2000 F1D World Championship Report
By John Kagan
I know I liked reading accounts of the previous World Championships, so here are some notes from my trip. A little disclaimer to start: everything here is quite “John-centric” because, well, I’m writing it. I hope that there will be other accounts that can help round out the experience.
First: the travel. There was a lot of driving and flying - it is really exhausting to spend that much time in airplanes and cars. Getting there early for a few extra practice days was a very good idea (thanks, Bud Romak). It gave those of us new to the mine (well, just me) some valuable practice and it gave everyone more time to get over the jet lag - 7 to 10 hours difference!
I saw many small carry-on airplane boxes at the competition, usually containing two airplanes. Mine worked well and I had very little difficulty getting permission to bring it on board, even on crowded (read “FULL”) flights. The rest of my models were in a relatively small Gator-board box with all the wings laying flat with folding posts. The whole box was wrapped in bubble-wrap and foam for travel. It was given special attention on the way over and simply checked as regular baggage on the way back. The box took some abuse on the return trip – crushed edges and corners, handle pushed in – but the models inside incurred no damage. Small boxes and flat mounting surfaces are the way to go. I saw the same method used successfully by Larry Coslick, Jim Richmond, Edmund Liem, Vladimir Linardic, Fred Tellier, and many others. Steve Brown used a big box and had all his rudders “popped” by an apparent sharp knock and his wings vibrated out of their mounting sockets when his box was loaded upside-down (we saw it on the luggage cart in Frankfurt, but could do nothing about it). He told me that large, old-style boxes like his were just simply outdated and not practical. After the competition he very generously donated the box and three models to the Israeli team, making their first World Championship appearance.
Next: the accommodations. Simply wonderful. I had such a great time that my teammates sarcastically referred to me as “bubbly” and said that I should consider moving there. The food was very good and quite plentiful. We had three course meals morning, noon, and night. I actually skipped one dinner because I was eating too much. The hotel was certainly not what an “ugly American” traveler might be used to but, as I told me teammates, it was much better than some of places my collage buddies live in. The room was clean, there was always hot water (although one morning there was not much water pressure), and the TV programming was interesting – we spend many evenings vegging in front of the tube after a long day in the mine. I have to give a hearty “thank you” you our Romanian hosts. They took very good care of us and made our stay quite comfortable. People who had been there previously told me that things had improved a lot. Maybe some of those who have said they won’t go back might reconsider now.
Next: the flying site. The mine is incredible. Words and pictures don’t do it justice. It must be experienced to be appreciated. The temperature is cold, as I was amply warned, but I’ve learned how to dressing warmly, living in the Northeast U.S. as I am. With thermals, fingerless gloves, a hat, thermal fleece vest, and a winter jacket, I actually had to shed layers some days because I got too warm. Flying models while dressed like that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Actually it didn’t really get in the way at all.
The drift was quite minimal, especially for such a large site. I’ve experienced far worse at Lakehurst and Akron. In fact, three of my last four flights required no steering at all, and the last need just one touch and one steer to get centered in the early stages of the climb. There was actually a centering effect at the top of the mine. My circle just fit between the catwalks, and whenever the model drifted close to one side it tended to be centered on the next pass. There was more drift lower down and in some parts of the mine it moved toward bad places – like a big cavern in one section about 100 feet up. But it was much easier to steer at those altitudes, especially with the spotlights. I saw that most teams had spotlights, a must-have on a team’s equipment list. What little drift we saw was almost certainly due to the heat rising off people. It was possible to stall a model at 30 feet by standing under it. The large amount of ground lighting, on the other hand, used fluorescent bulbs that generated very little heat and hence little turbulence.
Next: the flying. The cold air and tall site does require more power but, based on information Steve Brown published from his previous trips, I increased my motor weight (1.9gm .080” x 17”) and used smaller props (21” x 36”), and everything worked as normal. I climbed to the top in about 12 minutes and had a nice cruise and descent. However, I ran into what has become a standard first-timers problem in the salt mine: no turn on launch. My first two official flights found me running after my model steering it off the walls until the turn started kicking in. I tried several things to correct the problem – more wing wash, more stab tilt – but the one thing that fixed it the best was an ample amount of left thrust. It looked odd on the model stand, but it did the trick. Subsequent launches had a large beginning circle, but the model was turning and the circle got small enough by the time it got close to the top.
I saw many models torque-ing around on launch with excessive down-thrust. I didn’t experience these problems, but I don’t think it was because my motor sticks were significantly stronger. I think that the large motor I was using allowed me to back-off much of the initial peak, reliving a lot of stress on the model (2300 turns in, 170 backed off, 60 left after flight).
