Official site of Team F3A 2008-2009

Trip Diary | Fund raising | Picture Gallery | What is F3A Precision Aerobatics? | Home

 

Aug 28 2009:

Today are the semifinals. Off to the field to do some watching. Weather so far is cloudy, and some wind.

Watched both of Chad's semi final flights today which were very impressive. Solid, smooth and properly sized dimensionally. He got meager scores. I think that the worlds are way too biased. On every level. It is not a good thing for the sport. Who is going to spend thousands of dollars, and put in oodles of practice, if the judging is going to be biased?

 

The photo below is a bit of a joke. There is no reward offered for the return of Chad's Canalyzers which broke off in very strong wing while he was practicing the day before. And he calls himself and Engineer.. :)

 

Aug 27:

Congratulations goes out to Chad. Outstanding results for him at the end of the Prelims. He is out at the secret field practicing F, while Dan and I got to go to the beach today. I will try to keep up the blog as much as I can and as time allows. Will try to get some shots of the semis and finals to post.

 

 

Aug 26:

Hi. Today istead of rambling, I will post a couple of video's. I took a series of Dan and Chad. They both flew on the easy line today in the morning near noon. I have to wait until 5pm or so. The wind is coming up, but is not as bad yet as yesterday.

Dan Video

Chad Video

Dez Video

Just back from my flight which felt good. Still waiting on scores.

Aug 25:

The team flys in the afternoon today, so Dan and I took this oportunity to go for a hike to the top of the hill in the middle of the city where the old Castle ruins are.

Pretty well each little city along the A1 (which is the main toll highway) has a castle sitting on a hill visible from the highway as you drive by. This particular castle in Pombal is built by the Templar Knights in 1161 by Gualdim Pais, Grand Master of the Order. Restored in 1940

It was very turbulent and windy today. Saw many mistakes in spins and stalls. I myself goofed up my spin. It was not my best round. We all flew in this wind as it really didn't die down like I was hoping it would. There is still one more day. Chad is flying very well and will easily make the semi's again.

Tomorrow Dan and Chad fly in the morning and me, again I fly mid afternoon. For scores, please refer to the World Championships site.

 

 

Aug 24:

Hi all: I fly at about 9am today. Weather report as I look out the hotel window is like always first thing in the morning. A bit cloudy and not so much wind. Now I have to phone my caller and get him out of bed. More to report later.

And now it is much later. I flew in pretty nice conditions this morning and I thanked my lucky stars, until I realized that the wind would not come up at all, all morning. :) I flew OK today. It didn't feel as good as yesterday at all. I wish I could have done it again:) Oh well, this line of judges are brutal. I ended up with a 373.40. Tomorrow I fly in the afternoon. I hope we have weather like today. Flying so close to the beginning is generally not good, as the judges are fresh, and saving scores for people to come. It would have been nice to have the advantage of less wind....

Dan flys at 4pm and Chad an hour after that.

While watching the pilots that came after me, we witnessed a model powered by Hacker which failed the noise test. I will have to check who exactly. Also watching some big names and noticing lots of mistakes. Christophe flew very well to my mind. Onda flew huge. Lots of Biplanes, and most every model now is electric. Large percentage flying Pletteneberg. The Hacker motors are loud. I'm surprised that more don't fail the noise test.

About the scores. All flyers rotate through 4 panels of judges, so no placings are listed until 4 rounds are completed. Also a process called TBL is applied to the scores. This process is supposed to pick up certain judging trends and adjust the scores. It is supposed to lessen the favoritism.

I forgot my memory stick ... again.

Paul, the only difference between the Integral and the Integral X that Jason flys is that the X has a different rudder (thicker exit), and a canalyser.

Back from the flights that Dan and Chad put in. Some good scores to report. 402.40 for Dan and 468 for Chad. Good going guys.

 

Aug 23:

Competition started today. I forgot my memory stick in the room, so I was not able to take any pictures. However Rosemary probably has some of which I will steal. Chad has pictures of the scores, which I will be uploading as soon as I figure out where he is.

I was up 8th pilot on Line B while the other guys were up on line A starting about half an hour after I flew. I had a good flight. It felt good to me and I came away with a decent score. 419 was my raw score. Compare this to BPLR who scored 455. Both lines were delayed today as the clouds were low. So we were delayed about an hour. The winds were blowing in but not too strong. It picked up quite a bit between my flight and Dan's. Tomorrow I am up on line A 2nd pilot first thing in the Morning. I'm hoping for similar conditions:) Wish me luck in that. Dan and Chad will be flying in the afternoon on the other line.

