Pattern World
Ron Van Putte
Event overview
The 1995 F3A World Championships held in Kasaoka, Japan, August 25–31, was a major success for the Japanese team. Contest management produced an outstanding event for 76 contestants from 33 countries, and the Japanese fliers won both the individual and team championships. The contest director was Tsugutaka Yoshioka, the 1973 F3A world champion. The F3C (helicopter) event was held concurrently on an adjacent field.
The 1995 F3A world champion was Giichi Naruke. Wolfgang Matt (Liechtenstein) finished second and Christophe Paysant-Le Roux (France) was third. Team standings after qualifying were: Japan first, France second, Canada third, and the United States fifth.
Travel and arrival
I left Fort Walton Beach, Florida, early on Wednesday, August 23, and flew via Memphis and Detroit across the Pacific to Osaka on a Boeing 747. I arrived just after 3 p.m. on Thursday, August 24 (after crossing the International Date Line) and was met by an organizing committee representative who directed me to a bus.
There was a nearly four-hour wait for arrival of mainland China’s F3A and F3C teams and other late arrivals. We departed the airport just after 7 p.m.; the trip to Kasaoka was mostly in the dark, through very hilly terrain and about 50 tunnels (some nearly a mile long). I arrived at the Kasaoka Grand Hotel just before midnight, having been underway nearly 28 hours.
Kasaoka City is on the north side of the Seto Inland Sea, about 50 miles east of Hiroshima, with a population of roughly 50,000. The competition was held at the Kasaoka Regional Agricultural Airport, on reclaimed land southwest of the city.
Judges
The judges’ meeting was called by Jury Chairman Ron Chidgey at 8 a.m. Friday. The judging panel included:
- Ron Chidgey (Jury Chairman)
- Wen Zhang Liu (China)
- Brian Green (Australia)
- Alex Goossens (Belgium)
- Wilhelm Zehethofer (Austria)
- Hans-Joachim Kunze (Germany)
- Adolf Keutschegger (Liechtenstein)
- Bengt Erik Soderstrom (Sweden)
- Peter Cappleman (United Kingdom)
- Bob Skinner (South Africa)
- Ron Van Putte (United States)
Note: There was no Japanese judge on the panel. After problems in the 1993 F3A WC when a Japanese judge was disqualified for bias, Japan was prohibited from having a judge at the 1995 championships.
Practice and facilities
After the judges’ meeting we were taken to the flying field for practice. There was an air show at one end of the runway that attracted thousands of spectators and created traffic congestion — a recurring issue for returns to the field. To avoid traffic, I left the hotel at 5 a.m. to be at the 6:30 a.m. start of flying.
Organizers provided a portable kitchen at the field for breakfast and lunch. It was clean, air-conditioned, and served well-prepared, tasty food (metal utensils might have been an improvement over plastic).
Saturday was the official practice day. Judges had an arranged bus trip to Hiroshima that same day. That evening the opening ceremony was held at the Kasaoka Civic Center, followed by a welcoming reception at the Kasaoka Grand Hotel.
Qualifying rounds
There were two flightlines, so only half the fliers flew in front of any given set of judges each round. The first four rounds determined qualifying; the top 16 advanced to the three-flight finals. Weather varied across the week:
- Sunday: Warm (about 75°F) with light winds at the start, increasing through the day to more than 30 mph with gusts over 35 mph. Many fliers put in decent flights despite the strong wind.
- Monday and Tuesday: Warm with mild winds — more favorable conditions.
- Wednesday: Last day of qualifying; competitors needed strong flights to secure finals spots.
- Thursday: Scheduled contingency day — it rained nearly all day (a surprising break in a historically dry period).
- Friday: Bright, clear, mild winds; finals began.
Standings after qualifying (top contenders):
- Best normalized qualifying leaders included Yoichiro Akiba (Japan) and Ivan Kristensen (Canada), tied for the lead after two rounds. Giichi Naruke was high in the standings as well.
