Photos by the author; sidebar photo by Michael Ramsey
Senior pilot Joe Wurts of the US does
his famous kick while launching Junior
Joseph Newcomb’s Espada sailplane.
An exciting 10-man launch during the qualifying rounds.
CONGRATULATIONS TO the US F3J
team! Senior members Joe Wurts, Skip
Miller, and Tom Kiesling won Silver
medals at the World Championships for
RC Soaring, held July 30-August 6 in
Martin, Slovakia.
The Junior team of Cody Remington,
Casey Adamczyk, and Joseph Newcomb
took the Gold. Cody also won the
individual honors, and Casey placed third
in the Junior World Cup Championship.
As the US team assembled in Vienna,
Austria, from across the US, it
encountered its first problem: lost
luggage. Skip Miller and Joe Wurts were
missing airplanes and transmitters.
Unable to wait for the misplaced items,
the team climbed aboard the chartered
bus headed for Martin. The missing
equipment trickled in during the next
two days.
The bus arrived in Martin at
approximately 1 a.m. The fact
that the team members were jetlagged
and travel weary didn’t
stop them. They were up early
the following day, training for
the Martin Cup.
Working with the towers, it
became apparent that the thrower
was crucial to a huge launch. A
typical F3J launch is three seconds or
less on the towline. Joe Wurts gave the
strongest launch, so he was the designated
thrower for the entire team for most of the
Martin Cup and the World Cup.
Skip Miller had arranged for the US
towline to be delivered early to Jaro Mueller
in Slovakia, and he soaked it in
water for a month. The water helps
the line to be more elastic, without breaking,
during a maximum-effort launch.
The Martin Cup preceded the World
Championships, July 28-30, and was open to
all who wanted to fly. Out of 180
contestants Joe placed first and Cody
finished in second place. The other nations’
teams became aware that the US had made a
strong statement for the upcoming World
Championships. Everyone was pumped and
looking forward to the challenge.
Our Senior and Junior teams had a
marked advantage with the best four towers
on the field. Phil Barnes, Frankie Burnoski,
Craig Greening, and Chris Keller
Martin Cup winner Joe Wurts on the podium, at center. Junior pilot Cody
Remington, left, finished second out of 180 pilots and was the highest-placing Junior.
Flightline timing official
Tomas Delnar shows his
enthusiasm for F3J.
Joseph Newcomb performs an earlymorning
test flight before the Martin Cup.
What Is
?
The original concept for F3J was
developed in England. The plan behind the
format was to eliminate the dependence on
winches and retrievers and put the
emphasis on pure thermal duration.
The idea was to use a standard-length
line (150 meters) and fellow competitors to
tow up models. The format was man-onman,
with four to eight competitors in a
typical flight group.
The flight group working time was
10:00, with a penalty imposed for
overflying the working time. The landing
task was initially de-emphasized to a 25-
point in/out circle. Scores were normalized
within the flight groups.
In the early days of the event it was
typical to watch fellow competitors launch
and then “piggyback” on their air. Any
flight time exceeding nine minutes was
considered good, and the models were
typically large and of built-up construction.
The emphasis was on keeping the scores
tight and making sure you were in the final
day’s flyoff, which consisted of the top six
to 10 competitors flying against each other
in two final rounds. All previous flight
scores were dropped, and only the two
flyoff rounds determined the final outcome.
The event as we know it today retains
the spirit of the original rules. Launch lines
are restricted to 150 meters, and you can
gain a competitive launch from any two
people on the field. In 1996 the FAI
recognized F3J as an official FAI event,
thus granted it World Championships
status.
The landing task has been changed to
the FAI graduated tape, which is much
more difficult than the original rules but
still fairly lenient by US standards. What
has changed is the competitiveness of the
event.
As with any type of competition,
participants have maximized the variables
in F3J to gain a competitive advantage.
Launches now occur at the start of the
working time, and a good flight is
considered to be 9:50 or longer with a
minimum of 95 landing points. Composite
molded models spanning roughly 3 meters
are the standard.
The typical launch method is two
people using a pulley and monofilament
line to create maximum launch height. I
believe that the spirit of the event has
stayed intact. It is still common for people
to tow, time, and assist fellow competitors,
especially in the flyoff rounds.
