2006 Control Line World Championships - 2006/12

34 MODEL AVIATION
2006 Control Line World Championships
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
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 soulsatisfying
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.
Great Britain won the F2A World Championships team title. Team Manager Jo Halman
is on the left.
This model belongs to individual F2A World Champion Luis
Parramon of Spain.
Team USA finished in fifth place. From left to right are Carl
Dodge, Junior Erik Olson, Will Naemura, and Todd Ryan.
F2A Speed
Photos courtesy the authors
12sig2.QXD 10/25/06 9:20 AM Page 34December 2006 35
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
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.
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
Peter Halman of Great Britain earned a second-place individual finish.
The model of third-place individual finisher Konstantin Fedotov of Russia.
12sig2.QXD 10/25/06 9:24 AM Page 35no improvement. Russian Konstantin
Fedotov moved into third place with a 292.4
kph flight.
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 Kostinpowered
models.
US Junior entrant Erik Olson did well in
his first international competition, finishingwith a speed of 269.3 kph.
It’s time to begin working toward the
2008 WC, to be held in Landres-Piennes,
France.38 MODEL AVIATION
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 twocircle
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.
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.
F2B Precision Aerobatics 2006 Control Line World Championships
The F2B individual champions (L-R): David Fitzgerald (USA), second place; Remi
Beringer (France), first place; Paul Walker (USA), third place.
The French team finished second with Beringer designs (Front to back): Gilbert
Beringer’s Sukhoi, 11th; Serge Delebarde’s Yak-55M, seventh; Remi Beringer’s Gee Bee
Sportster, first. A Chinese model is in the background.
12sig2.QXD 10/25/06 9:28 AM Page 38December 2006 39
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 welldeveloped,
effective way to get the job
done.
The Italians took the simple way out.
They used .91 four-strokes in simplelooking
airplanes that reminded me of thickwinged
Zilches with flaps. I believe Alberto
Maggi designed them. The models seemed
to fly fine with all that power, and they were
unbothered by the wind.
The exception to this approach was
Junior Maurizio Milani, who flew a Yurii
Yatsenko Classic RTF powered by the
Discovery Retro .61. He flew wonderfully
and won his class by a significant margin.
The Eastern Europeans—Ukrainians and
Russians—looked to be using mostly
variations of the Yatsenko RTFs: rather
conventional models with the trademark tall
canopy that is said to improve line tension.
Andrey Yatsenko had a semiscale Shark,
and Yurii Yatsenko’s newest was the Yak-
55. Their models were powered by the
Discovery Retro .61, which is specifically
designed for F2B competition running at
lower engine speeds, 6-inch-pitch
propellers, a small venturi, and a quiet,
restrictive muffler.
Some others used similar designs
powered with a Stalker 10cc or Strakov
9.5cc two-stroke. These engines seemed to
be the quietest of all the combinations
except for the electrics of course.
The airplanes flew 5.0- to 5.5-second
laps. These models, especially the Yatsenko
aircraft, seemed to have the hardest corners
that locked well on the bottoms. They
slowed a bit in the maneuvers but managed
well in the wind.
Slovakia seems to be the only country
other than the US that has really endorsed
Third-place team USA (front L-R): Junior Chris Rud, second; David Fitzgerald, second
(back L-R); Bob Hunt, 20th; Paul Walker, third; and 2004 WC Bill Werwage, ninth.
Models belonging to the winning Chinese team (L-R): Niu An Lin’s, sixth; Zhang Wei’s,
eighth; Han Xin Ping’s, fourth.
Junior champions (L-R) Maurizio Milani (Italy), first; Maxium Korsov (Russia), third; Chris
Rud (USA), second.
12sig2.QXD 10/25/06 9:31 AM Page 39the tuned-pipe approach. Their airplanes
were Igor Burger’s pleasant-looking,
conventional Max design. The engines were
the PA .61, Jett/Aldrich .51, or MVVS .51.
Alexander Schrek’s model seemed to handle
the wind well.
