Control Line Aerobatics
Curt Contrata [[email protected]]
2006 FAI CL Precision Aerobatics team established
This past Labor Day weekend the 2006 US Team Trials for F2B (FAI CL Precision Aerobatics) was held at the AMA National Flying site in Muncie, Indiana. As has been typical of this contest for many years, it was superbly run and the quality of the flying was outstanding. The weather for the most part cooperated, giving several days of practice in nearly “Stunt Heaven” air.
The scoring and format of the contest were according to the FAI rules and procedures that will be in place at the 2006 World Championships in Spain. Besides the larger allowable engine displacements, the biggest change for the fliers and judges was the format: in 2006 there will be multiple circles flown simultaneously for qualifying rounds.
For many, the fact that Bill Werwage will be attending the 2006 World Championships as defending champion meant there was an “open slot” on the team. To add to speculation about who had a shot to make the team, word spread quickly that Ted Fancher had damaged his only model in a pull-test incident weeks before the contest. Then Brett Buck and Windy Urtnowski announced that they would not be flying.
With such strong finishes at the AMA Nats, it was basically a given that Paul Walker and David Fitzgerald would easily make the 2006 F2B team. All week the two were in top form, and even their worst practice flights looked very good. David has improved greatly in the past two years, and Paul is as sharp as ever.
The talk of the field had to be Bob Hunt’s 2003 Genesis Extreme. This model has been powered with a few different setups so far, and this year it was electric. With a different sound, the model immediately caught everyone’s attention. It was obvious from the beginning that Bob’s entry would be a serious attempt. He had five battery packs for the model and was always charging at least one of them. He claims that with five packs he always has one ready to go.
Bob admits that the system is not quite ready for the average flier, but that technology should get there quickly. The biggest advances are being made with the batteries, and new products are continuously being introduced for all of the system’s components. “We are only in the spark-ignition stage of this technology,” he said.
Matt Neumann was another flier who was pushing hard this year, and he was flying better than ever. It was obvious at the Nats that he had been practicing, and he looked even more practiced at the Team Trials. Matt’s hard work is beginning to pay off; he is slowly moving up the food chain.
Bill Rich had also worked hard since the Nats, where he had a new model and was unpracticed. He was looking solid by the end of the week at the Team Trials.
It was good to see Wynn Paul again; it had been several years since he had made the trip to Muncie. It was also good to see Josias Delgado and Orestes Hernandez of Miami, Florida. Both flew well at the Nats and were spending a great deal of quality time on the practice circles in Muncie.
The 2005 Advanced National Champion, Chris Rud, returned to Muncie with his Strega to fly for the position of Junior team member. He continues to improve and is looking strong. Coming off his win at the AMA Nats, Chris has Rob Gruber’s attention; Rob is beginning to look back over his shoulder.
As for the rumors, it turned out that Ted Fancher was able to repair his model for the Team Trials after all. He had it working so well that he finished third in the qualifying round. In the finals he experienced some dead air that destroyed any hope he had of making the 2006 team.
When the contest began there were 18 contestants flying for three positions on the team. The fliers were split into two groups of nine, and each group flew on alternating circles in front of stationary judges. Of those 18 fliers, 10 advanced to the final round of competition. Rob Gruber flew for practice with one of the groups, and Chris Rud flew for a spot on the team with the other.
On practice days the weather was mostly perfect. It was cool in the mornings, with a fairly steady light breeze by about 8 a.m. Sometime near mid-day there were slight increases in wind, but nothing that was ever a problem.
Contest days were different, with long periods of dead and nearly dead air. The air was so thin and still that it was difficult to judge any movement in it at all. It was so hard to detect the wind direction that several fliers, in an effort to avoid their own turbulence, backed up in the same direction of the wind without realizing it.
There were a few surprises when the scores were posted for the first round of the finals. The surprises were not who was leading, but who followed. David Fitzgerald was in the top spot at the end of the first round, Bob Hunt was in second place, and Matt Neumann, Bill Rich, and Paul Walker were within a point or so of each other.
The finals format allows three flights for each contestant, with the highest two scores added to achieve the total score for the contest. With two more rounds to go, the competition was certainly not over. After the first round it was realized that the judges were buying the look and sound of the electric-powered Genesis Extreme, that Matt was a contender, and that Bill Rich was back to his old self.
It wasn't going to surprise anyone if Paul came back and put up big scores in his next two flights. If he were going to do it, he would have to work hard; David was in a great position going into the third and final round. Paul’s third flight was the highest score of the day, and it was enough to squeak ahead of David by an incredible 0.043 point!
With the winner of the third spot in question until the last score was posted, Bob Hunt was extraordinarily nervous. He was in third place up to that point, but a couple fliers were left who could bump him into first alternate. When the scores were finally posted, Bob had garnered the third spot on the team and became the first ever to do it with an electric-powered model.
Flying with the group of Seniors was current Junior World Champion Rob Gruber. He and current Senior World Champion Bill Werwage will fly at the 2006 World Championships as defending champions. If you are counting, that makes a total of six fliers from the U.S. competing at the 2006 CL World Championships.
Congratulations to Paul Walker, David Fitzgerald, Bob Hunt, and Chris Rud for making the team, and best of luck in Spain next year. And of course, best of luck to Bill Werwage and Rob Gruber.
If you missed the coverage of the 2005 AMA National Championships, daily updates are available online at www.modelaircraft.org/events/natsnews.asp. This casual, unlimited, and immediate format allowed for more photographs and greater freedom in the way the daily events were reported. If you have not already done so, please take the time to visit the site and read the 2005 NatsNews.
2005 Nats CL Precision Aerobatics notes
In Advanced:
- 1st: Chris Rud
- 2nd: Josias Delgado
- 3rd: David Gresens
- 4th: Michael Palko
- 5th: Traian Morosanu
There was a total of 37 entrants.
In Junior:
- 1st: Thomas Case
- 2nd: Ryan Young
In Senior (three entries):
- 1st: Rob Gruber
- 2nd: Chris Rud
- 3rd: Thiago Case
In Open:
- 1st: Paul Walker (10th Open win)
- 2nd: David Fitzgerald
- 3rd: Ted Fancher
- 4th: Richard Oliver
- 5th: Randy Smith
Places six through ten in Open:
- 6th: Orestes Hernandez
- 7th: Frank McMillan
- 8th: Paulo Gomes
- 9th: Matthew Neumann
- 10th: Derek Barry
Congratulations to everyone and thank you to those who unselfishly donated their time, including the many judges, tabulators, runners, and especially Event Director Warren Tiahart.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
