2013 World F/F Championships
The Chinese thermal detection unit (above) plots from upwind radio-linked anemometer and thermistor. USA’s George Batiuk (above, at right) made the F1B Wakefield fly-off. Bunt mechanism (below, at right) on Ukranian Artem Babenko’s F1C model. Past World Champion and US team member Alex Andrjukov (below) was the top-placing US F1B flyer.
started with a series of stalls before a de- cent glide set in, and on another round did a bit less than one complete circle in three minutes. That does give the timekeepers some difficulty, as for quite some time the model is more or less end on, making it hard to see.
Another practical problem for timekeepers in a large F1C contest is that they have to check that the engine run is under five sec-
onds and when they then need to look back at “their” model it’s one of a dozen or more in the air at once. For British flyer Ken Faux his radio DT was a lifesaver when he spotted that the timekeepers were looking at the wrong model; directing them to the correct one he then demonstrated that it was his by pressing the DT button so they could see the model obediently dethermalize.
Eventually 49 people made the fly-off, in-
cluding the US team, along with six others with full scores. The start of the first ten- minute fly-off slot was spectacular, with al- most all of the flyers launching in the first couple of minutes. Two folders from adjacent launch poles climbed in formation and tim- ing the five-second engine runs must have been near impossible. Happersett, Don Chesson and Mike Roberts all reached the five-minute and seven-minute fly-offs, but
Mike Roberts flew these two F1Cs (at left) on the US team. A close up of the crucial hinge mechanism (above) on Russian Leonid Fuseev’s folding wing F1C.
22 DECEMBER 2013
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