The US models used tuned-pipe PA or
RoJett engines from .61 to .75 cu. in.
displacement. David Fitzgerald’s PA .75
model flew a bit slower than the others, at
roughly 5.3 seconds. The others flew at 5.0-
5.2 seconds, depending on the conditions.
Paul Walker’s Impact with a RoJett .65
flew terrific, turning a bit higher rpm and
speed than David’s, who softened his
corners to help get the consistent bottoms.
Junior competitor Chris Rud flew a RoJett
.61 in an Urtnowski Strega—a bit quicker
yet but performed corners and bottoms well.
Rob Gruber flew a Randy Smith Starfire
with a PA .61 and just missed qualifying for
the top 15. Bill Werwage flew the venerable
P-47 razorback with the PA .61. This was
the same combination he used at the 2004
Nats. Bill and a couple others wished for the
wind to blow in the finals, to no avail.
The newest combination was the electric
power system; four were entered. Heinz-
Willi Schmitz of Germany had a model in
the early stages of development.
Canadian Kim Dougherty was
aggressive in his approach by going to a
larger motor-and-battery combination;
power equivalent to that of a .91 cu. in. twostroke
was the goal. Kim’s model was
purpose-designed and built for electric
power. It was larger and heavier than the
other electric entries but seemed to fly well
and had plenty of power.
Bruno Van Hoek of the Netherlands used
an older model from Henk De Jong and
installed a motor-and-battery combination
that was similar to American Bob Hunt’s.
Bruno had a speed controller with a brake
function so the propeller would stop when
the power was switched off.
Bob’ combination used a motor that was
roughly equivalent to a .40 cu. in. twostroke.
He had a new sequencer that was
programmed to sense load, and he set it to
yield a lap speed of 5.2 seconds that was
constant from the beginning to the end of
the flight. Bob had a couple early flight
draws that didn’t help his cause, but he
missed qualifying in the top 15 by only 6.6
points.
The electric movement made an
impressive first attempt in this arena.
Electric power is doing well in RC
Aerobatics, and there is a great deal of
potential for it in F2B.
Notice my references to lap times. It is
interesting that speeds of flight or maneuver
times are never mentioned in the rules, but
we continue to talk about speed or lack
thereof. It is a puzzlement; geometry is the
goal, isn’t it?
In addition to the two-circle qualifying
format, a rules change specified that all the
judges’ scores would count; that is, no highand
low-score throwaways. The US team
was unenthusiasticabout this, fearing that asingle judge could make a significant
difference in the results.
Also, only three judges per circle were
used for the qualification flights. Therefore,
a single judge could make a difference of
several positions in qualifying. However, all
competitors were subject to the same rules.
I hope Bruno DeLor checks to see if it
would have made any significant difference
if the high and low scores had been dropped
in the finals.
Qualifications were scheduled to begin
at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Since Bob Hunt was
to make the first flight, the US group
arrived at the grass field at 8:00. The
weather was unflyable above the allowable
9 meters/second limit. The organizers
wisely delayed the starting time one hour.
By 9:30 the wind had dropped to less than 5
mph but the skies were threatening.
At 10:00 Bob was called to fly the first
electric-powered F2B flight in WC
competition. He took off, aborted the
Reverse Wingover, and began yelling
“Electricitee! Electricitee!” at the top of his
lungs. Then he pointed to his handle yelling
“Shock! Shock!” and the US team doubled
over with laughter at Bob’s expense. He
was getting static electric shocks at the
handle.
The competition was delayed another
half hour, and Bob began his reflight. He
was still unnerved and didn’t fly his best.
For some reason the model didn’t want
to fly level and didn’t want to lock on
the bottoms. The power package worked
well, but Bob and the Genesis never
seemed to be in sync.
He flew at the tilted practice site Friday
morning, trying to get the trim right, and
pancaked in during the inside rounds. Wake
turbulence, dead air, and trying to find the
bottoms were the culprits. It didn’t break
the propeller but bent the landing gear and
tail wheel. Bob did settle down and had a
good third official flight.
Rob Gruber flew later in the morning.
He landed his airplane with the wind
blowing on the tail, and it flipped over as it
stopped. That zeroed his landing score.