Chad had a good solid first round 429. One judge gave him a terrible score for his "Double I" for some unknown reason. Dan 355.8 , had to retest on his sound check due to his controller going into over limit on full power. Batteries were too powerful, and that can happen when batteries are new. Still, even though the distraction I think he put in a good round. I will post the scores soon.

I have to comment on how great it has been to have Agnes and Rosemary along. They have been great, getting our lunches, and keeping us hydrated all last week while practicing.

Actually, instead of posting the score sheets, I will refer you to the Worlds Portugal site where they already have scores posted. So then I leave you with a couple of pictures. I am going to re-post some of Rosemary's Facebook pics of the offical practice and the first round, because... well just because.

 

Aug 22:

We have a free day it seems. We have to wait for all teams to do their official flights. We have also been invited to a secret field today so that we can do some last practice flights. Life is good. I had 3 solid flights with Chad behind me calling. I really hope that I can continue on this high point. Minor problems adjusting distance of the box at first and then the rest of the flight feels good.

The opening ceremonies has come and gone once again. Each team paraded out to stand in front of their own flag led by a very young cub scout not older than 12, and we had to do it in 28 seconds. That is how long our national anthem was played. There were 38 teams. I felt rather proud walking out there representing Canada. It was a strange feeling.

Some reports of mishaps today. There was a crash that we heard of where someone's rudder stuck in one position. Not sure who. A misfortune for the Greek team. Antenna wire causing interference for a JR radio. That is all I heard about.

We learn today at the opening ceremonies that the Double Immelamn (Our first maneuver) has to be flown with a pause after the first point. They changed it again. Lucky that we caught wind of this, as the decision was made after the Team Managers meeting.

After the ceremonies which was long enough baring the same old long speeches from Government officials, various full size airplane demos, sky divers, powered parasailers, and a model F16 jet demo... there was a reception in Pombal just stones throw away from our hotel. There we had drink and dinner. When I left, the bandstand was just getting started, however a morning start prevents me from sticking around longer. It was going to be a live band concert of some sort. Big Band style I think judging by the women I saw carrying Saxophones. So, I leave you with some pictures.

a movie combo of some happenings at the opening cerimonies.

 

 

Aug 21:

Update: I have the flight order... Here it is:

Hello all: Today we went for a quick practice flight at an airstrip near Fatima. This airstrip is on a plateau carved out of a big hill. Lots of wind and a huge cliff to fly over and around the whole legnth of the runway. We joined the Italians and others. Just a quick flight and then to the worlds site for official practice, weigh and messure. Official practice was at 4pm sharp, and we were on the other side of the runway because of the sun, the winds blowing out rather strongly. We each put in a good flight.

In the 4 preliminary flights all pilots rotate and fly in front of 4 sets of judges. So we end up flying in the morning twice with wind blowing us in, and 2 flights in the afternoon winds blowing us out, so a little bit of everything. Official practice will continue all through tomorrow. Opening ceremonies is tomorrow afternoon, followed by a dinner at city hall, stones throw away for lucky us.

 

Aug 20:

Instead of going to any practice field we opted to go practice at the Worlds site today. It was a good choice. On Line B we were there with team Israel, Argentina, and Columbia I think???? Oh, and the Irish showed up before we left. We ended up getting 3 flights in all day long. The marker lines were painted and the judges canopies were all set up. I have no ground breaking pictures to share. Pretty well same old stuff.

A nice dinner tonight finished off the day. Tomorrow we do our official team practice on site and that will be at 4pm or so. I still have to fly my backup plane just to see if it flys. Dan and Chad did that today. The wind picked up in the afternoon and the turbulance was somewhat aweful. After my third flight I headed back to the hotel and had to figure out how to fit both planes in the little van I am driving, with no air conditioning.

I don't mind.

Time for practice is running out. Most of the teams I imagine are hiding out down south, or they are not actually here yet.

Imagine that we got lost on foot trying to find the hobbie shop in town, ( I was along for the walk) and good fortune, the restaurant owner tonight joined us in a glass of wine, as he bought us a bottle. Not bad.

 

 

Aug 19:

Well, we decided to go North today so that we would perhaps find a less crowded practice field which we did. I had 5 flights. This place was impossible to find. It had a fine gravel runway with weeds. Long enough, rather narrow, however the weeds looked a bit scary to land in. The GPS was wanting to take us down dead ends, and over railroad tracks where the crossing was closed. It was one of the most fun excursions I have ever had, going through little towns and villages with cute old houses and narrow roads with just enough room for a car. Navigating corners was tough for Dan who has a full sized van.

