Control Line Aerobatics - 2006/01

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
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 was to be 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 the speculation of 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 darned 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, this model
immediately caught everyone’s attention. It was obvious from the
beginning that Bob’s 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
2006 FAI CL Precision Aerobatics team established
[[email protected]]
Control Line Aerobatics Curt Contrata
Also included in this column:
2005 Nats CL Precision
Aerobatics notes
National Champion, PAMPA president, and US 2006 F2B team
member Paul Walker pull-tests his O.S. 40 VF-powered For Reals.
Bene Rodrigues of Brazil walks to the circle with his beautiful P-51
Mustang at the 2005 Nats. He finished 18th.
Gary Hajek (R) assists Robert Storick as Robert prepares his P-47
for a flight. He does a beautiful job on his models.
January 2006 129
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 blowing by 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 ended 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 burned in his next two flights
to put up some big scores. 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 .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 to 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 US 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.
In Advanced Chris Rud finished in first
place, Josias Delgado finished second, David
Gresens was third, Michael Palko finished
fourth, and Traian Morosanu was fifth. There
was a total of 37 entrants.
Thomas Case won Junior, with Ryan
Young finishing in second place. Senior had
three entries, with Rob Gruber taking first
place, Chris Rud earning second place, and
Thiago Case finishing third.
In Open, for the 10th time, Paul Walker
won the event. David Fitzgerald finished
second, Ted Fancher was third, Richard
Oliver came in fourth, and Randy Smith was
fifth. Places six through 10 went to Orestes
Hernandez, Frank McMillan, Paulo Gomes,
Matthew Neumann, and 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 Tiahrt.