January 2001 41
Two-time F5D World Champ Robert Wimmer gets congratulatory
dousing from Christoph Fraundorfer. Peter Meisinger watches.
German F5D team caller Gerald Mose receives first-place F5D medal. The Austrian team was second; the US team was third.
“Limbo” was the one-word utterance of all 14 national
teams’ contestants, who competed in the 2000 Federation
Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) class F5B World
Championships (WC) for electric-powered gliders, in San
Diego CA.
“Ready—turn!” was the phrase the callers used to indicate
when the pilot reached the turn plane. Or was it “legovin—
swing,” “prepare—vira,” “einleiten—rummm,” or “prepare
menta no”?
Voiced with extreme emotional fervor, these translations
gave an exciting international flavor to my position as Base A
plane judge.
The F5B event is coming into its own in the US, but is highly
competitive in Europe.
The models are highly evolved of all-composite construction,
made in aluminum molds, which are carved with numerically
controlled machinery.
Other than the Russian Sukhoi factory-built Avionic series
models designed by Anachin-Sobakin-Fufkov, the models are
built by associations of local contestants.
The brushless motors and controllers used by most
contestants were by Aveox, Shultze, and Kontronik. Twentyseven-
cell battery packs were matched and tuned for maximum
performance. All used gearboxes and large propellers for peak
climbing efficiency.
What three horsepower can do for a thin-winged four-pound
model is scary; it goes straight up at 90 mph, has a distance liftto-
drag ratio of 100 mph, and finishes in a straight-down dive at
nearly 200 mph.
Electric World Championships
n Steve Manganelli
The US F5B team: pilots Jerry Bridgeman, Steve Neu, Thomas Pils, and manager Bob
Sliff. Some early accidents forced the team to press hard; it finished eighth.
Models in ready area. Two may be brought to zone for five-minute prep time. If neither
can be made flyable during two-minute window, a 0 is awarded for the round.
42 M ODEL AVIATION
Assemblage at the awards/closing ceremony. Ron Scharck, Wayne Walker, Dave Brown, and Emil Giezendanner made speeches.
Masaru Hasegawa clocks distance event
for Shigeki Nagai at Base A. Japanese
electronic timer counted down in English.
German Uli Helfrich waits for go-ahead nod
from teammate in F5B. Uli’s team won the
event, Switzerland’s team finished second.
January 2001 43
Mario Carletti launches teammate’s successful F5B flight. Italians
proved that success is possible with purchased airframe.
Don Madison (L) and Chuck Grim had their hands (and backs) in
virtually every facet of preparing the field for this event.
Florian Lang times Norbert Hubner during F5B duration task.
First set of cheers was heard after 37+-lap distance flight.
Left: The Austrian F5B team of Rudy Freudenthaler, Roy
Brditschka, and Dieter Safarik assemble Dieter’s airplane.
Kenichi Ueyama launches Shigeki Nagai’s
Freudenthaler-designed Surprise 9 in F5B.
Japanese team looked good in practice;
was 10th.
Left: Russian team member Sergey Sobakin
launches Sergey Anachin’s Avionik-B-2000
model by Anachin-Sobakin-Fufkov.
Team Italy finished third in F5B. Front LR:
Mossa, Tucci, Frattini, Carletti. Back
L-R: Cavaggioni, Bertelli.
Photos by Wayne Walker, Brian Chan, and author Graphic Design by Carla Kunz
And some of our glow brethren think
electrics are “too slow”?
An official flight begins with a threeminute
distance task, where the pilot flies as
many laps as possible between parallel
planes that are 150 meters apart. He or she
may make as many as 10 climbs for altitude,
but not between the parallel planes.
Following the distance task, the pilots
have a minute to descend to three meters
(the aforementioned limbo), then climb for
a five-minute precision duration/spotlanding.
The August 3-13 extravaganza was a result
of months of planning by the Silent Electric
Flyers of San Diego and several other Radio
Control (RC) clubs in the San Diego area.
Now that the event is in the bag, I marvel
at the tremendous effort put forth by so
many unselfish individuals.
Aside from officiating eight rounds
multiplied by 38 contestants in F5B, and
five teams multiplied by 16 rounds of FAI
class F5D (electric-powered Pylon Racing),
there was a banquet, a reception at the San
Diego Aerospace Museum, and a reception
hosted by AMA president Dave Brown.
There was a beach party, opening and
closing ceremonies, national anthems, and
flags risen and lowered.
Equipment (trucks, tents, chairs, Porta
Potti™es, and tables and podiums) was
rented and otherwise obtained, government
permits were secured, and two new runways
were prepared.
Courses were surveyed, contestant and
vendor tents were erected, sponsorships
were obtained, and money was collected
and spent.