Rob was the defending Junior World
Champion and was shown as a Junior
entrant all week. US Team Manager Keith
Trostle pointed this out to the organizers,
but to no avail.
Rob recovered and missed qualifying for
the finals by 1.4 points—a real
heartbreaker, especially since the original
results showed him as the 15th qualifier.
There was a scoring error on Mitsuru
Yokoyama’s sheet, and he ended up in the
final qualifying spot.
Chris Rud did great for a first-timer in a
WC. He was practicing early Saturday
morning when he had a control-system
failure and pancaked his Strega in inverted.
That scraped the top, ruined the canopy, and
broke the rudder.
Fortunately Chris had a late flight time.
Repairs were made and he had time to
practice before his last qualifying flight. He
qualified second in Junior. Maurizio Milani
did an excellent job and was the top Junior
qualifier.
David Fitzgerald and Billy Werwage had
late flights Thursday and Friday, which
were thought not to be too bad if thinking
about some possible ballooning of the
judges, but for some reason the wind wasn’t
bad in the morning. Then the later it got, the
faster the wind blew. It became a case of
making decent flights and no big mistakes to
qualify.
David had late flights all week until the
finals. Saturday he and Paul Walker
encountered reasonable winds. Both had
solid attempts, but Paul landed hot and then
hit a bump that launched the model
approximately 4 feet into the air and broke
the carbon-fiber landing gear. One judge
gave him a 3.5, apparently ignoring the fact
that they are supposed to take the surface of
the field into consideration when scoring.
Billy’s flights looked good, but the
judges on the grass circle weren’t buying
what he was putting up. Even so, it looked
as though he could finish strong in the
finals.
Team USA qualified with Paul in first,
David in fifth, and Bob in 20th. Chris was
the second Junior. The defending World
Champions qualified with Bill in sixth and
Rob 16th. Unless the Chinese or French fell
flat in the finals, the US would probably be
the third-place team.
We didn’t learn until we were at the
banquet that the organizers gave the
individual qualifying results to the Judges
Saturday evening. That is in direct violation
of the rules, which read “In order to prevent
influence of any kind, no judge should look
at the tabulated scores and/or contestants‘placing’ until after the completion of the
contest.”
The US and British judges advised the
organizers of this but were told that the
qualifications were a separate contest. No
one knows if this affected the final results,
but it was definitely against the rules.
The finals began with Bill and Paul
leading off and David being fifth to fly.
These early draws were almost as bad as
they could get. There appeared to be some
ballooning toward the end of Round One.
The Juniors fly after the Seniors.
Maurizio Milani was last to fly and had the
fourth highest score of the round. Remi
Beringer was first, David was second by
3.86 points, Paul was seventh, and Bill was
13th. Chris Rud had the 12th highest score
and finished second in the Junior class, 28
points behind Maurizio.
The second round was flown after siesta.
Winds were light. The second-round draw
was better, with US pilots scheduled
seventh, 10th and 13th. David had the high
flight of the round, putting him in first place.
Paul had an excellent flight and moved up to
the fourth spot. Remi flew well and was in
second place, .75 point behind David.
Chris tried extra hard to catch the Italian
but lost ground. Maurizio posted the second
highest score of the round. The results sheet
after the second round showed him in thirdplace overall. Since he did not qualify in
the top 15 he was ineligible for a position
among the finalists, but he was a lock for
the Junior World Championship.
Monday was the last round of the
finals. David was sixth to fly and put in an
excellent attempt. He was happy with his
performance.
Remi flew 11th and had an outstanding
flight as well. Bill flew 12th and felt good
about the flight but bad about the score he
received. Paul flew next to last in Senior
and had the second best flight of the
round. When he came off the circle, he
said that flight was the best he could do.
Then it was up to the judges.
David felt he had the edge on Remi.
Rather than wait for the official results, the
two compared scores and Remi had the
advantage by 1.62 points. Paul moved up
to third, which was just three points back.
It was close but not to be for the US. Chris
settled down and nailed second place in
Junior, ahead of young Russian Maxim
Korsov. As expected, the US finished third
in team competition behind China and
France.
