Flown in varied and fun conditions, the 2006 Albuquerque F5J World
Challenge tested every participant, satisfied a hunger to fly electric
sailplanes, and brought a number of excellent contestants from several
states.
Photo Gallery
Commentaries
Phil
Gilbert, Contest Director
Of course the weather was as good as possible for September. The
automatic CD worked flawlessly, thanks to Aradhana.
Kudos to the competitors who got out to the line within the 10 minute
working time. There were no complaints that they needed more time.
I think the automatic timer eliminated this. Human starters tend to
give in to pressure.
Thanks to all participants and event staff for making this a successful
contest!
Dennis
Renner, Speed 400 Class
My very first thought is that we had really nice weather this year…even
for flying Speed 400 models. During the weekend all classes had to
deal with spotty lift at times and no flight group, except maybe one
had “Monkey Lift”. I think every class flown had at least
a few relaunches in an attempt to improve scores.
My second thought is that participation in Speed 400 Class is down
with the introduction of Outrunner Class. There were only five Speed
400 pilots this year. I still think Speed 400 is the toughest class
to fly. I think Speed 400 will survive into 2007. But 2008 may spell
the end of Speed 400 to allow time for additional flying of the other
classes. I hope not…
My last thought is of the names of the pilots I had the privilege
to share the field with while flying Speed 400 Class. These are ALL
“great sticks” and great guys:
- Shannon Bingham
- Iain Glithero
- Lenny Keer
- Steve Suntken
Aradhana
Singh Khalsa, Outrunner Class
This is the first year for Outrunner class competition at the ESWC.
Twelve people registered and ten pilots competed. We flew each round
in two heats. Though everyone had their own good rounds to be proud
of, four pilots immediately stood out as competitive: Fred McClung,
Jon Padilla, Aradhana Singh Khalsa, and Dale Nutter. Indeed, by the
end of the contest, each of these ended up winning or taking second
in a class.
Models ranged from 60" to 98" wing span. Though there are
many motors available that meet the 28-mm diameter and 16 mm stator
length motor specification, all pilots I checked flew the Hacker 20-20L.
All up weights I found ranged from 17.5 oz. through 22 oz.
Every round presented a different kind of air. No one attempted short
launch duration. It seemed more important to pay seconds for a lot
of altitude in the bank, than grabbing a few points gain with a short
motor run. In Sunday's 15-minute rounds, I ran the motor until I could
barely see the 72" span, rather than stop at a particular run
time. It worked out well, and it seemed like we all shut off within
a few seconds of each other.
One of the fun parts of electric soaring is timing while calling air
for your competition. We're all serious about competing, but also
want our friends to do well, especially on our watch! For example,
I was the beneficiary of air reading guidance from Jon Padilla (eventual
Grand Champion) and Buzz Averill. They didn't hold back at all, and
those guys are good!
I had a great time, and enjoyed the camaraderie and challenge of this
year's F5J competition.
Dale
Nutter, Limited Class
The contest ran very smoothly thanks to Aradhana's excellent scoring
management. With few extra non-contestant timers available, reasonable
flight group splitting permitted all the contestants to have enough
time to tend battery charging, make minor adjustments or repairs and
take some breaks for visiting, lunch, etc.
Excellent sunny weather prevailed with dominant wave soaring opportunities
Saturday and a mix of wave and thermal soaring opportunities Sunday.
Winds were light and variable most of the time. The wave soaring opportunities
increased with altitude, so many contestants used longer motor runs
limited only by their sailplane's visibility. These conditions favored
large sailplanes with light wing loading.
The Limited Class Event ran smoothly with no lost or damaged sailplanes.
Contestants from out of town confirmed their approval of our ASA F5J
Rules used. At the end of each day's flying, everyone seemed satisfied
with their opportunities to fly.
Buzz
Averill, Unlimited Class
First, let me say THANK YOU!! for all the work many of you did to
make this contest a success. As noted by the other corespondents the
weather was, at times, very challenging. Sometimes it was difficult
to find enough lift to fly out the task and sometimes it was difficult
to keep your model in sight.
10-minute tasks were difficult at times and 15 minutes tasks were
a whole new thing. As usual, when you weren't in lift you were in
sink. In general, none of these F5J models can achieve the 10-minute
max without climbing very high or finding some lift, and for sure
you couldn't achieve the 15-minute task without finding some lift.
Most pilots were running their motors longer than we do in practice.
It was not unusual to run the motors 25-30 seconds before shutoff.
The guiding principle was to climb until your model was barely in
sight before shutoff. The penalty for the extra run time was outweighed
by the additional duration each second of climb and it was safer to
accept the penalty of the extra motor run time to assure being able
to complete the task. Not completing the task can be very costly if
anyone else does complete it. During one of my flights I was so high
the model disappeared into a cloud and I didn't pick it up again until
just before it dove into the ground. Very lucky not to have crashed.
It was a pleasure to fly with and against the other 3 unlimited pilots,
Jon Padilla (the winner), Steve Suntken and Lenny Keer. These are
all very good flyers and it is no disgrace to lose to any of them.
Recap:
Grand Champion: Jon Padilla
Unlimited Class