- The final 16 qualifiers (in order) were:
- Giichi Naruke
- Wolfgang Matt
- Christophe Paysant-Le Roux
- Ivan Kristensen
- Hajime Hatta (Japan)
- Quique Somenzini (Argentina)
- Peter Erang (Germany)
- Dave von Linsowe
- Roland Matt
- Yoichiro Akiba
- Guenther Ulsamer (Germany)
- Bill Cunningham (USA)
- Benoit Paysant-Le Roux
- Stephan Fink
- Dave Patrick (Canada)
- Chris Lakin (USA)
Notable non-qualifiers included Colin Campbell (Canada) and Peter Goldsmith (Australia).
American team notes:
- Bill Cunningham, Dave von Linsowe, and Chris Lakin represented the U.S. Chip Hyde (1991 world champion) did not attend; Chris Lakin replaced him. Hanno Prettner (1993 champion) was absent after a pre-event accident and illness prevented him from defending his title.
Finals and results
The finals consisted of three rounds (two on Friday, one on Saturday). Scores were totaled and normalized with qualifying scores counting as part of the final result.
- After the first final round, Naruke led with two 1000s (including qualifying), followed by Christophe Paysant-Le Roux (960.8), Ivan Kristensen (953.4), Yoichiro Akiba (953.1), and Quique Somenzini (948.2).
- The second final round was won by Christophe Paysant-Le Roux, with Wolfgang Matt and Hajime Hatta close behind.
- The third final round was won by Wolfgang Matt.
Final individual results (top finishers):
- Giichi Naruke — World Champion (final flight 997.2; clinched with consistent top scores)
- Wolfgang Matt
- Christophe Paysant-Le Roux
Other notable final placements:
- Yoichiro Akiba moved up from tenth to finish strongly (986.6).
- Hajime Hatta moved up from fifth to finish fourth (973.9).
- Ivan Kristensen dropped from fourth in qualifying to sixth overall.
- Dave von Linsowe qualified eighth and finished 10th.
- Bill Cunningham moved from 12th to 13th.
- Chris Lakin started the finals in 16th and finished 15th.
Team results (after qualifying):
- Japan
- France
- Canada
- United States
The American finish was disappointing to some, though as a judge the author felt the placements reflected the fliers’ performances.
Judging analysis
Jury Chairman Ron Chidgey asked scorers to run a preliminary judge evaluation to assess bias. The qualifying scores indicated one judge strongly favored his countrymen. However, when five judges are used, the highest and lowest scores on each maneuver are discarded, so a single biased judge has limited effect on results.
Ron planned a more thorough judge analysis — comparing each judge’s rankings to consensus — to better evaluate judge performance and to inform judge selection for future world championships.
Awards and banquet
After the last flight, contest workers converted Site A into the awards ceremony site. The ceremony was well rehearsed, with interpreters providing Japanese and English announcements. Thousands of spectators attended to watch award presentations.
The championships concluded with a banquet aboard the ship Sounds of Seto. The cruise provided a three-hour celebration with plentiful food (including crab claws, shrimp, and sushi) and Sapporo beer. During the celebration the Japanese team famously doused their champion with beer on the deck.
Acknowledgments
It is costly to attend a world championship, and this event was no exception. The U.S. team benefited from the efforts of:
- Steve Helms — arranged accommodations via Futaba, securing a hotel in Fukuyama at $55 per person per day (compared with about $200 for others) and closer to the flying site. He also arranged discounts on rented team vans.
- Al Glenn (Federal Express) — arranged pickup, international transport, customs clearance, and delivery of the fliers’ model boxes. Federal Express donated the service and paid all expenses, including duties.
Closing
Shortly after the banquet I began the 28-hour return journey to the U.S. I arrived home tired but with wonderful memories of a thoroughly well-run World Championship.
Ron Van Putte 111 Sleepy Oaks Rd. Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
