F3C World Championships 2005 - 2006/01

30 MODEL AVIATION
THE 2005 F3C World Championships (WC) was held in Zamora, Spain, August 4-
14. Zamora is approximately 100 miles northwest of Madrid. It is a dry and hilly part
of the country situated near the border of Portugal. Although Zamora is arid, it is
extremely picturesque, with century-old buildings lining the river.
I was the US team manager for the 2005 WC. Since I was so busy during the trip,
this article will concentrate more on our team experiences and less on the event itself.
Team USA for 2005 consisted of Curtis Youngblood (pilot), Wayne Mann (pilot),
Len Sabato (pilot), Dave Youngblood (mechanic), Dwight Shilling (mechanic), Don
Wade (mechanic), and me. Denise Mann and Sandy Sabato made the trip as
supporters. With this strong team, the US made an assault on the WC.
Everyone except Curtis and Dave began the trip to Zamora on July 31. They
followed later because Curtis had been at the 3D Masters helicopter competition the
week before and needed a short break.
The main group arrived in Madrid August 1, where we met Juan Carlos of Speed
Hobbies. He was very helpful before our team arrived, and he was extraordinarily
helpful after we arrived!
Our first problem was getting our models out of customs. FedEx had generously
shipped our aircraft—a total of 300 pounds of equipment—safely to Madrid, but
2005
F3C Wo r l d
Championships
The winning teams on the
awards podium (L-R): US,
second place; Japan, first place;
and Italy, third place.
The second-place F3C World Championships
team trophy that Team USA won.
BY S. MICHAEL GOZA
January 2005 31
New F3C World Champion Hiroki Itou. He’s an exceptionally smooth flier.
Congratulations, Hiroki!
Team USA (back row, L-R): Len Sabato, Wayne Mann, Curtis Youngblood, and Mike
Goza; (front row, L-R) Don Wade and Dwight Shilling.
Spanish customs wanted to keep them a bit
longer.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to
travel overseas to a contest of this
magnitude? For us it took four helicopters,
extra engines, spare parts, tools, radios,
blades, and other items for each pilot! When
you break something out in the field, you
have to be able to fix it and you can’t count
on the local hobby shop. There might not be
one for 100 miles!
After much begging and some phone
calls with Juan Carlos’s help, we collected
our boxes, loaded up the vans, and headed
down the road with Juan Carlos in the lead.
The team was greeted by a 3-kilometer
dirt road that ended with the Posada Dehesa
Congosta hotel (www.dehesacongosta.com)
and a crew of friendly people. Juan, the
owner, met us and was a joy throughout the
entire trip. He bent over backward to help
the team with all our needs. The Posada is
beautiful and is located next to the Duero
River, set on roughly 2,000 acres of land.
After getting settled in, the first order of
business was to check out the WC venue
and pick a practice site on the Posada
property. The crew was not too thrilled with
the practice-field locations; the area was dirt
and rock. The practice field quickly gained
the nickname of “Flintstone field.”
When we saw the WC field, however,
we were pleased! It was situated on top of a
large hill with a nice paved runway. The
runway was to be one of the flightlines.
The other flightline was a dirt area
approximately 100 yards away; this field
was immediately nicknamed “Mars.” A
carpet was placed over the area, but it was
incredibly dusty. Luckily the pilots had to
fly off of that surface for only two of the
days.
We spent the next few days practicing
and getting the Flintstone field shipshape.
With the help of Juan, the Posada owner,
and Carlos, the Spanish team manager, we
had a nice location that matched the main
field’s wind and sun conditions.
During that time Curtis and Dave had
arrived to learn that the fuel they had
shipped two-and-a-half weeks earlier had
not arrived. Since I knew about the problem
ahead of time, I was able to scrounge up
some fuel before they arrived. Curtis’s
showed up roughly halfway through the
competition! Next time I guess we’ll need to
ship fuel three weeks in advance and check
on it often!
Official practice was held the day before
the contest started, as were the opening
ceremonies. It was impressive to see 76
pilots from 28 countries lined up on the
tarmac. I was exceptionally proud to carry
the flag for the US team during its
processional onto the field.
