March 2015 will be the USA’s debut at the F3P World Championship, held in Warsaw, Poland. What is F3P?
F: Flying model
3: Radio Control
P: Indoor Aerobatics
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) class of F3P is an aerobatic event for RC airplanes that are flown indoors. Sending a team to a competition such as this is expensive. The team needs donations for this year and following years. Learn how to help support the team at the end of this column.
I thought it would be great for you to learn more about this year’s group of phenomenal pilots. The 2015 team consists of modelers whom you might have already heard of or know. They are RJ Gritter, Devin McGrath, Ryan Clark, and Junior competitor Joseph Szczur. The team manager is Dave Lockhart.
Joseph Szczur
Joseph is from Chantilly, Virginia. He is 15 years old and has been flying RC for the last 10 years. He has been competing for five years. His mentors include his father, Don, Andrew Jesky, Quique Somenzini, and Gernot Bruckman. He enjoys F3P because it’s challenging. He also likes International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC) flying, 3-D, FAI, RC Aerobatics (F3A), and RC cars.
Competition placements:
• 2008 US RC Aerobatics Nats: 10th place, Intermediate
• 2009 US RC Aerobatics Nats: Best Junior, F3A
• 2010 US RC Aerobatics Nats: second place, Advanced
• 2011 US RC Aerobatics Nats: first place, Advanced
• 2011, 2012: Invited to and competed in the Electric Tournament of Champions (ETOC)
• 2012 US RC Aerobatics Nats: 10th Place, F3A
• 2012 Mocksville IMAC Classic: first place, Sportsman
• 2014 Northeast Ohio Electric Festival (NEF): seventh place, F3P Team Trials (top Junior)
To top it all off, he has a second-degree black belt in tae kwon do!
RJ Gritter
RJ is 23 years old, from Greensboro, North Carolina, and is a regular at many large RC events. He attends North Carolina State University where he studies aerospace engineering.
His mother is a certified flight instructor, airline transport pilot, and an aviation journalist and author. His father is an aerospace engineer and test pilot who has been involved with test programs for Questair Venture aircraft and HondaJet. His parents have also set several records for time to climb, speed, and altitude in the Venture. Needless to say, competition is in RJ’s blood.
RJ has flown full-scale airplanes most of his life and got his first .40-size glow trainer when he was 12. You might recognize RJ from the ETOC, where he was first invited to compete in 2007.
He started designing Indoor competition models, and in 2009 RJ debuted his Freestyle design, the MX-2. It was released by Fancyfoam and became the most popular Indoor Freestyle model to date—it is also the most popular thread on RCGroups in the Indoor/F3P section with more than 150,000 views!
In 2013, RJ became the ETOC champion. He has participated in nearly every major F3P competition in the US since 2009, never placing lower than third.
Competition placements:
• 2011 Holiday Electric Festival: first place, Aeromusical
• 2012 Holiday Electric Festival: first place, Aeromusical
• 2012 Holiday Electric Festival: third place, F3P
• 2012 E-Fest: Second place, F3P
• Seven invitations to the ETOC: 2010-2013, finalist
• Six invitations to Extreme Flight Championships (XFC)
• 2012 XFC: fourth place
• 2013 ETOC: first place
• 2014 XFC: fourth place
• 2014 NEF: first place, F3P Team Trials
Ryan Clark
Ryan is 21 years old and is from Canton, Michigan. He has been flying RC for 10 years and started competing in 2008. He attends Eastern Michigan University and studies aviation flight technology. He plans to become a professional pilot after graduation.
His first contest was the 2009 ETOC and he has competed in numerous IMAC/Freestyle events and Indoor competitions. He enjoys FAI F3P because it combines Pattern-style flying and indoor aircraft. His other hobbies include hockey, bowling, golf, and full-scale aviation.
