the Muncie site set the record for unpredictable air. He said that they would make an adjustment in their models and then look at the weather station to see that every reading had changed.
The Russian team members were having similar problems with their equipment. They made many practice flights and were still shaking their heads at the end of the day. Sole Lithuanian competitor Sigitas Snukiskis had posted two zeros during the first two rounds. He also spent many hours on the practice circle and was not even able to get his model to come on the pipe.
Final round (Friday)
The final round of competition was Friday, during which all three Junior fliers posted their fastest times. British team member Matthew Hart turned a 282.6 kph for second as a Junior and 15th overall. Scott Matson of the US turned 269.0 kph for third as a Junior and 29th overall. Luca Grossi of Italy was the 26th contestant that day and had to refly, but everything came together for him on his second attempt; he turned a 285.9 kph, for first as a Junior and 12th overall.
Sigitas Snukiskis took his flight, and the model came on the pipe for a clean but slow run at 223.1 kph. When his model landed, everyone stood and cheered for him.
Peter Halman’s final flight increased his speed to 292.5 kph. Next, Luis Parramon upped his time to the highest of the meet: 295.9 kph. The electronic timer that Bob Fogg ran showed that Luis’ model gained speed on each lap of the flight.
British team members Ken Morrissey and Paul Eisner posted speeds of 289.0 kph. Those numbers put the British team in first place, with the highest combined total up to that point in the day.
The 27th person to fly that day was French team member Jean Magne. His flight tied with Luis Parramon’s, at 295.9 kph. Data for Jean’s flight showed that it also built speed with each lap.
Luis Parramon’s faster flight in the second round placed him in first and Jean Magne in second; no others came close to their speeds during the meet. At this point, the British team sat in the third, fourth, and fifth positions, with six fliers to go and eight reflights waiting.
Jean Marc Aube of France took his scheduled flight as 32nd contestant of the day and turned a 290.2 kph, which put him in fourth place.
The reflights started after a short break. Jari Valo of Finland made it all come together on his last chance for an official attempt; he had taken two zeros in previous rounds. His flight came in at 289.5 kph, for a jump into fifth place.
Todd Ryan of the US turned a 286.9 kph on his reflight, which moved him to ninth place behind teammate Will Naemura. Todd’s flight moved the American team into third place.
Jean Marc Aube’s and Jari Valo’s flights pushed British fliers Ken Morrissey into sixth place and Paul Eisner into seventh place.
The sum of each team member’s highest speed determines the team standings. Great Britain finished first with a total of 870.5, France was second with 868.4, and the US was third with 858.0.
Volunteers
- Bill Lee — software and general event management
- Barry Tippett — event director and timing
- Bill Hughes — circle marshal
- Bob Fogg — Trans Trace timing system
- Al Kelly — height judge
- Al Stegens — timing
- Chris Montagnino — timing
- Larry Tennen — timing and model impound driver
- Tom Brown — line diameter and length
- Dave Mark — pull test
- Bob Tapiale — tabulation
- Arnie Nelson — data input to log flight
- Joe Brownlee — data input to log flight
- Dick Yatson — time posting
- Al Jones — fuel dispensing
- Joey Mathison — fuel flush and holding-area marshal
Conclusion
This contest was completed with no formal protests—many commented that it had been years since that had happened. All contestants placed official flights, which was another first in years.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
