Author: Lee Estingoy
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/11
Page Numbers: 130,131,132
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Radio Control Soaring

Lee Estingoy [[email protected]]

Too many Soaring events?

Hello. My name is Lee and I'm a Soaring addict. The staff at the clinic is a bit shorthanded because of budget cutbacks, so they gave me a bus ticket out of town for a while. My AMA editors are clearly unhappy that they can't reach me at the clinic; I've been doing my best to avoid them.

I figured I'd hide out in plain ("plane") sight at the IRCHA (International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association) Jamboree and then at the FAI F5B/F5D World Championships. Both were held at the AMA site, which is definitely the last place they'd look for me. They aren't buying my texts that good things come to those who wait; I hope you'll agree that Soaring columns don't get much better than what follows.

Representatives from many international Soaring groups attended the FAI F5B Championships in Muncie, Indiana, August 20–25, and we compared notes. These fliers run anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 watts and more into their sailplanes and then drive the models around the sky like they stole them.

This goes on for approximately three minutes, and then the pilots blip the motor for a second or two—really all they need—since the sailplanes easily accelerate to about 100 meters per second vertically (roughly 224 mph). They can bang off a 10-minute Thermal Duration task with only a short blip. Total motor run for the whole round is roughly 18 seconds. These fliers also have helpers, whose job it is to flinch and say "whoa" every time the pilots light one of the aircraft off. They all seem happy. I can't do justice to the event in this column, so stay tuned for a proper report in another issue.

You might remember my visits, featured in this column, with Daryl Perkins, who was leaving for France as part of the US F3J team, and Skip Miller, who was headed to the AMA Nats. Both have earned another appearance in the column. The AMA team did a great job of covering the Nats on a daily basis with NatsNews. Skip won Thermal Duration and Cross Country this year. He even had a few words to spare for the readers, so check out the coverage on the AMA website.

I've saved the best for last. Daryl Perkins has won another big one; he is now the reigning F3J World Champion in what was "only" his first F3J championship. He has also earned four FAI F3B World Championships.

Daryl was kind enough to share some thoughts about the event with me, and they follow.

Interview: Daryl Perkins

LE: What was most memorable for you at this event? DP: From a personal satisfaction level, I was able to accomplish a lot at this World Championships. I flew 12 rounds of prelims without dropping any time in very tough conditions, and I actually won the preliminaries. That's supposed to be a bad-karma thing going into the flyoffs, as no one who has ever won the prelims has won the Worlds.

Going into the flyoffs, I had never flown a round in the 14:58 times. Well, I knew I had to tighten up, and I was able to actually average 14:58.1 and 99 points per landing (excluding the throw-out round).

One round I went 14:58.99 with a 99-point landing. That's a personal best for me. What a time to pull it off!

LE: Wait a minute—a 14:58.99? That means out of a 15-minute window you used a total of 1.01 seconds for both the tow and landing. How high does a 1-second tow put you? DP: Maybe 100 feet.

LE: Did you see a thermal at the end of the line? DP: We had a read most of the time, but those are just educated guesses with no markers in the air. On one flight I got to about one to one-and-a-half-span altitude before popping and taking it out.

On the last flight we took a short tow at 9:15 in the morning to go 15 minutes; there was air working, but the inversion was at about 250 feet. So it would spit you out the top and turn to sink. I worked four or five thermals on the last flight. Most took a much longer tow.

LE: Any thoughts on where the airframes are headed? DP: Airframes are just getting lighter, stiffer, and stronger—to a point. Mass is your enemy for a short tow in F3J.

Models will be getting more and more specialized for the short tows, but these ultralightweight models will not take full gorilla tows. Proper airframe choice per round will become critical.

All of the models in the flyoffs were so close in performance. I would give a slight edge to the Icon 2 and then the Supra Pro.

LE: Care to comment on any standout performances among the pilots in your rearview mirror? DP: The top five or six pilots in the flyoffs were absolutely awesome. Philip Kolb (Germany) is just solid and consistent. I would guess he is the "winningest" pilot on Eurotour right now. He will win a World Championship someday.

Arend Borst (Canada) is a past F3J World Champion and was well in the hunt. What can you say about Joe Wurts? Arguably the best all-around Soaring pilot ever. It just wasn't his day.

Carl Strautins from Australia gets the most improved pilot award. I met Carl at an F3B World Championship many years ago, and he was just a little kid. I had no idea just how talented he had become.

Benedikt Feigl (Germany) just puts up amazing score after amazing score. He should; he was the 2008 F3J World Champ and is an amazing stick.

On any given day, any one of us could have taken top honors. On this day, I was the fortunate one.

LE: Care to take us out with some final words? DP: The best thing about F3J is that it is a team sport. The pilot has the easy job. The support given to me by the US team was huge.

I need to thank the following teammates and helpers for giving up two weeks to cut and check lines, pound stakes, tow models, pull more line tension than you can possibly imagine, and end up landing on their noses at the end of a tow:

  • Frankie Burnoski
  • Phil Barnes
  • Chris Keller
  • Dave Kalomen
  • Rick Helgeson

I need to thank Mike Verzuh for taking on the thankless task of managing the team, the funds, our flights, the organizers, etc.

Rich Burnoski and Cody Remington (the other US team pilots) are the best teammates anyone could dream of. I have become quite good friends with both.

Huge thanks to Cody Remington! I would not be world champion today if it weren't for Cody's calling and throwing. This kid can hold so much line tension it's insane. His calling and air-reading skills are second to none. He's also the most talented stick I've ever seen, and he will be F3J World Champion one day.

And thanks to all of you for the support given to the US teams. We can't do any of it without you.

Daryl has agreed to sign almost anything you slide under his Sharpie to raise funds for the 2012 title defense in South Africa. Get your loose bills, wings, or underwear ready for him at the next event. —MA

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.