The emphasis remains on thermal
duration, and anyone with reasonable
flying skills can participate and enjoy the
event. For more information about F3J and
other Soaring interests, visit the National
Free Flight Society (AMA’s official FF
SIG) Web site at www.silentflight.org. MA
—Jim McCarthy
Former US F3J Team Manager
Craig Greening
and Chris Keller
race other tow
teams to launch
their teammate’s
airplane during
Round Six of
qualifying.
Monofilament line used to tow models
needs to be hydrated for optimal elasticity
and strength. Competitors often found
other benefits to cool pools of water
conveniently located around the field.
Juniors Cody Remington and Casey
Adamcyzk show off their new metal. F3J
consistently gave the team awesome tows
for the competition. This was confirmed
when towlines were repeatedly checked
“randomly” for illegal line lengths during
flyoffs.
The World Cup started promptly at 8
a.m. to the song “I Feel Good” by James
Brown blasting over the public-address
system. Flying was done until 7 p.m. to get
in the maximum number of rounds, with the
only breaks during rain showers.
During one of the breaks I talked to
Cody Remington about how he prepared for
this contest. He said:
“I had been working with Skip Miller
[the first F3B World Champion] every day
Senior US
team (L-R) Joe
Wurts, Tom
Kiesling, and
Skip Miller.
S T A N D I N G S
TEAM USA
The US team during opening ceremonies: (back L-R) Barry
Kennedy, Craig Greening, Phil Barnes, Skip Miller, Joe Wurts,
Tom Kiesling, Junior Team Manager Bob Vixie, Franklin Burnoski
(front L-R), Chris Keller, Team Manager Jim Monaco, Cody
Remington, Joseph Newcomb, Casey Adamcyzk.
One of the piles of Pike
Perfects belonging to
the German team.
Arend Borst repairs
damage a Supra
sustained during
shipping from Canada.
for a month prior to
attending the Worlds, so I
knew what to expect and was
very prepared for the event.
“The first flight of the Worlds I let my
nerves get to me and hit myself on landing,
[an automatic zero score], but I knew it was
a long contest and the other pilots would
make mistakes as well. I put the bad flight
behind me, and then I started putting in
good flight after good flight.”
After 10 rounds of competition, Joe
Wurts and all three of the Juniors were in
the flyoffs. At that point there was the
problem of not having enough towers to
support all four fliers. Philip Kolb and
others from the German team graciously
offered to help with the towing dilemma.
The 15-minute flyoffs became
challenging with the weather cooling off and
intermittent rain showers passing through.
Following is how Cody described his
flyoffs.
“There were four rounds of flyoffs. I had
Skip Miller and Craig
Greening calling for me,
along with Chris Keller and
Utz towing. I was very
comfortable with the callers and was
getting amazing tows. The flights were very
hard. There were only very small and weak
thermals, in 5-10 mph of wind.
“To make the 15-minute time, I had to
find a thermal and stick with it until the
airplane was just about out of sight then
make it back to the landing area. The
thermal would only give me enough altitude
to get back and start my landing pattern, so
you could not make any mistakes.”
In the flyoffs Cody took first place,
Casey placed third, and Joseph finished in
sixth place, giving the American Juniors the
team trophy. This was the first time a
German did not win the Junior trophy in
F3J.
“This was by far the best year for the
USA Junior team, but we are working on
building an even stronger team to defend our
title,” said Casey.
The last round proved to be the most
exciting and culminated in a midair. Senior
pilots David Hobby’s and Massimo
Verardi’s models collided with roughly two
minutes to go.
David’s glider had a wicked gash in the
right wingtip and spun a couple revolutions
before recovering to make a 100-point
landing, but 50 seconds early. The time and
landing were still good enough, and he
became the first repeat World Champion.
The next F3J World Championships will be
hosted by the Istanbul Model Glider Club in
Istanbul, Turkey, August 1-10, 2008. For
more information visit www.soarist.com.
For more information about the World
Championships in Martin, visit www.usf3j
team.com. MA
Barry Kennedy
[email protected]
SENIOR
JUNIOR
TEAM
2. US
INDIVIDUAL
4. Joe Wurts
29. Skip Miller
30. Tom Kiesling
TEAM
1. US
INDIVIDUAL
1. Cody Remington
3. Casey Adamczyk
6. Joseph Newcomb
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 61,62,63,64
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 61,62,63,64
Photos by the author; sidebar photo by Michael Ramsey
Senior pilot Joe Wurts of the US does
his famous kick while launching Junior
Joseph Newcomb’s Espada sailplane.