This was my first time at a WC in a
foreign country. I renewed friendships I
made in Muncie in 2004, and I made more
friends this time. I hope I can make it to
the 2008 CL WC and lend my support
once again.46 MODEL AVIATION
F2C Team Race 2006 Control Line World Championships
US team members Jason Allen (L) and Bob Whitney, who often call themselves the
“Root Beer” team, in reference to their initials “A&W.”
The United States F2C duo of Bob Oge (R) and Larry Dziak.
F2C Team Race: Valladolid has a dry
climate. It is quite warm during the day, with
an occasional afternoon thunderstorm.
Showers popped up several days during our
stay, and one day a major thunderstorm with
high winds and hail abused the site. But the
real story was the general high heat and low
humidity. Lots of sunscreen and bottled
water were essential on the field.
Most of the F2C team members arrived a
day or two early to get extra practice time.
The site, on the outskirts of the city, is
purpose-built and accompanied by venues
for other activities such as an RC car track
and several soccer fields.
The F2C circle was smooth and free from
problems. But since it was situated in such a
dry climate, it was necessary to frequently
brush and clean the pit segments.
In addition to the official site, the
organizers provided a practice area that was
in a large parking lot adjacent to a soccer
stadium on the opposite side of the city. It
was unavailable until Monday, so all
practice and last-minute tuning was done at
the official site.
With 45 teams entered in F2C, this
rapidly became a frustrating experience
since opportunities to get onto the circle
were infrequent. This problem diminished
Monday when the practice circles became
available.
The WC was officially opened Monday,
and the models were processed Tuesday.
Noted Ukrainian engine manufacturer Yakov
Mazniak headed the F2C processing.
Airplanes were checked for adherence to the
rules, engines marked to assure ownership,
and fuel tanks measured to be certain they
did not exceed the maximum of 7cc allowed
fuel.
Official practice was Wednesday. While
all other events were officially competing,
F2C had scheduled time for each team to be
on the contest circle. Each national pair was
allotted a 10-minute segment. Official
practice is a time to get that last-minute
setting and, for many, a chance to show off a
bit.
It was common to see someone
circulating at speeds that would be unusable
in an actual race. Times for 10 laps in the
mid-to-high 16s were frequent, but race
settings would be slower.
Thursday was the first round of
qualifications. The reigning World
Champion team of Georges and Pascal
Surugue of France set the quickest time for
all qualifications: 3:09.5. First-round times
were relativey slow overall, with only a half
dozen sub-3:20s.
The US teams fared poorly in Round
One. Tom Fluker and Dick Lambert had a
missed needle setting which resulted in a
third pit stop at 98 laps, spoiling what would
easily have been a sub-3:20 race.
12sig2.QXD 10/25/06 9:49 AM Page 46December 2006 47
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.
Tom Fluker (L) and Dick Lambert. Dick built their models, which
have carbon-fiber construction.
Bob Whitney and Jason Allen used a
newly acquired Mazniak model and suffered
from unfamiliarity with the equipment. The
engine refused to run on their second pit
stop and they had to pull out.
Larry Dziak and Bob Oge were matched
with the Russian Shabashov/Ivanov team
and Fitzgerald/Ellins of Australia. When
Fitzgerald/Ellins was disqualified (DQed),
Larry was able to finish the race with a
3:40.2 time.
In the second round of qualifying, on
Friday, there were only a few sub-3:20
times. The best for the round was 3:14.1 by
France’s Ougen/Surugue. Again, the US
teams had bad fortune.
Fluker/Lambert had an unusual piece of
bad luck. On the initial start, Dick hit the
cowl instead of the propeller, breaking it
and pushing it into contact with the engine
drive washer. The subsequent heat buildup
melted the epoxy/carbon propeller so that it
simply spun on the shaft when the first pit
stop was made.
Jim Allen and Bob Whitney dropped
back to their proven ZALP-powered model
and put a 3:48.4 time on the board.
Dziak/Oge posted an improved time of
3:39.6, again reaping the rewards of another
DQed pilot.