After practice, we went to the closest Town called Coimbra. The city where 6 Kings were born. Nice touristy town with loads of history. Winding steep cobblestone streets and lots of shops. It was fun and worth the excursion for sure, as I don't think we are heading in that direction again.

Harry registered the team and delivered my package of tags, hats, shirts and so on.

 

 

Aug 18:

Today we went South to the closest practice site. Sorry for the lack of content, but I got up late and must join the crew. We were supposed to visit the beach after flying, however the practice field was crowded on arrival. All day for 3 flights. Too much sun... to help the farmers tan develop even more.

Anyway, the beach was cloudy, 15 dgrees, windy, and not a good temperature to have any fun. This is according to pilots who decided that waiting 2 hours between flights was not worth it and rather went to the beach. The German team for instance. Pics later I have to dash.

Ok, some pictures of the practice site.. I know that some viewers of the blog would rather I have posted beach shots, or something less related to flying:) Like Xavier.

and a note to Agnes's mother. Agnes is ok, don't worry.

 

Aug 17:

Today not much news so far. We went to check out Flight line B at the Worlds site and to get a feel for flying there as well. We were at site A yesterday. Some more competitors arrived on the schene as is expected. Today we flew with the Korean's and the German's. The weather is hot and sunny. They are still working on the site, which so far is in poor shape except for the freshly paved runway. The clubhouse looks good, but I have never been inside. It is hard to find shade and without that my energy drained very quickly. Now back in the hotel room I am happy. So at the site they are laying power cables, laying gravel, grading the road, and digging holes as well as making fencing. Also the wind is really crazy.

 

Aug 16:

Too tired this eve to recount the day. We practiced most of the day at the worlds site and then in the evening went to see a Bull Fights. I will upload 2 things. A movie showing a piece of the way driving from the Hotel to the Worlds site and a couple segments of Bull Fights.

But first Chad and a mystery Team Canada "fan" Shhhh, from Team USA. and a shot of our hotel.

I have compressed the videos to 9 megs. I hope that this is acceptable size and quality.

I didn't realize that there is a specific format to each bull fight. We saw 6 in total. It starts out with a Matador on a horse. He thrusts 6 or so colourful arrows into the poor bull. His horse is quite skillful at avoiding the bull and I think this is most of the trick. The other trick is knowing when to charge on the bull in order to hit the target just behind the bulls neck. This activity he does in 2 sets, and he actually exits the arena and one or 2 Matadors with pink capes do the olay thing a few times. So he reenters and finishes up. Then there are a group of 6 guys dressed similarly who line up and after the bull charges, they catch the bull and hold it. The last guy grabs the bulls tail as the rest all let go and each heads off in a different direction. The remaining dude then taunts the bull as the bull drags him round and round. Very interesting. Now I can say that I have been to a bull fight.

The Bull is winning What happened is that the Matador fell off his horse and it freeked out and started running randomly, and the bull got up after a rest and started attaking again.

A drive from Hotel to WC site. This video shows the general countryside of this area. The nice Villas and vegetation. Plus my fantastic driving style while filming. Also can be heard my GPS giving me proper instruction,

Very short normal Bull fight vid.

Bull catching

 

Aug 15:

We start off with breakfast. Cool little breakfast room. A view of the famous Templar Nights castle from from the terrace of the breakfast room and the flea market in the courtyard below.

now time to build the airplanes

Just returned home from a fairly busy afternoon. After building the airplanes, charging batteries and lunch at an outdoor café, all we all decided to go find the World Championship site. It really isn't that far out of town. Perhaps a seven minute drive, and now that we have found it, getting there is easy.

 

As you can see in the pictures, the site is nice enough with a paved runway. A full sized plane came in and landed at one point. We met the US team out there and the current reining World Champion Quique Somenzini , and we all flew a couple of rounds. I myself had 2 rounds to feel out the air. It was blowing in and very turbulent as we are in a valley, and there are thermals and swirling winds. Very unstable air. The wind was and will be directly crosswind to the runway and the direction even managed to switch a couple of times while we were there and this is the usual thing we are told. One interesting thing to find out for us was that apparently we are scheduled to fly in the morning, have a couple hour break in the mid day and then resume flying in the afternoon until 7pm. This is because the sun crosses from one end of the field (box) into the other side diaganally during the day. It will be interesting and allows us to have blowing out cross wind and then blowing in. One of the US team members was having a rough time tuning his YS engine. Hmmmm, I don't miss the days of glow engines and the headaches involved. I wonder if we are going to see a major shift this year form Glow to electric?