Competition placements:
• 2009 ETOC: seventh place
• 2009 IMAC North Central Regional Finals: first place, Intermediate and Freestyle
• 2009 US RC Aerobatics Nats: first place, Intermediate
• 2010 ETOC: seventh place
• 2010 IMAC North Central Regional Finals: first place, Advanced
• 2010 US RC Aerobatics Nats: first place, Advanced
• 2010 XFC: 10th place
• 2011 ETOC: fourth place
• 2011 XFC: eighth place
• 2012 ETOC: fifth place, E-X Games
• 2014 NEF: third place, F3P Team Trials
Devin McGrath
Devin is 26 years old and from Rochester, New York. He has been flying for the last 15 years. He enjoys flying anything, including Indoor competition models, scale warbirds, Discus Launch Gliders, Giant Scale Aerobatics, helicopters, and more. He has competed in RC since 2006 and enjoys F3P the most.
Devin’s attraction to F3P is that you control all aspects of your performance—from airplane design, to building, and finally, your piloting skills.
Competition placements:
• 2012 E-Fest: first place, F3P
• 2012 ETOC: second place
• 2012 XFC: eighth place
• 2013 Eastern Canadian Championships: first place
• 2013 E-Fest: first place, Freestyle contest
• 2013 E-Fest: first place, Aerobatic Air Race
• 2013 E-Fest: first place, Gauntlet
• 2013 ETOC: fourth place
• 2014 E-Fest: first place, Aerobatic Air Race
• 2014 E-Fest: first place, Gauntlet
• 2014 2014 NEF: second place, F3P Team Trials
• 2014 XFC: fifth place
Dave Lockhart
Dave is from Medford, New Jersey. He started flying RC at the age of six. He has been competing in the FAI F3A class since 1999 and was one of the first pilots in the US to fly FAI F3P Indoor Pattern. He has organized some of the largest F3P events in the US, including the 2014 US F3P Team Trials.
Dave also flies gliders, sport, aerobatics, 3-D, and fun-fly airplanes. He enjoys Pattern because it is technology, innovation, and creativity-driven.
Competition placements:
• 1985 US Nats: Top Junior, Sportsman
• 1988 US Nats: Top Senior, Advanced
• 1998 US Nats: first place, Masters
• Eight-time US RC Aerobatics Nats F3A finalist
• 2008-2010 Keystone Indoor Electric Fly: first place, F3P
• 2009 South African Nationals: first place, F3A
• 2011 World Championship: F3A
• 2011 US RC Aerobatics Nats: first place, F3A
• 2012 Eastern Canada Championships: second place
• 2013 ETOC: fifth place
• 2013 Eastern Canada Championships: second place, F3P
• 2014 Ohio Electric Festival: fifth place
• 25-time Pattern Champion, Northeastern US Region
The Aircraft
There are strict rules about what can be flown in an F3P competition. The airplanes are allowed to be up to 2 meters (78.74 inches) in wingspan and length, but cannot exceed 300 grams weight (10.58 ounces). Electric motors cannot be more than 42 volts. Construction materials typically used are foam, carbon fiber, and Mylar. As of 2014, the average F3P model is 39 inches long, with a 34-inch wingspan, and is approximately 70-125 grams (2.5-4.4 ounces).
Two-cell LiPo batteries (with the occasional one-cell battery) are used by most of competitors, with the top models using counter-rotating co-axial motor systems. Some aircraft at the 2015 World Championships are expected to weigh slightly less than 40 grams, with power supplied by a one-cell LiPo. Aircraft powered by a two-cell LiPo will weigh roughly 60 grams.
Help the USA F3P Team
By donating to the USA F3P team, you are helping get the pilots and their gear to the competition in Poland. The Flying Giants online forum has helped promote the cause by matching donations. You can use the link at the end of this article to submit contributions.
There will likely be another Team USA in the years to come, so if there is any unused funding it will go toward that.
SOURCES:
Team USA 2015
www.teamusaf3p.com
Dave Lockhart
[email protected]
FG Team USA F3P World Champs Trip
GoFundMe
www.gofundme.com/hl83lo
2015 FAI World Championship for Indoor Aerobatic Aircraft (F3P)
www.f3p-wch2015.pl