FOR THE FIRST time in 20 years, the FAI Control Line World
Championships (CLWC) was contested in the United States.
Between July 4 and July 10, the best CL modelers on the planet
made their way to AMA’s International Aeromodeling Center in
Muncie, Indiana, to compete in the four FAI F2 events at the 23rd
CLWC: A (Speed), B (Aerobatics), C (Team Race), and D
(Combat).
The last CLWC held in the states was in 1984 at Westover Air
Force Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts. It was a great
success, but even then the world competitors felt that the
expense and hassle to travel to the US was excessive.
The question this year was, Will they attend? And
the current world situation in respect to security
added to the problem. Traveling in large groups
with lots of support equipment used to be fairly
easy—not so today. Heightened airport security
and luggage restrictions have added to the
frustration of trying to get delicate, trim-sensitive models to a site
safely and on time.
But attend they did. There were 304 competitors, team
managers, mechanics, and helpers from 28 countries, plus
numerous supporters.
The only real drama was that there were visa issues for a few
members of the Chinese, Ukrainian, and South African teams.
Special arrangements had to be made through the State Department
to quickly cut a bunch of red tape to allow the Chinese to get to the
meet in time to compete.
The only Chinese team member who received his visa in time—
F2B Junior competitor Yaokun Wang—arrived on AMA’s
doorstep Monday, July 6, with his luggage, and he had no room
reservations or transportation. So AMA President Dave
Brown took Yaokun under wing and put him up for the
night, and then helped him with billeting and
transportation until the rest of his team arrived.
Opening Comments by Bob Hunt
The US FAI CL team assembled before the opening ceremonies for a group picture. Photo by Bob Hunt.
18 MODEL AVIATION
Logo designed by Sarah Greiner
11sig1.QXD 8/23/04 2:54 pm Page 18
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/11
Page Numbers: 18