World competition in any sport is interesting. To see how others from around the globe interpret rules and regulations and stylize their methods is intriguing. Attending a World Championships (WC) modeling event provides the opportunity to examine strategies we may not have considered through our own approach; that is especially true in the world of championship aeromodeling.

The diversity of disciplines and the original thinking that abound at these gatherings provide rich classroom environments and valuable lessons for those who are seeking the pinnacle. For competitors the experience provides the ultimate stage upon which they can display their skills and innovations. There is no hiding at this level, and the best of the best are crowned as Champions—World Champions!

I can tell you from personal experience that to stand on the highest step of the awards podium at a WC, dressed in your team uniform while your country’s national anthem is being played, is the most soul-satisfying moment you are likely to achieve in your lifetime. I can also tell you from recent personal experience that to fail to attain your goals at this level can yield an equal amount of soul searching!

Either way you have the satisfaction of knowing that there is no higher level at which you can compete. To be recognized as world-class in anything in life is a wonderful and rare thing.

Unlike most WCs at which only one modeling event is contested, the CL version is a category meet wherein several events are held at one venue.

The following individual event reports from the 2006 CL WC held in Valladolid, Spain, July 16-24, should give you a fairly accurate perspective of the competition and of the equipment that was used.

—Bob Hunt

F2A Speed: After hosting the European Control Line Championships three times, Spain was awarded the opportunity to host the 2006 WC.

The weather was warm: 28-30 degrees Celsius in the morning, increasing to 35-38 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. The density/altitude was 5,000-6,500 feet most of the time. These conditions made for difficult tuning.

With 32 entries from 14 countries, this was a fast contest. Missing from the entry list was the Italian team.

The F2A circle was not in the best condition. On one side of the circle the fence was close to the edge. The pilot had to be aware of his or her position to avoid hitting the fence. There was also a hornets’ nest where most of the dollys landed. Paul Gibeault had a close encounter with them during one training session.

American Andrey Nadein (L) flies against Valeriy Druzhinin of Kazakhstan.

Bryce Gibson of New Zealand (L) faces off with Henning Forbech of Denmark. Notice the nice center circle.

A serious Artern Markov (L) of Russia did in Francisco Mons of Spain late in the tournament.

Monday was the opening ceremony, held on the F2C circle. There was the parade of athletes, followed by speeches by FAI and local government officials. The 2006 CL WC was declared open!

Entertainment that followed consisted of traditional Spanish music and dancers. There was also a CL demonstration and a flyby by three cargo airplanes from the Spanish Air Force.

Model processing was conducted Tuesday in parallel with the official F2A training. Both ran smoothly. The F2A contest officials were absent during the training; they missed a perfect opportunity to practice with the Transitrace timing system. This would come into play during the first round of official competition.

Round One was to begin Wednesday morning at 9:00. However, after five attempts problems with the primary and secondary Transitrace systems arose. It was decided to delay the round until the next day.

The rest of the day was spent on unofficial training, which helped. Organizers trained the officials and worked out any other problems with the Transitrace system.

Round One began Thursday. It ended in a near tie between Spain’s Luis Parramon at 296.3 kph and Great Britain’s Peter Halman at 296.2 kph. In third place was Ken Morrissey, also of Great Britain, at 291.3 kph, followed by American Carl Dodge at 289.7 kph.

Round Two was contested Friday. Several pilots improved their positions. Luis Parramon posted a flight of 301.3 kph, which proved to be the winning flight. Gordon Isles’ 290.6 kph attempt gave Great Britain a solid team score.

In the Junior competition, Russia’s Leonid Tyurin turned a speed of 279.8 kph. Maximilliam Marksteiner of Austria was second with 279.3 kph. Erik Olson from the US was in third with 269.3 kph.

The second and third rounds were separated by a day of unofficial training. Many pilots spent the time attempting to sort out equipment problems.

Round Three began at 9 a.m. Sunday. With Luis Parramon flying early in the round, many anticipated another quick flight by the Spaniard. However, he was unable to improve on his second-round score and posted a zero after the reflight.

Peter Halman’s 296.7 kph attempt was no improvement. Russian Konstantin Fedotov moved into third place with a 292.4 kph flight.

Jussi Forss of Finland (R) does not look at his own model, but rather that of his opponent Volodymyr Vesych of Ukraine.

Junior champions (L-R) Maurizio Milani (Italy), first; Maxium Korsov (Russia), third; Chris Rud (USA), second.

US team members Jason Allen (L) and Bob Whitney, who often call themselves the “Root Beer” team, in reference to their initials “A&W.”

There was a tie for fourth place between Regis Gilbert of France and Ken Morrissey at 291.3 kph. Regis’s backup flight of 289.3 kph broke the tie. Jean Marc Aube of France finally posted a score of 283.2 kph, which earned the French team the Bronze Medal.

