Indoor News and Views

Brett Sanborn’s 2018 World Championship F1D

Click here to download a PDF of the plan.

Photos of Rainer Lotz’s F1D

Lotz has incorporated the ideas of Dieter Siebenmann to create a unique model design. Lotz also wishes to credit Reiner Hofsäss and Kurt Wettstein for their aerodynamic advice and technical support respectively.

Lotz gave the following specifications for the model:

2018 F1D Championship USA Jr Team Manager’s Report

USA Junior Team: Third Place Junior Team

AMA Records Set:

AMA Youth Senior National F1D record for Cat III: Joseph Szczur

AMA Youth Junior National F1D record for Cat III: Ross Clements

During the practice day before the World Champs the Junior team was able to fly and adjust their models in preparation for the first day of competition. As the day went on, the outside weather started to change and rain turned into freezing rain. By the next morning, the first day of the Championships, the air inside the atrium had become quite turbulent and un-flyable. At the walls of the atrium air went up quickly, and in the center, a strong down draft pushed models back down to the ground.

Chris Lou started off Round 1 and after a few minutes his model had drifted way over by the restaurant area. Chris steered his model back to the flying area and was able to catch some of the updrafts to get in a flight of 11:22. Ross Clemens put up his first round flight but had an issue when his model hit a timer and damaged the horizontal stabilizer. Joseph Szczur ‘s first round flight had issues with the motor stick after rubber hookup so was taken back for repairs.

In round 2, Chris put up a flight but was pushed out of the air by the downdrafts and was down in under 4 minutes. Ross had a similar flight pattern and was down a little after 6 minutes. Joseph’s flight encountered some drafts and his model ended up landing on a balcony.

The beginning of round 3 looked to be not much better than the previous day. Ross took a flight and was down in just over 3 minutes. Joseph went up and damaged wingtip brought him down in under 4 minutes. Chris flew last in that round on a different batch of rubber but did not climb very high and put in a 8:39.

Round 4 is when the air starting getting better and the French Junior Team had good flights where the sun was shining on the floor. Joseph put up a nice flight but instead of finding the thermal air like the French team did, he instead hit some down air and was down at 10:17. Ross put up a flight but he had added higher pitch at launch and that prevented the model from climbing very high. He was still able to get in a 13:06. Chris put up his flight and drifted to the wall and hit a vertical column and his model hung up at 9:09.

In round 5, Chris again tried the alternate batch of rubber with the better air but the model did not hold height well and landed at 10:28 with lots of turns left. Ross made some adjustments and his model climbed much higher than before. He made a nice steer to get the model away from trouble then after release, suddenly the prop caught under the wingtip and was down at 3:49. Joseph was able to get in a 10:17 back up flight.

Round 6, the final round, the air was very good and lots of people were trying to fly at the very end. Joseph put up a nice 15:32 which was his high time for the contest as well as a new AMA Youth Senior National record. Ross put up a nice flight and did a 14:45 setting a new AMA Youth Junior National record (and the wing tip was broken during that flight). Chris went back to the original rubber batch from the practice day and put in his best flight of the competition which got up just below the girders and ran all the turns off and landed at 15:11, just 20 seconds shy of the record set by Joseph earlier.

The Juniors did an excellent job while working under the combination of bad flying conditions and the pressure of a World Championships.

Don Slusarczyk – 2018 F1D Junior Team Manager

Zoltan Sukosd’s 2018 F1D World Championships 2nd Place F1D

Editor’s note:

Zoltan used the same model and prop at the 2018 World Championships that he used to set the F1D Cat IV World Record in 2015. The plan is republished below for the reader’s convenience.

Motor: 7/97 Tan II, 1.37 g/m

Best Time: 25:45

Click here to download a PDF of the plan.

Forty Minute Club

Click here to download a PDF of the file.

                      2018 F1D World Championship USA Team Manager’s Report

Brett Sanborn            2018 F1D World Champion

Senior Team USA      2018 F1D Team Champions

Junior Team USA       Third Place Junior Team

The 2018 World Championships began with a traditional pre contest. The Jim Richmond Open to honor Jim, an eight time World Champion. The contest also served as two additional practice days for competitors to trim planes for the upcoming World Championships.

The weather outside was cool and cloudy and the air inside was just as bad with drift and areas of both lift and down air. Conditions were nearly unflyable early in the day. Jim Richmond managed to have the best time for the first day with a 24:15, a flight that had both lift and down air. The weather improved on Sunday with some afternoon sun. Several flights in the afternoon were in the mid twenties. Former Junior Champion Evan Guyett won the contest with a two flight total of 48:46. Brett Sanborn finished second and Mark Benns third.

The cold and overcast outside weather made flying nearly impossible for the first three rounds. West Baden had a winter advisory on Tuesday that left us with two to three inches of snow. The air near the walls had lift but if a plane ventured anywhere toward the center of the floor the downdraft would ruin the flight. Many flights were less than ten minutes. All recorded flights for the first three rounds were under twenty minutes.

Sun was shining through the windows into the atrium at the start of round four. The air improved throughout the round. Reigning World Champ Juan Kang Lee managed a 22:57. Kagan flew for 21:43. Jake Palmer launched early in the round when the air was hit or miss and went up and then down in 12:16. Sanborn went up late in the round and had a record flight of 27:11.

The contest was going to be decided with flights made in rounds five and six. The conditions outside were the best they had been all week. Mild temperatures and some sun. Air inside the atrium would improve as the day went on.

Jake Palmer just couldn’t get a break and after four rounds had a two flight total of only 18:05. If Team USA was going to be on the podium Jake needed to have decent flights in rounds five and six. In hopes of better air it was decided that Jake fly last in round five. Waiting as long as possible and still be able to get all three flights in, Kagan had to start the round. The air was still questionable. John’s flight went up and down in 17:12. Sanborn was getting ready to wind when a plane hung on an artificial tree directly behind him. The ensuing retrieval debacle postponed Brett’s launch by about fifteen minutes. Time management was going to be crucial if Jake was going to get his flight in before the end of the round.  As soon as Brett landed Jake started winding. The first motor broke but was able to get the flight off with about seven minutes before the round ended. It started out as a respectable flight. About six minutes into the flight a collision occurred. The flight landed with a time of nearly eighteen minutes. The air seemed to be improving so Jake chose to take a reflight. That turned out to be a good decision as the reflight during the lunch break was 22:36.

The winners would be determined by their performance in the final round. The air was the best it had been all week and any of the top six had a chance to be the winner. Brett had a 27:11 going in but a backup of only 18:53. Sukosd, Mangalea, Benns, and Kagan all had a decent two flight total going into round six. Jake Palmer did a 24:46, his best flight. His final flight made it possible for Team USA to take top team honors. Brett put it all together late in the round and flew a tremendous backup of 27:01 that gave him a two flight total of 54:12. World Champion! His total time was more than six minutes more than second place Zoltan Sukosd. Corneliu Mangalea finished third.

This was a great World Championship held at a world class venue. Unfortunately the cool overcast weather of early spring made flying conditions challenging for everyone. Special thanks go out to Bud Layne for his generous sponsorship, Leo Pilachowski for the hours in planning and dedication to detail as the primary organizer, Colleen Pierce for her work as AMA FAI Coordinator, Steve Brown Contest Director, and Ray Harlan Technical Director.

Tom Sova   2018 F1D Team Manager

Wing Post Design by Arend Borst

Click here to download a pdf of the plan.