An exciting 10-man launch during the qualifying rounds.
CONGRATULATIONS TO the US F3J
team! Senior members Joe Wurts, Skip
Miller, and Tom Kiesling won Silver
medals at the World Championships for
RC Soaring, held July 30-August 6 in
Martin, Slovakia.
The Junior team of Cody Remington,
Casey Adamczyk, and Joseph Newcomb
took the Gold. Cody also won the
individual honors, and Casey placed third
in the Junior World Cup Championship.
As the US team assembled in Vienna,
Austria, from across the US, it
encountered its first problem: lost
luggage. Skip Miller and Joe Wurts were
missing airplanes and transmitters.
Unable to wait for the misplaced items,
the team climbed aboard the chartered
bus headed for Martin. The missing
equipment trickled in during the next
two days.
The bus arrived in Martin at
approximately 1 a.m. The fact
that the team members were jetlagged
and travel weary didn’t
stop them. They were up early
the following day, training for
the Martin Cup.
Working with the towers, it
became apparent that the thrower
was crucial to a huge launch. A
typical F3J launch is three seconds or
less on the towline. Joe Wurts gave the
strongest launch, so he was the designated
thrower for the entire team for most of the
Martin Cup and the World Cup.
Skip Miller had arranged for the US
towline to be delivered early to Jaro Mueller
in Slovakia, and he soaked it in
water for a month. The water helps
the line to be more elastic, without breaking,
during a maximum-effort launch.
The Martin Cup preceded the World
Championships, July 28-30, and was open to
all who wanted to fly. Out of 180
contestants Joe placed first and Cody
finished in second place. The other nations’
teams became aware that the US had made a
strong statement for the upcoming World
Championships. Everyone was pumped and
looking forward to the challenge.
Our Senior and Junior teams had a
marked advantage with the best four towers
on the field. Phil Barnes, Frankie Burnoski,
Craig Greening, and Chris Keller
Martin Cup winner Joe Wurts on the podium, at center. Junior pilot Cody
Remington, left, finished second out of 180 pilots and was the highest-placing Junior.
Flightline timing official
Tomas Delnar shows his
enthusiasm for F3J.
Joseph Newcomb performs an earlymorning
test flight before the Martin Cup.
What Is
?
The original concept for F3J was
developed in England. The plan behind the
format was to eliminate the dependence on
winches and retrievers and put the
emphasis on pure thermal duration.
The idea was to use a standard-length
line (150 meters) and fellow competitors to
tow up models. The format was man-onman,
with four to eight competitors in a
typical flight group.
The flight group working time was
10:00, with a penalty imposed for
overflying the working time. The landing
task was initially de-emphasized to a 25-
point in/out circle. Scores were normalized
within the flight groups.
In the early days of the event it was
typical to watch fellow competitors launch
and then “piggyback” on their air. Any
flight time exceeding nine minutes was
considered good, and the models were
typically large and of built-up construction.
The emphasis was on keeping the scores
tight and making sure you were in the final
day’s flyoff, which consisted of the top six
to 10 competitors flying against each other
in two final rounds. All previous flight
scores were dropped, and only the two
flyoff rounds determined the final outcome.
The event as we know it today retains
the spirit of the original rules. Launch lines
are restricted to 150 meters, and you can
gain a competitive launch from any two
people on the field. In 1996 the FAI
recognized F3J as an official FAI event,
thus granted it World Championships
status.
The landing task has been changed to
the FAI graduated tape, which is much
more difficult than the original rules but
still fairly lenient by US standards. What
has changed is the competitiveness of the
event.
As with any type of competition,
participants have maximized the variables
in F3J to gain a competitive advantage.
Launches now occur at the start of the
working time, and a good flight is
considered to be 9:50 or longer with a
minimum of 95 landing points. Composite
molded models spanning roughly 3 meters
are the standard.
The typical launch method is two
people using a pulley and monofilament
line to create maximum launch height. I
believe that the spirit of the event has
stayed intact. It is still common for people
to tow, time, and assist fellow competitors,
especially in the flyoff rounds.