Round Three on Saturday was an eyeopener.
There were 12 sub-3:20 times
posted. Many of the teams finally found a
proper setting, and others needed to “go for
broke” to qualify for the semifinals.
The Surugue brothers had the quickest
time in the round once again, with a 3:10.7.
The highlight of the round was a fiercely
flown race among Simons/Potter of
Australia, Mary/Wieck of Brazil, and
Kramarenko/Chayka of Ukraine. Each team
turned a sub-3:20 time.
Fluker/Lambert’s run of bad luck
continued. On the first pit stop, Tommy
brought the model in too hot and high and
Dick ticked the propeller in the catch,
breaking it. Allen/Whitney suffered a
missed catch and retired on the first pit stop.
Dziak/Oge got a third time in yet another
race in which one of the other teams retired
at the first pit stop. The 3:28.9 was the best
American time of the meet.
After an off day Sunday, the semifinals
and finals were run Monday. With 45 teams
entered, the FAI rules require 12 of those to
be taken to the semifinal rounds. Of the 12,
s
12sig2.QXD 10/25/06 9:35 AM Page 47three were from France, two each were
from Australia, Spain, and Ukraine, and one
team each from Russia, Italy, and Singapore
rounded out the field. The cutoff time for
the semifinals was 3:17.4, with 15 teams
posting qualifying times below 3:20.
The semifinals were flown in two
rounds. In the first, Kramarenko/Chayka of
Ukraine posted the quickest time of 3:08.4
for the 100 laps. While there were several
other times in the low teens, none were
within two seconds of this pair’s.
In the second round Bondarenko/Lerner
of Ukraine turned the fasted time of the
meet—3:07.7—to gain its spot in the finals.
World Champions Surugue/Surugue flew a
3:10.8 for the third spot. The finals would be
composed of two Ukrainian and one French
team.
The finals consisted of three evenly
matched teams with virtually identical
airspeeds. The obvious difference was in the
pit stops, and that’s where it was decided.
On the second pit stop Kramarenko was
near the pitting circle. With his arm
outstretched, his model just ticked Lerner’s
helmet as he was bent over pitting his
model. On the subsequent stop, Chayka
discovered that the propeller was broken and
pulled the model out.
It was unclear when the damage occurred,
but it left Bondarenko/Lerner and
Surugue/Surugue to finish the last 100 laps in
a two-up. Their models were virtually
identical in the air, and the Surugue brothers
successfully defended their World
Championship title by roughly a two-lap
margin.
My overall impression of this WC was
that many teams are capable of running
quickly. In previous events there have been
small numbers of excellent teams, whereas
this WC had many pairs that were capable of
extraordinarily fast times. This year also saw
a widespread adoption of models with
retractable landing gear.
The contest organization was good, owing
largely to the up-front efforts of the Spanish
organizers. They were aided by the
experienced F2C Jury of Bruno Delor of
France, Andy Sweetland of Switzerland, and
Francisco Mata of Spain. 50 MODEL AVIATION
F2D Combat 2006 Control Line World Championships
American Andrey Nadein (L) flies against Valeriy Druzhinin of Kazakhstan.
Victory is so sweet! Russian Igor Trifonov is hoisted aloft after his individual win.
there was a building with a pavilion on the
fourth side. Parking was plentiful and
nearby.
The computer-savvy organizers were
able to provide individualized scoresheets
10-15 minutes after each match. Each sheet
included the following information: heat,
time of the match, round, pilot (red or blue,
depending on streamer color), competitor
number, name, country, heat time, ground
time, cuts, infractions, penalties, total score,
and win or loss. The organizers get an “A”
for this effort.
They could have used a good publicaddress
system to announce each match and
give the spectators some background
information on each pilot, a large clock to
allow the competitors a look at the actual
match time, and a small concession stand at
the Combat site to sell water and ice cream.
There was a full cafeteria a short walk
away, where the officials took their lunch.
Overall, the site was more than satisfactory
and far better than past WC venues.
Most pilots at this competition work
long and hard to make it onto their national
teams. That is a major feat in the US, and it
is considered an honor to be able to
represent our nation.
