Steve Manganelli

“Limbo” was the one-word utterance of all 14 national
teams’ contestants, who competed in the 2000 Federation
Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) class F5B World
Championships (WC) for electric-powered gliders, in San
Diego CA.
“Ready—turn!” was the phrase the callers used to indicate
when the pilot reached the turn plane. Or was it “legovin—
swing,” “prepare—vira,” “einleiten—rummm,” or “prepare
menta no”?
Voiced with extreme emotional fervor, these translations
gave an exciting international flavor to my position as Base A
plane judge.
The F5B event is coming into its own in the US, but is highly
competitive in Europe.
The models are highly evolved of all-composite construction,
made in aluminum molds, which are carved with numerically
controlled machinery.
Other than the Russian Sukhoi factory-built Avionic series
models designed by Anachin-Sobakin-Fufkov, the models are
built by associations of local contestants.
The brushless motors and controllers used by most
contestants were by Aveox, Shultze, and Kontronik. Twentyseven-
cell battery packs were matched and tuned for maximum
performance. All used gearboxes and large propellers for peak
climbing efficiency.
What three horsepower can do for a thin-winged four-pound
model is scary; it goes straight up at 90 mph, has a distance liftto-
drag ratio of 100 mph, and finishes in a straight-down dive at
nearly 200 mph.