The contest consists of all competitors
flying Schedule A the first four days. This
schedule is considered in the preliminary
rounds of the competition and determines
the team standings. Schedule B is harder
and is flown by the top 20% of the
Photos by Mike Goza, Dwight Shilling, Sandy Sabato, Denise Mann, and Jason Chan
32 MODEL AVIATION
Len Sabato holds onto his own-design Stingray
fuselage and retractable skids, JR Vigor, and JR radio.
Wayne Mann, with caller Dwight Shilling, holds his
Staycee fuselage, Kyosho Caliber, and Futaba radio.
The US group, ready to leave on the airplane to Madrid, Spain.
A view of the opening ceremonies. Twenty-eight countries were represented at the F3C World Championships.
Curtis Youngblood with his JR Vigor and JR radio. Curtis is always a
contender, no matter what the contest.
competitors during the final three rounds.
The two sets of maneuvers are as follows.
Schedule A
1. Vertical Rectangle 1
2. Nose In/Tail In Horizontal 8
3. Vertical Triangle with 180 and 360
Pirouettes
4. 2 Consecutive Axial Rolls
5. 2 Consecutive Inside Loops
6. Inside Loop with Half Rolls
7. Rolling Stall Turn with 540 Stall Turn
8. Push Over with 360 Pirouette
9. Autorotation with 180 Turn
Schedule B
1. Vertical Rectangle 3
2. Circle with Two 360 Pirouettes
3. Triangle with Two 360 Pirouettes
4. Roll Reversal
5. One Loop with Straight Roll
6. Cuban Eight
7. Double Rolling Stall Turn
8. Cobra Roll with Half Rolls and Outside
Flip
9. Pullup with 360 Inverted Pirouette
10. Autorotation with Two 90 Turns
Schedule A rounds were split between
two flightlines since there were so many
competitors. Flightline A scored Round
One and Flightline B scored Round Two.
The next day the pilots switched
flightlines, thus completing the two
rounds.
In addition, the orientation of the field
caused a stagger in the start times for the
flightlines because of the sun’s position.
One flightline ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
and the other ran from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
This system caused discrepancies in
weather between flightlines and rounds,
but it is unavoidable for a group this size. I
commend the Zamora organizers for
running a tight ship on the flightlines.
Rounds started on time and finished on
time. That was impressive considering
there were almost 80 pilots.
The US team had some strong
performances during the calm conditions
of Round One and Round Two. The
Japanese also flew strongly. All their
pilots were good, but young Hiroki Itou
was the one to watch. This 16-year-old
was in his first WC and was impressive!
His model was very smooth in a hover and
was a joy to watch.
After two rounds Japan was in first
place and the US was in second. We had a
chance of catching the Japanese team in
the final two rounds if we could put in a
strong performance during the next two
days. Individually, Hiroki Itou (Japan) was
first, Curtis Youngblood was in the second
spot, and reigning World Champion
Manabu Hashimoto (Japan) was in third.
Day Three had some high winds;
everyone struggled with them but did well.
This was the day we found Hiroki Itou’s
Achilles heel: wind! His performance was
not as stellar as on previous days. You can
bet that that night many competitors
prayed to the wind gods for high winds!
Someone must have been listening
because Day Four started out with rain and
wind. Did I mention that Zamora was
having drought conditions? It just goes to
show: have a contest and it will rain!
That day of competition was canceled
because of the weather. Luckily a rain day
was built into the schedule; therefore, the
contest was continued the next day, with
calm conditions which held for the
remainder of the event.
At the end of the preliminary rounds
Japan had captured first place in the team
standings. Team USA was in second place
and Italy was in third. The US team
members flew well, and I was proud of
them.
The flavor of the contest changed at this
point; we were into the finals. Round 1
and Round 2 were to be flown on one day
and Round 3 was to be flown the
following day.
The average of each pilot’s top three
rounds of Schedule A carried over to the
finals as a flight score. That along with the
three final rounds would give eachindividual four scores, one of which would
be dropped. The total would determine the
new World Champion. All of the US pilots
were in the finals, and you could feel the
pressure level bump up!
The first round of Schedule B went
well, but the second round was not too
good for Wayne Mann. While he was in
the ready box, the carpet the organizers
had laid came up and went into his
helicopter’s tail rotor. This threw off his
concentration.
Wayne went to his backup machine and
put in some good hovering. However,
when he went upstairs, the engine leaned
out and caused him to abort the flight.
We filed a protest about the carpet’s
(i.e., the field) damaging Wayne’s model.