 

Aug 14:

Hi all. Today the blog brings news of some interesting happenings.

My flight from TO to the Azures was 5.5 hours. A quick 2-hour lay over and I find myself in Lisbon. I walk through to pick up my baggage and get a big wave from Jason Shulman. from the American team. I also shake hands with the rest of the members and manager. Quique Somenzini greets with a warm smile. Jason informs me of 2 things. The place I should go to pick up my oversize baggage. (my airplanes) and that Chad and Dan, are already here negotiating with customs as they (customs) want a security deposit for each airplane going into the country. To make a long story short about 200 Euro deposit (refundable) to every Pilot that goes through customs. So, I go see what is happening. Phone calls are being made to event organizers, but the bottom line is still that we have to pay this cash or we can't bring the planes into the country. This goes for the US team too and who knows who else. To make matters worse, the customs official says in broken English that we have to go 4K to end of the terminal to set up the paperwork and pay and get the official stamp, in person, and… by and certain time.

It is very hot outside as we hail a cab to bring us to this place. The cab driver is pissed that he has the misfortune of such a terribly short annoying fare. We get to this place and wouldn't you know it, the official is on lunch.

So instead of wasting time sitting around, I decided to go back to the terminal via Taxi again to get my car rental, and return to pick up the boys. What a hassle. I'm sure that the US team can report similar experience.

To make things more interesting, my rental is not quite big enough to fit my plane boxes in. I have to make due with tying the rear doors together with plastic supplied to me by Dan, and a security guard who is trying to get me to move from restricted parking area. I am sitting there trying to jostle the boxes just so, and then try to find places on the vehicle suitable to tie rope and plastic as not to damage it, and to prevent the boxes from falling out for 200K trip on a high speed motorway between Lisbon and Pombal. I actually put on the flashers and didn't go above 90K all the way. Nearly got nailed several times. Huge traffic jam on route. Car flipped upside down on A1 motorway. Passengers in bad shape.

So you see, it was all smooth sailing until Customs in Portugal. I'm too tired to make any sense, so I will leave it at that. Tomorrow the team will construct airplanes and make plans for initial practice sessions. I leave you with the look of despair as Chad and Dan sit and wait outside the office where they take our money for airplane security deposit.

now if you exuse me I am going to open up at least one airplane case to see if there is any damage via transport.

dez

 

Aug 13:

7am: and I realize the Spambot got in again and is making a mess of the Post. What a bummer. Doing some quick research I see that there is a fix but I have no time to do that right now. I am trying to do some basic steps at the moment, however I don't really think the problem will go away easily. Oh dear.

look they fit with lots of room to spare.

7pm:

As always getting through airport customs is interesting enough. I got in to Toronto with plenty of time to spare this time. I waited 3 hours before the opportunity to check in. I made friends with the guy responsible for oversize baggage. He explained to me in detail about his model Harrier Jet which was destroyed by kid relatives. These kids mistook his jet for a toy and apparently threw it against the wall. I hope he doesn't throw my boxes against the wall on the way to the innards of the plane. 21KG in weight for one box, the one Xavier and I made, and 23 KG for Chad's old box that I am borrowing from Xavier. Rather Insestual (if that is a word) isn't it? Interesting that I would end up using a Chad box. How on earth?

Coming through security I made the sensor buzz because I was still wearing my phone, and the guy tried to tell me that I had to check my radio's, but his manager allowed it after a while. That was rather scary. I was starting to sweat.

 

 

Aug 12:

I'm all ready, don't know about Chad and Dan, but me. knock on wood. I hope that I don't forget anything. Today we find out that there is no impound for the 2.4 gig. Why oh why did I buy that extra radio exactly. Oh ya... thats why. Dough!

Got my GPS maps for Protugal today. Dave, Mark and Xavier would be interested to know. I already have the Hotel saved in there and the Worlds site. Now if I had the practice fields in there somewhere as well I would be set.

Rosemary models the team uniform. Sneak preview. Very nice.

I'm also recreating a messagepost. Somehow it got attacked by a spam bot a few weeks ago and I scrapped it, but I put it back up here. Let see what happens

Aug 11:

My flight leaves on the eve of the 13th. Its actually August 11th at 11pm right now. I have my planes packed in boxes and tomorrow will be a day for final packing. I seem to be ahead of schedule. I had time to prep the website which I am doing now. Bla bla bla.

• Team Canada sponsors, supporters and friends
• Portugal links
• World Championship Web site
• About Pilots and Contact info

RC Precision Aerobatics Committee MAAC in Canada full story...

FAI Committee in Canada full story...

FAI Homepage full story...