Model measurements were made,
certified, and documented. Decals, hats,
patches, and lapel pins were made, and
medals were designed and ordered.
Institutions do not do this; individuals
do. Many people used precious vacation
time and spent time away from their
families; Chuck Grim, Don Madison,
Wayne Walker, Tim Attaway, Mike Neale,
and Ron Scharck were just a few. Thanks
to the many others, too numerous to
mention.
An international Electric Flight Festival
(IEFF) preceded the WC, and was open to
all entrants.
The IEFF is a chance for those who
made the trip the US, but were not among
the WC competitors, officials, and locals to
participate in unofficial events.
The categories were Sunrise to Sunset,
Fun Scale, Speed 400 Pylon Racing, AMA
Class A Sailplane and Class B Sailplane,
FAI F5A Pattern, and Class A Old-Timer.
The premiere event was FAI F5B, as a
warm-up for the WC.
This was an opportunity to practice and
get acquainted with the site, show off your
stuff, or possibly tip your hand to other
contestants.
Three simpler F5B classes were also
offered. Rudy Freudenthaler of Austria won
10-cell; Stefaan De Hauwere of Belgium
won seven-cell; and Markus Moeckli of
Germany won Open (nominally 27-cell).
You can view a complete list of IEFF
scores, events, and participants on the
Internet at www.sefsd.org.
The IEFF was followed by a full day of
official practice, whereby each team was
given a block of time on its respective (F5B
and F5D) official course.
This was the last time to dial in the
equipment before it counted.
Each contest day began with F5D Pylon.
Picture a triangular course longer than those
in Quickie 500 or Formula 40, flown with
1⁄2A-size models!
German Harald Konrath set a world
record at 1:11.5—just a few percent slower
than the fastest gas guys.
Harald’s performance in an individual
heat was extraordinary, but not consistent
enough to prevent defending World
Champion Robert Wimmer, also of
Germany, from repeating his victory.
The German team finished in first place,
the Austrian team was second, and the
American team was third.
The US team (Troy Peterson, Kevin
Matney, and Archie Adamisin Jr.) was
somewhat geographically challenged; Kevin
and Archie hail from Michigan, and Troy is
from Los Angeles.
Archie and Kevin have experience with
gas Pylon Racing, and they had an
intriguing airframe. However, inferior
power systems put them at a disadvantage
compared to the Germans. Troy used
equipment similar to that of the Europeans.
Archie’s smoothest, tightest heat was
several seconds slower than the Germans, even
though his model seemed to be as close as, or
closer to, the pylons as any other competitor’s.
Troy began the contest with a crash on
launch, giving him a throw-out round early
in the contest. Others suffered this fate,
because of the general difficulty of handlaunching
a small, heavily loaded model—
especially with extra adrenalin going!
Troy survived the pressure, and was the
top-placing American in fifth. Kevin flew
consistently and ended up eighth, just ahead
of Archie in ninth.
The Germans were in their own class,
breaking 80 seconds in more than half of
their heats. Troy Peterson was the only other
contestant to attain that feat, and that was
only once.
Team Austria—Peter Meisinger and the
young Fraundorfer brothers, Christoph and
Stephan—was 1⁄2% faster than the
Americans, for second place. Team France,
Benoit LeClerc and Guy Brouquieres,
finished fourth, and by Australia’s David
Hobby was fifth.
Rules changes in the pipeline will result
in lower wing loading, and models that are
easier to launch. Hopefully, this will
facilitate greater participation in the event
and maintenance of the event in WC status.
Event director Archie Adamisin Sr.’s
first hurdle was the lack of experienced
workers. The IEFF served as a training
ground for the drafted persons.
Some workers had a new job; this was
the first WC Pylon Racing event flown with
off-course judges.
Archie Sr. did an admirable job under
challenging circumstances, with help from
Sabine Konrath and Keith Finkenbiner.
However, a black cloud seemed to settle
over Archie. He began Day One with a nearimmobilizing
backache. On Day Two, AMA
event coordinator Teresa McKee gave him a
ride to the field because his car was stolen.
On Day Three, he had two flat tires on the
replacement car!
A formal protest was registered on a
supposed bad call at a far pylon, but it was
rejected. Another protest was threatened, if
F5B did not start at the appointed 11 a.m.
The problem was, all the workers needed
to start F5B at 11 a.m. were officiating F5D
at 11:05 a.m. We learned to move fast!
This was the biggest problem for our calm
event director Tim Attaway. He didn’t know
any other way to run the contest, because he
had never seen one before! Tim is no stranger
to big contests—just not this type!
However, German Guntmar Reub more
than made up for what Tim lacked.
US team member Steve Neu
recommended that Guntmar bring his timing
equipment to this contest. Guntmar’s system
was used successfully at the previous F5B
WC, and its use at this one gave muchneeded
credibility to the largely
inexperienced American officials.
