Eleven individual Free Flight World Champions
were among the approximately 200 international
competitors at Lost Hills, California, February 11-19,
2012. Among those were a four-time champion and three
three-time champions, undoubtedly some of the greatest FF
participants of all time.
The eight-day competition festival that’s come to be
known as “Fabulous February” is actually six contests in
one, beginning with the Issacson (Ike) Winter Classic, a
multifaceted tapestry of FF events including AMA and
Nostalgia (1950s) events, entry-level events such as P-30 and
E-36, and unique events only held at the Ike: compressed air
and FAI-style Catapult Glider.
Concurrent with the Ike weekend is the Kiwi Cup of New
Zealand, the first of three FAI World Cups for F1A, F1B, F1C,
F1P, and F1Q. On the following Tuesday is another World
Cup for the same classes, the Pan American Cup of Canada,
followed by two World Cups for F1E (Slope Soaring Gliders)
on Thursday.
Friday through Sunday is the main event: the Max Men
International. This has become the largest FF gathering in
North America, and second in attendance only to AMA
Outdoor FF Nats. Fabulous February indeed!
FF Luminaries
Thomas Køster, from Denmark, perhaps FF’s most revered
figure, is the only individual to have won all three major
international events (F1B Rubber in 1965, F1C Power in 1977,
and F1A Towline in 1979).
On Saturday of the Kiwi Cup, Thomas reunited with Bill
Gieskieng, legendary F1C designer who last visited Tom when
he won his second World Championship in Europe in 1977.
It was Bill’s first trip to a major international contest in three
decades. He caught a flight from his home in Colorado and
didn’t even bring anything to y. He was there to reunite
with Køster and other international friends.
Oleg Kulakovsky and Alex Andriukov were in
attendance, as usual. In the last 20 years or so, the pair
has revolutionized F1B Wake eld Rubber. They produce
models and parts for the world’s top competitors. These
are the models they’ve used to win seven of the last 10 F1B
WBoth are Ukrainian born; Andriukov is now a U.S. citizen
and a regular at Lost Hills contests.
The father of the modern F1C (2.5cc glow power) model is
Eugene Verbitsky of Ukraine, winner of three individual World
Championships (1987, 1993, and 2011). His countryman,
Artem Babenko, is a close second in stature, having won two
World Championships.
Both are elite designers and builders of F1C models used by
the world’s best fliers.
Per Findahl, two-time F1A World Champion, came from
Sweden. Other former world champions, spanning three
decades, included Mike McKeever (USA), Stepan Stefanchuk
(Ukraine), Matt Gewain (USA), Victor Stamov (Ukraine),
Mikhail Kochkarev (Russia), and Sergey Makarov (Russia). It
was a week of fame as much as flying.
Another celebrated attendee was the F1B World Cup itself, a
gleaming silver cup adorned with the names of the world’s best
Rubber fliers of the past three decades. One of those—the third
World Cup winner from 1989—is Isaacson CD Norm Furutani.
Now retired from the cauldron of international F1B flying,
Norm is content to fly the more relaxed AMA, Old-Timer,
and Nostalgia events. Norm couldn’t resist lofting the cup one
more time all these years later.
Maxes and Flyoffs
Major FAI Free Flight contests are scored based on the total
time accrued over seven (or five, or three) individual flights.
Each flight has a maximum target time or “max” for short.
Excess flight duration above the max is not counted.
F1A, F1B, F1C, F1E, F1P, and F1Q events stipulate that
the seven individual flights are to be flown in 1-hour rounds,
with a standard max of 3 minutes. In the event of ties at the
end of the seven rounds of regulation flying, a sudden-death,
head-to-head flyoff (think overtime in football) is held.
Flyoffs feature extended maxes (5 to 10 minutes) and
shortened launch windows of only 10 minutes. This is when
FF’s pulse-pounding drama is revealed.
The Flying
The balmy mid-winter California flying weather is the
main reason the world’s best Free Flighters make the trek to
California’s central valley in February. The weather on the first
weekend (Isaacson/Kiwi World Cup) did not disappoint, with
short-sleeve temperatures and light winds both days.
In the Kiwi Cup, F1C Power had a stacked field of the
world’s best fliers. Fourteen of the 21 who started made the
seven-round maxout and entered the flyoffs. Five of those
made the 5-minute max to enter the second (7-minute) flyoff
round. Of those, only one made the max and with it earned
the victory: Ed Carroll of the US. Two-time world champion
Artem Babenko was second and Reinhard Truppe of Austria
placed third.
In F1A, a huge field of 56 started, including five Juniors.
Twenty-seven fliers made the maxout, and 11 made the
5-minute round to advance to the decisive 7-minute flyoff
round.
In this round only one sportsman scored a max, and again it
was an American, Jim Farmer of Arizona. Schlomi Rozenzweig
of Canada was second and 2005 F1A World Champion Mike
McKeever placed third.
Fifty fliers started the F1B competition and of those, 21
made the seven-round maxout. Twenty competitors scored
a max in the 5-minute round in perfect weather, but in the
7-minute round only two survived: Charlie Jones of the US
and Thorvald Christensen of Sweden. In the 9-minute round
the lift deteriorated, but Jones managed 341 seconds to
Christensen’s 236. Jack Emery of the US was third.
Down the flightline at the Isaacson contest, competition
was fierce in the AMA and unofficial events. AMA Hand-
Launched Glider featured a large and competitive field of 23
fliers. Stan Buddenbohm bested all others with seven-minuteplus
maxes. Stan also won AMA Catapult Glider, topping a
field of 20.