The emphasis remains on thermal
duration, and anyone with reasonable
flying skills can participate and enjoy the
event. For more information about F3J and
other Soaring interests, visit the National
Free Flight Society (AMA’s official FF
SIG) Web site at www.silentflight.org. MA
—Jim McCarthy
Former US F3J Team Manager
Craig Greening
and Chris Keller
race other tow
teams to launch
their teammate’s
airplane during
Round Six of
qualifying.
Monofilament line used to tow models
needs to be hydrated for optimal elasticity
and strength. Competitors often found
other benefits to cool pools of water
conveniently located around the field.
Juniors Cody Remington and Casey
Adamcyzk show off their new metal. F3J
consistently gave the team awesome tows
for the competition. This was confirmed
when towlines were repeatedly checked
“randomly” for illegal line lengths during
flyoffs.
The World Cup started promptly at 8
a.m. to the song “I Feel Good” by James
Brown blasting over the public-address
system. Flying was done until 7 p.m. to get
in the maximum number of rounds, with the
only breaks during rain showers.
During one of the breaks I talked to
Cody Remington about how he prepared for
this contest. He said:
“I had been working with Skip Miller
[the first F3B World Champion] every day
Senior US
team (L-R) Joe
Wurts, Tom
Kiesling, and
Skip Miller.
S T A N D I N G S
TEAM USA
The US team during opening ceremonies: (back L-R) Barry
Kennedy, Craig Greening, Phil Barnes, Skip Miller, Joe Wurts,
Tom Kiesling, Junior Team Manager Bob Vixie, Franklin Burnoski
(front L-R), Chris Keller, Team Manager Jim Monaco, Cody
Remington, Joseph Newcomb, Casey Adamcyzk.
One of the piles of Pike
Perfects belonging to
the German team.
Arend Borst repairs
damage a Supra
sustained during
shipping from Canada.
for a month prior to
attending the Worlds, so I
knew what to expect and was
very prepared for the event.
“The first flight of the Worlds I let my
nerves get to me and hit myself on landing,
[an automatic zero score], but I knew it was
a long contest and the other pilots would
make mistakes as well. I put the bad flight
behind me, and then I started putting in
good flight after good flight.”
After 10 rounds of competition, Joe
Wurts and all three of the Juniors were in
the flyoffs. At that point there was the
problem of not having enough towers to
support all four fliers. Philip Kolb and
others from the German team graciously
offered to help with the towing dilemma.
The 15-minute flyoffs became
challenging with the weather cooling off and
intermittent rain showers passing through.
Following is how Cody described his
flyoffs.
“There were four rounds of flyoffs. I had
Skip Miller and Craig
Greening calling for me,
along with Chris Keller and
Utz towing. I was very
comfortable with the callers and was
getting amazing tows. The flights were very
hard. There were only very small and weak
thermals, in 5-10 mph of wind.
“To make the 15-minute time, I had to
find a thermal and stick with it until the
airplane was just about out of sight then
make it back to the landing area. The
thermal would only give me enough altitude
to get back and start my landing pattern, so
you could not make any mistakes.”
In the flyoffs Cody took first place,
Casey placed third, and Joseph finished in
sixth place, giving the American Juniors the
team trophy. This was the first time a
German did not win the Junior trophy in
F3J.
“This was by far the best year for the
USA Junior team, but we are working on
building an even stronger team to defend our
title,” said Casey.
The last round proved to be the most
exciting and culminated in a midair. Senior
pilots David Hobby’s and Massimo
Verardi’s models collided with roughly two
minutes to go.
David’s glider had a wicked gash in the
right wingtip and spun a couple revolutions
before recovering to make a 100-point
landing, but 50 seconds early. The time and
landing were still good enough, and he
became the first repeat World Champion.
The next F3J World Championships will be
hosted by the Istanbul Model Glider Club in
Istanbul, Turkey, August 1-10, 2008. For
more information visit www.soarist.com.
For more information about the World
Championships in Martin, visit www.usf3j
team.com. MA
Barry Kennedy
[email protected]
SENIOR
JUNIOR
TEAM
2. US
INDIVIDUAL
4. Joe Wurts
29. Skip Miller
30. Tom Kiesling
TEAM
1. US
INDIVIDUAL
1. Cody Remington
3. Casey Adamczyk
6. Joseph Newcomb
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 61,62,63,64
Photos by the author; sidebar photo by Michael Ramsey
Senior pilot Joe Wurts of the US does
his famous kick while launching Junior
Joseph Newcomb’s Espada sailplane.