We had a valid protest, which was fixed
immediately after his flight, but we
invalidated our claim because he went to
the backup model. By switching to the
backup, we were claiming that it was just
as good as the primary and therefore not a
problem.
We should have stopped immediately
and filed a protest. It was disappointing,
but it was a valuable lesson we won’t soon
forget. That did not improve Wayne’s
chances of advancing in the finals.
After all the rounds were finished there
was a new World Champion: Hiroki Itou
of Japan! He flew superbly throughout the
contest and showed great calm under
considerable pressure.
The US team members did well in the
finals. Curtis Youngblood finished in fifth
place, Wayne Mann was seventh, and Len
Sabato earned the 11th spot! I was
extremely proud of all the team members
and the amount of effort they put into this
contest.
To give you an idea of their dedication
during the contest, each team member flew
several hours each day. Each burned
approximately three cases of fuel each
during the event. Most people don’t burn
that much in a year! And that doesn’t
include all the practice and fuel they put in
before they got on the airplane. The
amount of dedication is phenomenal.
I thank everyone who selected me to be
team manager. It was an experience I will
not forget, and it was an honor to represent
the US at an international event. Being
part of a team at the World Championships
has been a dream of mine for quite
sometime.
I also thank all the individual sponsors
and the corporate sponsors that made all of
this possible. Fielding a team at an
international event is an expensive
endeavor.
Corporate sponsors were FedEx,
Powermaster Fuels, Morgan Fuels, Rick’s
RC Helicopters, Horizon Hobby (JR), FX
Aeromodels, Duralite Batteries, RC Helis
Plus, Model Helicopter Technique,
Miniature Aircraft, Hobbico
(Futaba/Great Planes), YS Performance,
Century Hobby Products, Model
Avionics, Boca Bearings, SR Batteries,
Du-Bro Products, and Xero G
Helinnovations.
While in Spain I wrote a daily diary
for the team Web page. If you would like
to read it, go to www.usaf3c.com and
follow the link. You can also get the final
scores at wc2005-f3c.helcom.es. Thanks
again to all our sponsors!
Onward to Poland in 2007! Go Team
USA! MA
Mike Goza
[email protected]

30 MODEL AVIATION
THE 2005 F3C World Championships (WC) was held in Zamora, Spain, August 4-
14. Zamora is approximately 100 miles northwest of Madrid. It is a dry and hilly part
of the country situated near the border of Portugal. Although Zamora is arid, it is
extremely picturesque, with century-old buildings lining the river.
I was the US team manager for the 2005 WC. Since I was so busy during the trip,
this article will concentrate more on our team experiences and less on the event itself.
Team USA for 2005 consisted of Curtis Youngblood (pilot), Wayne Mann (pilot),
Len Sabato (pilot), Dave Youngblood (mechanic), Dwight Shilling (mechanic), Don
Wade (mechanic), and me. Denise Mann and Sandy Sabato made the trip as
supporters. With this strong team, the US made an assault on the WC.
Everyone except Curtis and Dave began the trip to Zamora on July 31. They
followed later because Curtis had been at the 3D Masters helicopter competition the
week before and needed a short break.
The main group arrived in Madrid August 1, where we met Juan Carlos of Speed
Hobbies. He was very helpful before our team arrived, and he was extraordinarily
helpful after we arrived!
Our first problem was getting our models out of customs. FedEx had generously
shipped our aircraft—a total of 300 pounds of equipment—safely to Madrid, but
2005
F3C Wo r l d
Championships
The winning teams on the
awards podium (L-R): US,
second place; Japan, first place;
and Italy, third place.
The second-place F3C World Championships
team trophy that Team USA won.
BY S. MICHAEL GOZA
January 2005 31
New F3C World Champion Hiroki Itou. He’s an exceptionally smooth flier.
Congratulations, Hiroki!
Team USA (back row, L-R): Len Sabato, Wayne Mann, Curtis Youngblood, and Mike
Goza; (front row, L-R) Don Wade and Dwight Shilling.
Spanish customs wanted to keep them a bit
longer.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to
travel overseas to a contest of this
magnitude? For us it took four helicopters,
extra engines, spare parts, tools, radios,
blades, and other items for each pilot! When
you break something out in the field, you
have to be able to fix it and you can’t count
on the local hobby shop. There might not be
one for 100 miles!