The big guns in F5B are defending World
Champion Thomas Pils of the US, Urs
Leodolter of Switzerland, Florian Lang of
Germany, and Rudy Fruedenthaler of
Austria.
These fliers did well in the first of eight
rounds; Thomas was on top, as the sole
competitor with 36 laps.
There were probably two questions on
many people’s minds: Who would this
year’s winner be, and how good would the
pilots on their respective teams have to be to
secure the coveted team trophy?
Team Germany answered right away; it
was ready to defend its 1998 team title with
fine performances from young hotshot
Martin Weberschock, who joined seasoned
competitors Florian Lang and Norbert
Huebner.
Team Switzerland was not about to
concede; fine performances by Urs
Leodolter were nearly matched by Markus
Moeckli.
Swiss and German fliers held the top
four places, so it came down to a battle
between those countries’ third team
members. Could German Norbert
Huebner do better enough than
Switzerland’s Hans-Jakob Baerlocher to
offset his teammate Urs Leodolter’s
first-place showing?
Could Thomas Pils defend his title?
Could fellow team members Jerry
Bridgeman and Steve Neu push hard enough
to send the US team to the podium?
We were settling into a routine by Day
Two: F5D Pylon from 8 to 11 a.m., and two
rounds of F5B Glider from 11 a.m. to
whenever.
The flight order was arbitrarily
concocted by expert timeologist Guntmar
Reub, then rolled down five pilots per
round.
I cannot give Guntmar enough praise; his
computerized timing system had more rules
built into it than we knew!
The trick to the F5B distance task
(completing as many laps between parallel
46 M ODEL AVIATION
planes as possible in three minutes) is that
you can climb 10 times at most, and not
operate the motor on the course.
With Guntmar’s setup, contestants had
to supply a spare receiver, which fed the
motor channel’s output into the system.
When the transmitter indicated motor on,
the Base signaling devices had to indicate
that the aircraft was off the course in order
for the laps to count.
When afoul, the contestants got a
reprimanding “boop” instead of a
reassuring “beep.” Those who pushed
too hard and turned short of a base
plane received no beep—an indication
to go around.
Going around began the stretch of bad
luck that plagued the US teams.
Thomas Pils got a cut called after a
blistering performance for approximately
33 laps, and he had to settle for a stillsmoking
34 laps for Round Five.
Jerry Bridgeman’s downfall was
greed; he gave away a respectable
performance hampered by a minor
official error, in favor of a reflight. The
motor mount cracked loose during the
reflight, which caused the motor to
break loose on the subsequent launch
and cause a crash.
Bad weather notwithstanding,
competitors knew there would be one
throw-out round, and they hate to use it
that early. Once they do so, do they go for
broke, or be conservative and hope their
teammates come through?
As Day Two and two more rounds
rolled by, it became clear that the US team
was not going to the podium.
The black cloud moved over to Steve
Neu, whose Thomas Pils-designed
Verminator 2000 suffered aileron flutter;
the aileron separated from the model,
netting Steve his throw-out.
Jerry Bridgeman sealed the team’s
fate in Round Seven, by stressing and
breaking his second and last registered
Thomas Pils-designed Verminator; that
left him with another zero and no model
for Round Eight.
As the top Europeans jockeyed for
position, the air and the draw came into
play. With F5D run until 11 a.m., the best
thermals and lively air were primarily gone
for F5B competition.
The first five F5B pilots of the day had
the best air and the best chance at 38+ laps.
The sea breezes were stiff by 12:30,
although the better contestants were
getting 35 or 36 laps.
The end of the second round of the day
presented another opportunity for 39 laps;
the wind died down, and the thermals on
the course increased.
Thomas Pils pushed hard, and nearly
attained the magic 39 laps before the
aforementioned cut. No one else in the
contest did so.
Experts suggested that sea-level
atmospheric conditions would make that
milestone very difficult.
Germany’s Norbert Huebner bested
Switzerland’s Hans-Jakob Baerlocher by 3%,
allowing Team Germany to squeeze ahead of
Team Switzerland in spite of Switzerland’s
Urs Leodolter’s .08% triumph over German
Martin Weberschock.
Team Italy was the surprise third
member on the podium, on strong
performances by Remo Frattini,
Allesandro Mossa, and Mario Carletti—
overall fifth, ninth, and 11th places.
Rudy Freudenthaler and the
Austrians were fourth, Team Belguim
was fifth, the United Kingdom was
sixth, France was seventh, and the US
team was eighth.
Congratulations to the first F5B World
Champions of the millennium—individual
Urs Leodolter and Team Germany. MA
Steve Manganelli
119 W. Walnut Ave., Apt. 9
San Diego CA 92103