Maximilliam Marksteiner was the only pilot to improve his score in the Junior category; he posted a 285.3 kph. That speed won the Junior competition and was fast enough for 14th place overall.

The awards ceremony was held at the flying site. Medals and trophies were awarded to the top three Seniors, Juniors, and teams. Luis Parramon had won his sixth consecutive F2A World Championship. The Silver Medal was awarded to Peter Halman, and Konstantin Fedotov earned the Bronze Medal.

In the Junior class the Gold Medal went to Maximilliam Marksteiner. The Sliver Medal went to Leonid Tyurin, and Erik Olson was awarded the Bronze.

The team Gold Medal went to the British  for the fifth time in a row! The Silver Medal went to the Russian team, and France had earned the Bronze. The Spanish team finished fourth, and the US team was fifth.

A traditional banquet following the awards ceremony closed the competition.

Team USA worked extremely well together trying to sort things out. Carl Dodge had returned to WC competition after a 12-year absence. He did great, finishing eighth with 289.7 kph. As always, Carl used his homemade bar-stock, rear-valve engine.

Todd Ryan finished 16th at 284.1 kph, and Will Naemura garnered 23rd place with 279.1 kph. Both worked hard putting in hours of test flights but were unable to extract the full potential of their Kostin-powered models.

US Junior entrant Erik Olson did well in his first international competition, finishing with a speed of 269.3 kph.

It’s time to begin working toward the 2008 WC, to be held in Landres-Piennes, France.

Bill Hughes

williamhughes4@comcast.net

F2B Precision Aerobatics: Valladolid is a city of approximately 350,000 located 200 kilometers north-northwest of Madrid. The WC flying site was built specifically for aeromodeling. Three or four European CL Championships and a World Cup event have been held there.

There were three paved circles: one for Racing, one for Speed, and one for F2B. There was one rough-grass circle on the site. The F2B circle was just big enough for full-length lines and was surrounded by bushes of varying heights, from roughly 2 to 3 feet.

Outside the bushes, where the judges stood, the ground was approximately 21/2 feet above the circle’s surface. This made it a challenge for the judges to determine the maneuver bottoms. The prevailing wind direction had trees on the upwind side, which resulted in significant turbulence up high while the bushes created bumps down low.

The new rules changes specified a two-circle format: two flights on each circle, with the better score on each circle totaled to determine the top 15 competitors, to be the finalists.

The second official circle, which was grass, was located on an athletic field with concrete stands and trees on one side and only trees on another side. The prevailing winds came over the stands and/or over the trees. A 10-15 mph wind over the former made this circle virtually unflyable.

Tom Fluker (L) and Dick Lambert. Dick built their models, which have carbon-fiber construction.

The United States F2C team (L-R): Tom Fluker, Dick Lambert, Jason Allen, Bob Whitney, Larry Dziak (behind), and Bob Oge.

Noted engine manufacturer Yakov Mazniak (R) of Ukraine ran F2C processing and all technical processing throughout the week.

The grass circle was decent, but a few bumps caused problems during qualifications. The grass was cut before official practice but was still long enough to cause difficulties if your model touched down with the wind blowing over the tail.

The practice facility was marginal; it was a concrete parking lot with a significant slope and was bumpy enough that you had to be extremely careful. This site claimed four models during the contest. It made the US team and all others who attended the 2004 WC appreciate the AMA facility in Muncie, Indiana.

The grass field on the Spanish site was finally cut but was still long enough so that only the brave flew there. However, people were flying on these circles with no grumbles. Could we be a bit spoiled?

The number of different ways the international entrants approach the problem of executing the F2B pattern’s 16 maneuvers is interesting.

The Chinese used four-stroke engines. The models were evolved from Xhang Dong’s Skywriter design. The level flight speeds are brisk, between 4.65 and 4.85 seconds per lap. Han Xin Ping and Zhang Wei used the Saito .56, which slowed considerably during maneuvers. Niu An Lin had a Saito .80, which did not slow nearly as much and seemed to have plenty of drive.

The Chinese flying style emphasizes bottoms and intersections while losing some of the shape. The corners are soft. This approach has been effective; Xin Ping has won five WC titles. This year most felt that Niu An Lin was flying the best of the three and was bothered the least by the wind.

The French used the Saito .56 in models developed by the Beringers. The airplanes feature a long nose, long tail moment, semiscale look with extremely forward CG, and small flaps connected by small-diameter flap horns to reduce their effectiveness while managing a high degree of elevator deflection. Level flight times were roughly 4.8-4.9 seconds.

Remi Beringer flew smaller, more concise maneuvers than teammates Serge Delabarde or Gilbert Beringer. The maneuver speed was slow, at times looking like the models would fall out of the sky, but they never did.

The airplanes seemed affected by the wind but still managed to get through the maneuvers. The corners seemed sharp but appeared to rotate about the nose and kind of mush through the corner. It was a well-developed, effective way to get the job done.