After much begging and some phone
calls with Juan Carlos’s help, we collected
our boxes, loaded up the vans, and headed
down the road with Juan Carlos in the lead.
The team was greeted by a 3-kilometer
dirt road that ended with the Posada Dehesa
Congosta hotel (www.dehesacongosta.com)
and a crew of friendly people. Juan, the
owner, met us and was a joy throughout the
entire trip. He bent over backward to help
the team with all our needs. The Posada is
beautiful and is located next to the Duero
River, set on roughly 2,000 acres of land.
After getting settled in, the first order of
business was to check out the WC venue
and pick a practice site on the Posada
property. The crew was not too thrilled with
the practice-field locations; the area was dirt
and rock. The practice field quickly gained
the nickname of “Flintstone field.”
When we saw the WC field, however,
we were pleased! It was situated on top of a
large hill with a nice paved runway. The
runway was to be one of the flightlines.
The other flightline was a dirt area
approximately 100 yards away; this field
was immediately nicknamed “Mars.” A
carpet was placed over the area, but it was
incredibly dusty. Luckily the pilots had to
fly off of that surface for only two of the
days.
We spent the next few days practicing
and getting the Flintstone field shipshape.
With the help of Juan, the Posada owner,
and Carlos, the Spanish team manager, we
had a nice location that matched the main
field’s wind and sun conditions.
During that time Curtis and Dave had
arrived to learn that the fuel they had
shipped two-and-a-half weeks earlier had
not arrived. Since I knew about the problem
ahead of time, I was able to scrounge up
some fuel before they arrived. Curtis’s
showed up roughly halfway through the
competition! Next time I guess we’ll need to
ship fuel three weeks in advance and check
on it often!
Official practice was held the day before
the contest started, as were the opening
ceremonies. It was impressive to see 76
pilots from 28 countries lined up on the
tarmac. I was exceptionally proud to carry
the flag for the US team during its
processional onto the field.
The contest consists of all competitors
flying Schedule A the first four days. This
schedule is considered in the preliminary
rounds of the competition and determines
the team standings. Schedule B is harder
and is flown by the top 20% of the
Photos by Mike Goza, Dwight Shilling, Sandy Sabato, Denise Mann, and Jason Chan
32 MODEL AVIATION
Len Sabato holds onto his own-design Stingray
fuselage and retractable skids, JR Vigor, and JR radio.
Wayne Mann, with caller Dwight Shilling, holds his
Staycee fuselage, Kyosho Caliber, and Futaba radio.
The US group, ready to leave on the airplane to Madrid, Spain.
A view of the opening ceremonies. Twenty-eight countries were represented at the F3C World Championships.
Curtis Youngblood with his JR Vigor and JR radio. Curtis is always a
contender, no matter what the contest.
competitors during the final three rounds.
The two sets of maneuvers are as follows.
Schedule A
1. Vertical Rectangle 1
2. Nose In/Tail In Horizontal 8
3. Vertical Triangle with 180 and 360
Pirouettes
4. 2 Consecutive Axial Rolls
5. 2 Consecutive Inside Loops
6. Inside Loop with Half Rolls
7. Rolling Stall Turn with 540 Stall Turn
8. Push Over with 360 Pirouette
9. Autorotation with 180 Turn
Schedule B
1. Vertical Rectangle 3
2. Circle with Two 360 Pirouettes
3. Triangle with Two 360 Pirouettes
4. Roll Reversal
5. One Loop with Straight Roll
6. Cuban Eight
7. Double Rolling Stall Turn
8. Cobra Roll with Half Rolls and Outside
Flip
9. Pullup with 360 Inverted Pirouette
10. Autorotation with Two 90 Turns
Schedule A rounds were split between
two flightlines since there were so many
competitors. Flightline A scored Round
One and Flightline B scored Round Two.
The next day the pilots switched
flightlines, thus completing the two
rounds.
In addition, the orientation of the field
caused a stagger in the start times for the
flightlines because of the sun’s position.
One flightline ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
and the other ran from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
This system caused discrepancies in
weather between flightlines and rounds,
but it is unavoidable for a group this size. I
commend the Zamora organizers for
running a tight ship on the flightlines.
Rounds started on time and finished on
time. That was impressive considering
there were almost 80 pilots.