An exciting 10-man launch during the qualifying rounds.
CONGRATULATIONS TO the US F3J
team! Senior members Joe Wurts, Skip
Miller, and Tom Kiesling won Silver
medals at the World Championships for
RC Soaring, held July 30-August 6 in
Martin, Slovakia.
The Junior team of Cody Remington,
Casey Adamczyk, and Joseph Newcomb
took the Gold. Cody also won the
individual honors, and Casey placed third
in the Junior World Cup Championship.
As the US team assembled in Vienna,
Austria, from across the US, it
encountered its first problem: lost
luggage. Skip Miller and Joe Wurts were
missing airplanes and transmitters.
Unable to wait for the misplaced items,
the team climbed aboard the chartered
bus headed for Martin. The missing
equipment trickled in during the next
two days.
The bus arrived in Martin at
approximately 1 a.m. The fact
that the team members were jetlagged
and travel weary didn’t
stop them. They were up early
the following day, training for
the Martin Cup.
Working with the towers, it
became apparent that the thrower
was crucial to a huge launch. A
typical F3J launch is three seconds or
less on the towline. Joe Wurts gave the
strongest launch, so he was the designated
thrower for the entire team for most of the
Martin Cup and the World Cup.
Skip Miller had arranged for the US
towline to be delivered early to Jaro Mueller
in Slovakia, and he soaked it in
water for a month. The water helps
the line to be more elastic, without breaking,
during a maximum-effort launch.
The Martin Cup preceded the World
Championships, July 28-30, and was open to
all who wanted to fly. Out of 180
contestants Joe placed first and Cody
finished in second place. The other nations’
teams became aware that the US had made a
strong statement for the upcoming World
Championships. Everyone was pumped and
looking forward to the challenge.
Our Senior and Junior teams had a
marked advantage with the best four towers
on the field. Phil Barnes, Frankie Burnoski,
Craig Greening, and Chris Keller
Martin Cup winner Joe Wurts on the podium, at center. Junior pilot Cody
Remington, left, finished second out of 180 pilots and was the highest-placing Junior.
Flightline timing official
Tomas Delnar shows his
enthusiasm for F3J.
Joseph Newcomb performs an earlymorning
test flight before the Martin Cup.
What Is
?
The original concept for F3J was
developed in England. The plan behind the
format was to eliminate the dependence on
winches and retrievers and put the
emphasis on pure thermal duration.
The idea was to use a standard-length
line (150 meters) and fellow competitors to
tow up models. The format was man-onman,
with four to eight competitors in a
typical flight group.
The flight group working time was
10:00, with a penalty imposed for
overflying the working time. The landing
task was initially de-emphasized to a 25-
point in/out circle. Scores were normalized
within the flight groups.
In the early days of the event it was
typical to watch fellow competitors launch
and then “piggyback” on their air. Any
flight time exceeding nine minutes was
considered good, and the models were
typically large and of built-up construction.
The emphasis was on keeping the scores
tight and making sure you were in the final
day’s flyoff, which consisted of the top six
to 10 competitors flying against each other
in two final rounds. All previous flight
scores were dropped, and only the two
flyoff rounds determined the final outcome.
The event as we know it today retains
the spirit of the original rules. Launch lines
are restricted to 150 meters, and you can
gain a competitive launch from any two
people on the field. In 1996 the FAI
recognized F3J as an official FAI event,
thus granted it World Championships
status.
The landing task has been changed to
the FAI graduated tape, which is much
more difficult than the original rules but
still fairly lenient by US standards. What
has changed is the competitiveness of the
event.
As with any type of competition,
participants have maximized the variables
in F3J to gain a competitive advantage.
Launches now occur at the start of the
working time, and a good flight is
considered to be 9:50 or longer with a
minimum of 95 landing points. Composite
molded models spanning roughly 3 meters
are the standard.
The typical launch method is two
people using a pulley and monofilament
line to create maximum launch height. I
believe that the spirit of the event has
stayed intact. It is still common for people
to tow, time, and assist fellow competitors,
especially in the flyoff rounds.
