Radio Control: Soaring
F3B TEAM NEWS. Team Manager Randy Spencer sent the latest scoop on preparations for the World Championships that will be held in the Netherlands August 27 through September 2. In April Joe Wurts and Daryl Perkins started practicing with their new F3B Eagles. Last month's column featured Mark Allen's latest kit offering, the Thermal Eagle, which uses the same fuselage. Mark anticipates having F3B Eagle kits available in the near future. Specs are: 111.5-inch wingspan RG 15 airfoil
Radio Control: Soaring
ANYONE FOR ELECTRICS? With Bob Kopski's blessing, this month I'll go slightly afield and talk about Electric Gliders. It's timely because I think many Soaring enthusiasts don't realize how good electric-powered Gliders are these days. I know I didn't-until last fall. That was when Jason Perrin joined our club and demonstrated his F3E electric glider. Jason, a student at the University of Colorado in Boulder, was fresh from placing Second at the 1990 F3E World Championships in Austria. This was a tremendous accomplishment for Jason, as well as the U.S.
Radio Control: Soaring
THE MODI 900 is from Greco Technologies. You're probably asking, "What's a Modi 900 and who or what is Greco Technologies?" To be honest, all I can pass on about either one of them at this time is material gleaned from a press release and a phone conversation with the glider's principal designer, Greg Chun. Greg works for Greco Engineering, a division of Greco Technologies. He told me that the company is new to model manufacturing but wants to enter the business as an adjunct to their engineering and consulting work.
Mid-Columbia Slope Races
SPONSORED by the Tri-Cities Soarers club (TRICS), the inaugural Mid-Columbia Cup Slope Races was held May 24-25, 1991 on famous Eagle Butte, a hill just west of Richland in Washington State. With a $2,000 cash purse, this was bigtime racing. The winds blew so briskly on lofty Eagle Butte that the 12 rounds of racing, planned for three days, were completed on Friday and Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend.
1991 RC Soaring World Championship
At TERLET, the Netherlands, in the last week of August 1991, U.S. fliers Joe Wurts and Daryl Perkins broke 10 years of European dominance in F3B competition. Joe became the World Champion for 1991 and Daryl placed second in the Individual standings. Larry Jolly finished 26th. The U.S. team placed third in a field of 22-23, if Finland's one-man team is counted. This ranks as the biggest sports upset since the U.S. Olympic hockey team won the Lake Placid meet. The FAI-recognized class of RC Soaring known as F3B is more popular in Germany, Austria, Britain, and Holland than in the U.S., and the Europeans had grown used to outclassing our fliers at the biennial World Championships. This year's contest will go down as a turning point.