The US team had some strong
performances during the calm conditions
of Round One and Round Two. The
Japanese also flew strongly. All their
pilots were good, but young Hiroki Itou
was the one to watch. This 16-year-old
was in his first WC and was impressive!
His model was very smooth in a hover and
was a joy to watch.
After two rounds Japan was in first
place and the US was in second. We had a
chance of catching the Japanese team in
the final two rounds if we could put in a
strong performance during the next two
days. Individually, Hiroki Itou (Japan) was
first, Curtis Youngblood was in the second
spot, and reigning World Champion
Manabu Hashimoto (Japan) was in third.
Day Three had some high winds;
everyone struggled with them but did well.
This was the day we found Hiroki Itou’s
Achilles heel: wind! His performance was
not as stellar as on previous days. You can
bet that that night many competitors
prayed to the wind gods for high winds!
Someone must have been listening
because Day Four started out with rain and
wind. Did I mention that Zamora was
having drought conditions? It just goes to
show: have a contest and it will rain!
That day of competition was canceled
because of the weather. Luckily a rain day
was built into the schedule; therefore, the
contest was continued the next day, with
calm conditions which held for the
remainder of the event.
At the end of the preliminary rounds
Japan had captured first place in the team
standings. Team USA was in second place
and Italy was in third. The US team
members flew well, and I was proud of
them.
The flavor of the contest changed at this
point; we were into the finals. Round 1
and Round 2 were to be flown on one day
and Round 3 was to be flown the
following day.
The average of each pilot’s top three
rounds of Schedule A carried over to the
finals as a flight score. That along with the
three final rounds would give eachindividual four scores, one of which would
be dropped. The total would determine the
new World Champion. All of the US pilots
were in the finals, and you could feel the
pressure level bump up!
The first round of Schedule B went
well, but the second round was not too
good for Wayne Mann. While he was in
the ready box, the carpet the organizers
had laid came up and went into his
helicopter’s tail rotor. This threw off his
concentration.
Wayne went to his backup machine and
put in some good hovering. However,
when he went upstairs, the engine leaned
out and caused him to abort the flight.
We filed a protest about the carpet’s
(i.e., the field) damaging Wayne’s model.
We had a valid protest, which was fixed
immediately after his flight, but we
invalidated our claim because he went to
the backup model. By switching to the
backup, we were claiming that it was just
as good as the primary and therefore not a
problem.
We should have stopped immediately
and filed a protest. It was disappointing,
but it was a valuable lesson we won’t soon
forget. That did not improve Wayne’s
chances of advancing in the finals.
After all the rounds were finished there
was a new World Champion: Hiroki Itou
of Japan! He flew superbly throughout the
contest and showed great calm under
considerable pressure.
The US team members did well in the
finals. Curtis Youngblood finished in fifth
place, Wayne Mann was seventh, and Len
Sabato earned the 11th spot! I was
extremely proud of all the team members
and the amount of effort they put into this
contest.
To give you an idea of their dedication
during the contest, each team member flew
several hours each day. Each burned
approximately three cases of fuel each
during the event. Most people don’t burn
that much in a year! And that doesn’t
include all the practice and fuel they put in
before they got on the airplane. The
amount of dedication is phenomenal.
I thank everyone who selected me to be
team manager. It was an experience I will
not forget, and it was an honor to represent
the US at an international event. Being
part of a team at the World Championships
has been a dream of mine for quite
sometime.
I also thank all the individual sponsors
and the corporate sponsors that made all of
this possible. Fielding a team at an
international event is an expensive
endeavor.
Corporate sponsors were FedEx,
Powermaster Fuels, Morgan Fuels, Rick’s
RC Helicopters, Horizon Hobby (JR), FX
Aeromodels, Duralite Batteries, RC Helis
Plus, Model Helicopter Technique,
Miniature Aircraft, Hobbico
(Futaba/Great Planes), YS Performance,
Century Hobby Products, Model
Avionics, Boca Bearings, SR Batteries,
Du-Bro Products, and Xero G
Helinnovations.
While in Spain I wrote a daily diary
for the team Web page. If you would like
to read it, go to www.usaf3c.com and
follow the link. You can also get the final
scores at wc2005-f3c.helcom.es. Thanks
again to all our sponsors!
Onward to Poland in 2007! Go Team
USA! MA
Mike Goza
[email protected]