Some countries seem to have the same
pilots year after year, and others are
sometimes absent altogether from one cycle
to the next. Poland, Belarus, Moldova,
Czech Republic, and Lithuania were
missing from this WC.
The euro is super-strong against the
dollar and other currencies. However,
Kazakhstan and Brazil were involved in this
F2D event.
The perennial favorites were present
because of their past successes. They
F2D Combat: Every two years the world’s
best CL Combat pilots gather to do battle
against one another, which results in a new
champion. The 2006 contest was held at the
Aerosafa facility, located adjacent to the
University of Valladolid’s Sports Complex
in Spain.
Combat was held on the Sports Complex
soccer field. I have been to a number of WC
since 1982, and this was one of the best
layouts for Combat I have seen. Could it
have been better? Yes, without a doubt.
The fields were perfectly groomed and
laid out on a flat surface. The Spanish
model club went to the trouble of making a
wooden center circle that gave good traction
and had clearly painted lines so that the
pilots knew how much room they had in
which to maneuver. This type of center
circle made it easy for the officials to call
penalties for stepping out.
There were clearly marked pit lanes, and
the workers kept things moving once they
figured out who the pilots were. They could
have done with some sort of mechanical
pull-test device instead of having it done by
one individual with a handheld scale.
A second circle was provided so that
pilots could move out of the main circle and
run out the remainder of their fuel. This
would have allowed the next match to set up
and go off on time.
Three practice circles were provided
approximately 100 meters away on the other
side of the Sports Complex building. There
was not a great deal of space between each
of these circles, but the practice facility was
user-friendly, trees lined three sides, and
12sig2.QXD 10/25/06 9:52 AM Page 50December 2006 51
included former World Champion or Junior
World Champion Russians Slava Believ,
Boris Faizov, Igor Trifonov, and Alexander
Shalaev; former World Champion or
European Champion Englishmen Mervyn
Jones and Mike Whillance; and former
European Junior Champion Spaniard Cesar
Picardo, who carried the hopes of the host
country.
The US’s hopes rested primarily on the
shoulders of former World Champion Mike
Willcox. The Ukrainian hopefuls included
Stas Chorny and Volodymyr Vesych.
There are plenty of other pilots who are
unintimidated by former champions or wellknown
pilots and see each new WC as an
opportunity to grab the Gold.
I give Igor Trifonov credit for the
innovative thinking that went into the
design of the models he built to defend his
World Champion title. He had the only
really new equipment at the competition.
Igor incorporated lots of Kevlar and
carbon fiber throughout his structure’s
design. It had a fairly thin carbon-fiber
center rib, a carbon TE, an LE that was
probably made from half carbon and half
Kevlar, and Kevlar wrapped around each
rib. His models were clean and light, with
good AKM engines for power. No one was
going to outrun him.
Other pilots had fast AKMs, Zorros, or
Foras and well-trimmed models. Mike
Willcox and Hakan Ostman of Sweden used
Zorros, and Ukrainian Stanizlav Chornyy
and others had great-working Foras.
Various versions of Cyclon engines were
employed, but none emerged as truly
impressive. They were good but not
superior.
My job as US assistant team manager
was to keep my eyes and ears open during
all matches in which Junior Holden Hill and
Seniors Andrey Nadein, Chuck Rudner, and
Mike Willcox flew.
In the first round Andrey managed to
take the whole streamer in one pass, which
is usually the kiss of death, only to have his
opponent Valeriy Druzhinin of Kazakhstan
return the favor. At the end of the round
refly, Andrey once again “took the lot” but
managed to collect a win.
Mike Willcox managed two cuts on
Robert Liber of Belgium but gave up two
cuts as well. A ground-time differential
gave Mike his first win.
Chuck Rudner traveled all the way to
Spain to fly against one of four Canadians:
Pat Mackenzie. He had a case of “take the
lot” and lost, having given up two cuts.
Holden Hill lost to a well-practiced Jan
Carlos Frias of Spain. Of the Junior pilots,
only defending World Champion Alexander
Shalaev of Russia and Benoit Champain of
France managed clear wins. Russian Artern
Markov was last on the list and did not fly
the round.