P-30 Rubber was dominated by Clint Brooks from Southern
California. His excellent Boomer design had seven maxes.
There was plenty of action on the Nostalgia Gas flightline
with contestants from Oregon duking it out with the
Californians.
E-36 is proving to be a big success in barely its second year
of existence, with seven fliers making official flights and three
maxing out.
Midweek
Midweek at “FabFeb” was a mixed bag of weather. Monday,
February 13, was the scheduled day for the F1E Kiwi Cup, but
flying was canceled because of high winds and sporadic rains.
Most competitors stayed off the field as the weather passed.
Tuesday featured nice weather again and was the scheduled
day for the Pan-American World Cup of Canada. The beautiful
weather and excellent flying by the sportsmen resulted in
flyoffs in all events.
Stepan Stefanchuk won F1B in the seven-minute round.
F1A and F1C required multiple flyoffs and went to a
10-minute flyoff at dawn on Wednesday, where Roland Koglot
of Slovinia won F1A and Evgeny Verbitsky from Ukraine
prevailed in F1C.
Wednesday, February 15, was another windy day with more
rain, but fortunately no events were scheduled.
Thursday, February 16, was the day for both F1E World
Cups, which were shortened to five rounds each. Peter
Brocks of the US won the California Cup while Ian Kaynes
from Great Britain was victorious in the Kiwi Cup later that
afternoon.
The MaxMen
The MaxMen International is the grandest of all US FAI
FF meets. The 2012 MaxMen proved that its legacy is secure,
with excellent weather and stunning flyoff performances.
F1A kicked off the competition on Friday, February 17.
The flying weather was excellent throughout the morning
with partly cloudy skies and winds less than 5 mph. The air
got tricky approximately 2 p.m. during the seventh round.
Competitors seemed to sense it as they towed for long periods,
unsure when to launch. Several top fliers failed to max this
round, dashing their hopes of flyoff appearances.
The first flyoff round commenced with 23 competitors
towing up for the 5-minute max. The air improved again for
this round, and only three failed to max. Shortly afterward the
air improved even more and a 7-minute max fl yoff was held.
Nineteen of the 20 fl iers made the max. The stage was set
for a decisive dead-air fl yoff at 7:30 a.m. the next day. The
max would be 10 minutes.
Nineteen F1A sportsman (including four former world
champions) representing 11 countries gathered Saturday
morning for the fl yoff. Everyone had their eyes on former
world champions Sergey Makarov and Mikhail Kochkarev of
Russia, Victor Stamov of Ukraine, and Per Findahl of Sweden.
All were fl ying state-of-the-art, low-drag airfoil (LDA) models.
Roland Koglot of Slovenia (winner of all three February
World Cups last year at Lost Hills) was also a favorite with his
vaunted LDAs.
The air was calm and buoyant as the 10-minute launch
window opened. Most in the fi eld got excellent launches,
including Makarov, whose altimeter reported an astronomical
107 meters; the towline length in F1A is only 50 meters!
The four former world champions and Roland Koglot all
did better than seven minutes. No one else in the group of
nineteen did better than 6 minutes.
One man did more than 9 minutes—Koglot—an
unbelievable 9:09. Makarov was more than a minute behind
him in second place at 8:06. Stamov was third in 7:58. Most
in attendance agreed this was one of the greatest fl yoffs in
MaxMen history.
Saturday, February 18, was F1B and F1C day. Forty-nine
sportsmen (including three Juniors) from 15 countries started
in F1B, with only 14 scoring the max-out. The air picking was
more diffi cult than Friday had been; many of the fl iers who
failed to max-out dropped two (or more) rounds.
The fi rst F1B fl yoff was a 5-minute max at approximately 3
p.m., Saturday. Thirteen of 14 made the max, proving that the
air had improved considerably.
The 7-minute fl yoff was postponed until early Sunday
morning. This would be proved to be decisive; no fl iers maxed
it. To nobody’s surprise, three-time World Champion Alex
Andriukov, from the US, ended up winning in 6:25, nearly
a minute ahead of second-place fi nisher Stepan Stefanchuk
of Ukraine. The rest of the top fi ve were Americans, tightly
bunched at between 5 and 51/2 minutes.
F1C at the MaxMen is one of the largest F1C events in
the world, because of the event’s general lack of popularity
in European countries. Twenty-three sportsmen from 10
countries made the starting horn, and 16 of them maxed
out, proving that the air was better Saturday for these highclimbing
power models. Fifteen of the 16 achieved the
5-minute fl yoff max, necessitating a Sunday morning fl yoff.
When the starting horn sounded on this round, few
expected anyone to actually score the 10-minute max;
most F1C models are generally only good for roughly 6
minutes in dead air. Artem Babenko, former two-time World
Champion from Ukraine, proved this theory wrong when he
dethermalized at 10:00 to take the win.
Americans Don Chesson and Ron McBurnett were second
and third with huge times of 9:46 and 8:40. Several top fl iers
scored only in the 4- to 6-minute range when they had poor
launches.
If you are even a casual fan of Free Flight and/or
international air sports competition, you should make plans to
attend Fabulous February. The anticipated dates for 2013 are
February 9 to 17. Nowhere else in the western hemisphere
will you experience so many aeromodeling cultures and
differing languages on a common fl ightline.
Free Flight forever!