The emphasis remains on thermal
duration, and anyone with reasonable
flying skills can participate and enjoy the
event. For more information about F3J and
other Soaring interests, visit the National
Free Flight Society (AMA’s official FF
SIG) Web site at www.silentflight.org. MA
—Jim McCarthy
Former US F3J Team Manager
Craig Greening
and Chris Keller
race other tow
teams to launch
their teammate’s
airplane during
Round Six of
qualifying.
Monofilament line used to tow models
needs to be hydrated for optimal elasticity
and strength. Competitors often found
other benefits to cool pools of water
conveniently located around the field.
Juniors Cody Remington and Casey
Adamcyzk show off their new metal. F3J
consistently gave the team awesome tows
for the competition. This was confirmed
when towlines were repeatedly checked
“randomly” for illegal line lengths during
flyoffs.
The World Cup started promptly at 8
a.m. to the song “I Feel Good” by James
Brown blasting over the public-address
system. Flying was done until 7 p.m. to get
in the maximum number of rounds, with the
only breaks during rain showers.
During one of the breaks I talked to
Cody Remington about how he prepared for
this contest. He said:
“I had been working with Skip Miller
[the first F3B World Champion] every day
Senior US
team (L-R) Joe
Wurts, Tom
Kiesling, and
Skip Miller.
S T A N D I N G S
TEAM USA
The US team during opening ceremonies: (back L-R) Barry
Kennedy, Craig Greening, Phil Barnes, Skip Miller, Joe Wurts,
Tom Kiesling, Junior Team Manager Bob Vixie, Franklin Burnoski
(front L-R), Chris Keller, Team Manager Jim Monaco, Cody
Remington, Joseph Newcomb, Casey Adamcyzk.
One of the piles of Pike
Perfects belonging to
the German team.
Arend Borst repairs
damage a Supra
sustained during
shipping from Canada.
for a month prior to
attending the Worlds, so I
knew what to expect and was
very prepared for the event.
“The first flight of the Worlds I let my
nerves get to me and hit myself on landing,
[an automatic zero score], but I knew it was
a long contest and the other pilots would
make mistakes as well. I put the bad flight
behind me, and then I started putting in
good flight after good flight.”
After 10 rounds of competition, Joe
Wurts and all three of the Juniors were in
the flyoffs. At that point there was the
problem of not having enough towers to
support all four fliers. Philip Kolb and
others from the German team graciously
offered to help with the towing dilemma.
The 15-minute flyoffs became
challenging with the weather cooling off and
intermittent rain showers passing through.
Following is how Cody described his
flyoffs.
“There were four rounds of flyoffs. I had
Skip Miller and Craig
Greening calling for me,
along with Chris Keller and
Utz towing. I was very
comfortable with the callers and was
getting amazing tows. The flights were very
hard. There were only very small and weak
thermals, in 5-10 mph of wind.
“To make the 15-minute time, I had to
find a thermal and stick with it until the
airplane was just about out of sight then
make it back to the landing area. The
thermal would only give me enough altitude
to get back and start my landing pattern, so
you could not make any mistakes.”
In the flyoffs Cody took first place,
Casey placed third, and Joseph finished in
sixth place, giving the American Juniors the
team trophy. This was the first time a
German did not win the Junior trophy in
F3J.
“This was by far the best year for the
USA Junior team, but we are working on
building an even stronger team to defend our
title,” said Casey.
The last round proved to be the most
exciting and culminated in a midair. Senior
pilots David Hobby’s and Massimo
Verardi’s models collided with roughly two
minutes to go.
David’s glider had a wicked gash in the
right wingtip and spun a couple revolutions
before recovering to make a 100-point
landing, but 50 seconds early. The time and
landing were still good enough, and he
became the first repeat World Champion.
The next F3J World Championships will be
hosted by the Istanbul Model Glider Club in
Istanbul, Turkey, August 1-10, 2008. For
more information visit www.soarist.com.
For more information about the World
Championships in Martin, visit www.usf3j
team.com. MA
Barry Kennedy
[email protected]
SENIOR
JUNIOR
TEAM
2. US
INDIVIDUAL
4. Joe Wurts
29. Skip Miller
30. Tom Kiesling
TEAM
1. US
INDIVIDUAL
1. Cody Remington
3. Casey Adamczyk
6. Joseph Newcomb
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/03
Page Numbers: 61,62,63,64
Photos by the author; sidebar photo by Michael Ramsey
Senior pilot Joe Wurts of the US does
his famous kick while launching Junior
Joseph Newcomb’s Espada sailplane.