It is worth noting that my motor selection was in stark contrast to Jim Richmond’s, who used something like a 1.2gm .065” x 16” loop motor. His models climbed to the same height with the same rpm in the same amount of time, which doesn’t seem possible, but which I can deal with because I’m willing to accept that Jim a magician with these models.
John Tipper used a motor similar in cross section to Jim’s but longer, with a smaller prop (21” x 30”?), to achieve the meet’s high time. John used a ceiling scrubbing strategy that it likely not possible with a braced model. It might be a good plan for an overall win in a site like the salt mine; you have 6 tries to get 2 full flights.
I didn’t use a VP, but with the amount of back-off I used I think there might be some potential for an advantage – I could use more of the initial turns without out climbing the site.
I was happy to find that 1/4 and 1/2 motors produced spot-on height and time. That is, once I started using them correctly. I had over ballasted the 1/4 motor stick the first competition day and subsequently hit the walls at the top on the full motor flights, breaking two wings in the process (ok, I know, it was stupid). Once that small oversight was corrected things started working properly.
Finally: the contest. Steve Brown did a good job getting several of his models back into flying condition, although he was very displeased about the abundance of patches. His models did well once he worked out the climb issues, and I believe he would have placed much higher given a bit more time.
I was helping him for some of his flights and he let me pick the launch location for round 4. I chose to put his model into the “L” at the end of the mine and it worked out very well. He put up a 44+, I think, that required no steers. From that point on almost all the US flights went up in the same area.
Larry Coslick put in good times, but lost his best model to a steering mishap in the early rounds. He also was sick for most of the contest, leaving him pretty tired (Fred Tellier and Bud Romak also caught something and look in less-than-peak form for much of the contest)
After an unskillful first day I managed a 42+ and 43+ in rounds 3 and 4, flying in the “L” area. I felt much better going into the last day with good team times “in the bank”.
Jim Richmond had a commanding lead after the second day and put more distance on the field with a 46:39 in round 5. He chose to fly under the new salt section at the very beginning of the contest area. He was the only person that I saw fly there. The centering effect was working well, but he drifted close to the side at one point while he was very high. He put his balloon up and pulled off a perfect steer, centering back up nicely. I heard him comment sardonically “nothing to it…”.
I had backed off about 200 turns and then deadsticked in rounds 3 and 4, so I made a couple of changes that I hoped would slow the prop and reduce the climb, leaving more turns at the end and allowing me to back off less: I raised the front wingpost about 1/8” and opened the circle slightly. I launched round 5 with 20 fewer turns backed off and 80 more turns put in (2240 - I was using the slightly over-strong motor from rounds 3 and 4 and it was stretching out nicely). The flight was 45:34 and during lunch I started thinking that I “only” needed at 46:36+ to move into first.
Having the high time on the team, Jim got to select when to fly in the last round and he chose to go last. Knowing that I needed a minute more than the last flight I put 60 extra turns in and backed off 10 less. I had to steer once slightly on the first circle to clear the left wall, and then once more to get it centered during the climb. The flight looked to me like it was between the catwalks while I paced around nervously, but judging height in the mine is deceiving and the model probably had about 10-15’ to spare. After about 44 minutes I knew it was going to be very very close and I couldn’t actually watch the landing. I heard Bud cheering and he told me it was 46:42. Now the pressure was back on Jim, who commented “I guess I can’t relax anymore…”.
Jim needed a 45 and-a-half something, certainly achievable. He launched into the “L” area was centered for most of the flight. However, at around 20 minutes he started drifting toward the left side, the first time that had happened in about 6+ flights I had watched in that area. There were two spotlights on his plane, but he was pretty far away down the hall and was having trouble with visibility. He ended up snagging the plane on the monofilament below the caulk backing and ruined the flight. It was a tough way to end the contest.
About this time a big cheer came up from the British camp and I heard a time of mumble-mumble-7. There couldn’t have been that much excitement over a 37, so it must have been 47. I remembered seeing John Tipper’s plane bumping around the ceiling, but that seemed like such a long time ago. But that’s what it turned out to be, John made the high time of the meet with a 47:21. That sent many of us scrambling to check his backup time, which was good enough to put him on the podium.
What excitement!
Overall, the trip was very comfortable; the flying was challenging and competitive; the site is one of the world’s best; and there was friendly camaraderie – both within my team and with other countries. Thanks go to Bud Romak for being an excellent team manager (and having “contacts” everywhere we turned); to Aurel Popa and our other Romanian hosts for taking such good care of us; and to the organizers for running a great contest.
Fly F1D!