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.
Jussi Forss of Finland (R) does not look at his own model, but rather that of his opponent
Volodymyr Vesych of Ukraine.
ps
12sig2.QXD 10/25/06 9:36 AM Page 51Mervyn Jones of Great Britain had an
unsportsmanlike altercation with the
French team and was issued a red card. He
was banished from the competition,
leaving the Brits without their former
World Champion to lead the charge.
In Round Two on the second day Mark
Rudner drew Canadian Ivan Mackenzie,
Pat’s brother, and “took the lot” while
giving up two cuts. He was out.
Holden Hill flew Italy’s Cristiano
Paolicchi to a two cuts to two draw, and he
won the match at the end of the round on a
DQ to Paolicchi because his lines got
tangled in his helmet.
Mike Willcox posted another win
against French Junior Benoit Champain
and was cheered on by the Brits. They still
think of us as “Colonials” who answer to
Mother England.
Andrey Nadein flew against Peteris
Brokans of Latvia in a match where both
pilots “took the lot” and reflew at the end
of the round. That did not go so well and
Andrey took his first loss.
At the end of Day Two, 17 of the
original 59 pilots were out of the fray and
models began showing up for sale in the
paddock. Day Three involved flying two
rounds. Round Three was tough on the
Americans, with Holden Hill and Mike
Willcox taking losses at the hands of Ivan
and Pat Mackenzie respectively. Andrey
Nadein lost to European Champion Mike
Whillance of Great Britain. In each case
the Americans “took the lot.”
The only hope for the US rested with
Mike Willcox. He managed a win against
Valeriy Druzhinin and would move on to
Round Five. Only 18 pilots were left for
the fifth round.
Mike was pitted against Igor Trifonov
and started out well in the match by taking
a small cut and then the rest of the
streamer. Igor took one cut, the models
collided, and the two wounded airplanes
did battle. Mike flew low to the ground
with a splintered propeller while Igor did
the chasing with a damaged, wobbly
model. He managed another cut, tying the
score. Mike did hit the wounded model,
but he stopped his engine in the process.
Mark Rudner’s excellent 11-second pit
stop was just enough of a difference to
give Igor Trifonov the win and put the last
American out to a 12th-place finish. Mike
was in good company with Bryce Gibson
of New Zealand, Hakan Ostman of
Sweden, Pavlo Sadomov of Ukraine, Alex
Shalaev, Russian Boris Faizov, and Italian
Paolo Piccinini.
Into the sixth round went Juniors
Artern Markov and Jussi Forss of Finland,
along with Igor Trifonov, Spaniards
Francisco Mons and Juan Carlos Frias,
Ukrainians Volodymyr Vesych and
Stanislav Chornyy, Henning Forbech of
Denmark, Ivan Mackenzie of Canada,
Chris Renton of New Zealand, and Mike
Whillance of Great Britain.
Mike Whillance, Chris Renton, and
Stanislav Chornyy took losses to put them
out. Artern Markov lost to Jussi Forss but
remained in the competition. Round Seven
saw Spaniards, Henning Forbech, and
Volodymyr Vesych go out. Henning had
caught a case of the ground-check blues
from his late night out in Valladolid and
gave the match to Ivan Mackenzie.
In Round Eight Ivan flew Jussi to beat
him, thus relegating him to fourth place.
Igor Trifonov lost to Artern Markov, but
both were still in. Ivan then flew Artern
Markov, who managed to yank the entire
streamer and its ring out of the hook,
causing Ivan to be disqualified.
The final between Igor Trifonov and
Artern Markov was a real barn burner and
ended in a five-cuts-to-four victory for
Igor. Repeat Champions are rare, and he
proved he was worthy of the title.
I was impressed by the focus and
concentration Artern Markov displayed in
all his matches. Junior Jussi Forss has
learned well from his father Timo. It is
amazing how long Combat pilots can stay
competitive. The youngest Junior was 14
years old and one of the oldest pilots I
know of was 58. MA