An exciting 10-man launch during the qualifying rounds.
CONGRATULATIONS TO the US F3J
team! Senior members Joe Wurts, Skip
Miller, and Tom Kiesling won Silver
medals at the World Championships for
RC Soaring, held July 30-August 6 in
Martin, Slovakia.
The Junior team of Cody Remington,
Casey Adamczyk, and Joseph Newcomb
took the Gold. Cody also won the
individual honors, and Casey placed third
in the Junior World Cup Championship.
As the US team assembled in Vienna,
Austria, from across the US, it
encountered its first problem: lost
luggage. Skip Miller and Joe Wurts were
missing airplanes and transmitters.
Unable to wait for the misplaced items,
the team climbed aboard the chartered
bus headed for Martin. The missing
equipment trickled in during the next
two days.
The bus arrived in Martin at
approximately 1 a.m. The fact
that the team members were jetlagged
and travel weary didn’t
stop them. They were up early
the following day, training for
the Martin Cup.
Working with the towers, it
became apparent that the thrower
was crucial to a huge launch. A
typical F3J launch is three seconds or
less on the towline. Joe Wurts gave the
strongest launch, so he was the designated
thrower for the entire team for most of the
Martin Cup and the World Cup.
Skip Miller had arranged for the US
towline to be delivered early to Jaro Mueller
in Slovakia, and he soaked it in
water for a month. The water helps
the line to be more elastic, without breaking,
during a maximum-effort launch.
The Martin Cup preceded the World
Championships, July 28-30, and was open to
all who wanted to fly. Out of 180
contestants Joe placed first and Cody
finished in second place. The other nations’
teams became aware that the US had made a
strong statement for the upcoming World
Championships. Everyone was pumped and
looking forward to the challenge.
Our Senior and Junior teams had a
marked advantage with the best four towers
on the field. Phil Barnes, Frankie Burnoski,
Craig Greening, and Chris Keller
Martin Cup winner Joe Wurts on the podium, at center. Junior pilot Cody
Remington, left, finished second out of 180 pilots and was the highest-placing Junior.
Flightline timing official
Tomas Delnar shows his
enthusiasm for F3J.
Joseph Newcomb performs an earlymorning
test flight before the Martin Cup.
What Is
?
The original concept for F3J was
developed in England. The plan behind the
format was to eliminate the dependence on
winches and retrievers and put the
emphasis on pure thermal duration.
The idea was to use a standard-length
line (150 meters) and fellow competitors to
tow up models. The format was man-onman,
with four to eight competitors in a
typical flight group.
The flight group working time was
10:00, with a penalty imposed for
overflying the working time. The landing
task was initially de-emphasized to a 25-
point in/out circle. Scores were normalized
within the flight groups.
In the early days of the event it was
typical to watch fellow competitors launch
and then “piggyback” on their air. Any
flight time exceeding nine minutes was
considered good, and the models were
typically large and of built-up construction.
The emphasis was on keeping the scores
tight and making sure you were in the final
day’s flyoff, which consisted of the top six
to 10 competitors flying against each other
in two final rounds. All previous flight
scores were dropped, and only the two
flyoff rounds determined the final outcome.
The event as we know it today retains
the spirit of the original rules. Launch lines
are restricted to 150 meters, and you can
gain a competitive launch from any two
people on the field. In 1996 the FAI
recognized F3J as an official FAI event,
thus granted it World Championships
status.
The landing task has been changed to
the FAI graduated tape, which is much
more difficult than the original rules but
still fairly lenient by US standards. What
has changed is the competitiveness of the
event.
As with any type of competition,
participants have maximized the variables
in F3J to gain a competitive advantage.
Launches now occur at the start of the
working time, and a good flight is
considered to be 9:50 or longer with a
minimum of 95 landing points. Composite
molded models spanning roughly 3 meters
are the standard.
The typical launch method is two
people using a pulley and monofilament
line to create maximum launch height. I
believe that the spirit of the event has
stayed intact. It is still common for people
to tow, time, and assist fellow competitors,
especially in the flyoff rounds.
The emphasis remains on thermal
duration, and anyone with reasonable
flying skills can participate and enjoy the
event. For more information about F3J and
other Soaring interests, visit the National
Free Flight Society (AMA’s official FF
SIG) Web site at www.silentflight.org. MA
—Jim McCarthy
Former US F3J Team Manager
Craig Greening
and Chris Keller
race other tow
teams to launch
their teammate’s
airplane during
Round Six of
qualifying.
Monofilament line used to tow models
needs to be hydrated for optimal elasticity
and strength. Competitors often found
other benefits to cool pools of water
conveniently located around the field.
Juniors Cody Remington and Casey
Adamcyzk show off their new metal. F3J
consistently gave the team awesome tows
for the competition. This was confirmed
when towlines were repeatedly checked
“randomly” for illegal line lengths during
flyoffs.
The World Cup started promptly at 8
a.m. to the song “I Feel Good” by James
Brown blasting over the public-address
system. Flying was done until 7 p.m. to get
in the maximum number of rounds, with the
only breaks during rain showers.
During one of the breaks I talked to
Cody Remington about how he prepared for
this contest. He said:
“I had been working with Skip Miller
[the first F3B World Champion] every day
Senior US
team (L-R) Joe
Wurts, Tom
Kiesling, and
Skip Miller.
S T A N D I N G S
TEAM USA
The US team during opening ceremonies: (back L-R) Barry
Kennedy, Craig Greening, Phil Barnes, Skip Miller, Joe Wurts,
Tom Kiesling, Junior Team Manager Bob Vixie, Franklin Burnoski
(front L-R), Chris Keller, Team Manager Jim Monaco, Cody
Remington, Joseph Newcomb, Casey Adamcyzk.
One of the piles of Pike
Perfects belonging to
the German team.
Arend Borst repairs
damage a Supra
sustained during
shipping from Canada.
for a month prior to
attending the Worlds, so I
knew what to expect and was
very prepared for the event.
“The first flight of the Worlds I let my
nerves get to me and hit myself on landing,
[an automatic zero score], but I knew it was
a long contest and the other pilots would
make mistakes as well. I put the bad flight
behind me, and then I started putting in
good flight after good flight.”
After 10 rounds of competition, Joe
Wurts and all three of the Juniors were in
the flyoffs. At that point there was the
problem of not having enough towers to
support all four fliers. Philip Kolb and
others from the German team graciously
offered to help with the towing dilemma.
The 15-minute flyoffs became
challenging with the weather cooling off and
intermittent rain showers passing through.
Following is how Cody described his
flyoffs.
“There were four rounds of flyoffs. I had
Skip Miller and Craig
Greening calling for me,
along with Chris Keller and
Utz towing. I was very
comfortable with the callers and was
getting amazing tows. The flights were very
hard. There were only very small and weak
thermals, in 5-10 mph of wind.
“To make the 15-minute time, I had to
find a thermal and stick with it until the
airplane was just about out of sight then
make it back to the landing area. The
thermal would only give me enough altitude
to get back and start my landing pattern, so
you could not make any mistakes.”
In the flyoffs Cody took first place,
Casey placed third, and Joseph finished in
sixth place, giving the American Juniors the
team trophy. This was the first time a
German did not win the Junior trophy in
F3J.
“This was by far the best year for the
USA Junior team, but we are working on
building an even stronger team to defend our
title,” said Casey.
The last round proved to be the most
exciting and culminated in a midair. Senior
pilots David Hobby’s and Massimo
Verardi’s models collided with roughly two
minutes to go.
David’s glider had a wicked gash in the
right wingtip and spun a couple revolutions
before recovering to make a 100-point
landing, but 50 seconds early. The time and
landing were still good enough, and he
became the first repeat World Champion.
The next F3J World Championships will be
hosted by the Istanbul Model Glider Club in
Istanbul, Turkey, August 1-10, 2008. For
more information visit www.soarist.com.
For more information about the World
Championships in Martin, visit www.usf3j
team.com. MA
Barry Kennedy
[email protected]
SENIOR
JUNIOR
TEAM
2. US
INDIVIDUAL
4. Joe Wurts
29. Skip Miller
30. Tom Kiesling
TEAM
1. US
INDIVIDUAL
1. Cody Remington
3. Casey Adamczyk
6. Joseph Newcomb