F3B Team Selection Contest
Muncie Indiana OCT 8,9,10, 2004
A report on my travels and flights in the week of fun.
Travel to:
Left the house early Tuesday to meet my teammate, Jeff Steifel at his home in Pittstown, NJ.
After swapping spare vehicle keys and turning on 2way radios, we were on our way in a relaxed kind of way. Oh all right, this is just before the event and I’m not really calm at all, radio talk is kind of dull. Beautiful weather for driving, we stopped just West of Columbus, OH for the night. Next morning we arrived at the AMA site and stopped for a break at the museum. Ran into Jack Frost, the Education guy for the AMA and played with his control trainer for the “Wright Flier”. Anyone thinks modern radios are difficult to learn should try their hand and waist at the controls of the first man-carrying plane!
Wednesday first practice:
Since it was only Wednesday and the field was open we had to fly out of the center area for general-purpose r/c flying and share with the local power guys. We found a section that we could lay lines out on and not bother anyone. The ground was rock hard; the grass was short and dry. I wanted to fly, but I couldn’t! I thought I had charged my #1[red] Tragi702 but it was depleted when checked on the field so I ran to Muncie Hobbies, the hobby shop right next to the flying field and picked up a pack to replace it. Meanwhile the pack from my #2 was charging and when ready went into the #1 plane and I was in the air practicing duration and taking note of thermal development. When the power guys were down we practiced distance but it was mostly thermaling. At one point I was flying over the power area and noticed the .90 sized Extra from the power area carving an arc at full throttle toward me and then away. As soon as it left my field of view, it slammed into the ground and disintegrated, totally shredding the plane, breaking the crankcase in two places and exposing the conrod. I was 60 feet from the point of impact! The “hole” it left was only ½” deep, I told you the ground was hard! OK, last practice distance run, I pull off the course for a safe landing and…..no control! I’d checked the battery just a few minutes before; now the plane is floating in a nice turn towards the ground for, luckily as safe landing all by itself! Battery, dead! Back to the hobby shop for a second replacement pack, is that a great store or what? We figure its time to quit so off we go for a meal at one of the best local Mexican food places, Puerta Vallarta with the Tim Foster, Randy Chronic and AJ, the guys from Atlanta.
Thursday Official practice:
Thursday is another beautiful day, with light winds. The other pilots begin showing up for the morning practice and everyone is pretty relaxed as planes and equipment get checked out including the winches, which must get checked once again using the “new” tester so we can be tested under the new rules. My winches come in at 25 and 26 milliohms, easily over the limit of 23 and I’m happy. I’ll get a tester at another time and bring them both right down to the limit but the TS finals aren’t for playing with winches, it’s flying we came for. Dinnertime and off we go to the Texas Roadhouse for some ribs and a beer.
Friday, day one:
Awake at 5:30 so we can get to the field at 7:00am and set up for an 8:00am start. We have hired a student from Ball State U. to shag lines for us. Nice kid but he knows nothing. The weather is overcast but breaking and it is cool. Did I mention that it’s windy, 10-12mph and going up to 16 at times?
The first two flights will be the duration tasks for rounds 1 and 2. Round 1, I’m up in the second group, coast around for an 8:21 and a 100 landing, Jeff is in the next group and makes 8:43 but no landing. Only 5 fliers of the 16 make 10 minutes. Round 2, Jeff is up in the second group lands at 6:54 and no landing. I’m in the fourth group, 6:48 and a 65. That’s not really that bad, another Tragi flier has only done 4:25 and no landing but Tom Kiesling has made his 10 and gotten 100 landing points. 6 fliers don’t make landings this round including JoeW, MikeL and AaronV; only 2 make their 10 minutes.
Round 1 distance and neither Jeff nor I have any really good idea about what weight to put in, there hasn’t been any wind for any of our practice sessions in the past two years! I put up 8 laps to a 10 and 11. Jeff puts up 13 to a 12, 18 and 18. Round 2, Jeff puts up a 9 to a 14, 14 and 15. I get to fly against TomK and put up an 11 to his 14. Not many people show up to help run the task today. Fliers not in the group are asked to officiate, great fun! We get to do it on Saturday too.
On to speed! Round 1, MikeL explodes a tip during launch and plants the rest of his plane in the middle of the lines! I turn an 18.76, Jeff an 18.26 to the 15.51 second run of Aaron Valdez. Round 2 is right after that, 17.90 to Gordon Jennings 15.40 and Jeff turns another 18.26! Aaron has turned another quick one of 15.41 sec. Dave Corven has planted his Escape. On to Round 3 speed! I cruise to a 19.44 while Jeff pounds out a 17.35; fastest is MikeL with a 15.74. Randall Chronic snaps his Cobra on launch and crunches it. Off for another Mexican meal and the motel to recharge the winch batteries.
Saturday:
Rain is just ending, clouds are low, they’ll lift during the morning and the wind will increase once again. The kid we had hired on day one doesn’t show up for today. We didn’t make him work hard but he didn’t quite get what was going on, walking the lines while we were launching, forgetting to retrieve lines and such . Minimum wage isn’t fun but it’s all we could muster for him. Still cool out. This is F3B so once again we begin at 8:00am with duration.
Round 3, Jeff is up in the first group and gets 8:32 and no landing. I’m in the third and get 8:26 and a 90 landing. Only 4 fliers make ten minutes.
Round 4 and I’m up right off for a 7:30 and an 85. Jeff is in group 3 and does 9:59 and a 100. D’Anne Thompson watches another plane fly while hers slams into the ground.
We move onto round 4 distance and Jeff does a 25 to a 22 and 29! I’m off to a 16 against a 17 and 19. I’ve finally figured out what ballast to carry and my round 4 flight group has MikeL and JoeW in it. Joe gets a great launch and heads for air, I follow, the launch isn’t as good as his but I hit the air and pull up into it for a match on his altitude. MikeL joins us and the race is on! Joe squirts off 25, I peel off 22 fast ones and Mike creeps 20 off. I loved flying that one!
Distance, round 5 is next; I get 15 to 17 and 17. Bad relaunch blunder there, I didn’t have a full 4 minutes on the course after deciding my first flight wasn’t hacking it. Jeff takes his group with a 16 to 14, 14 and a 12!
Round 4 and 5 speed finishes off the day. Jeff turns a 19.67 while the fastest is 17.48 seconds. Me? Jeff knows I’m loaded with ballast and wants me to get up nicely. With full tension then tosses and doesn’t quite get it right. The plane aces over to the middle of the winch line and slams into the ground shedding wingtips and breaking up as it cartwheels into the pits. Mike Smith rolls back from his sitting position on the ground just in time to have it miss him. The whole thing is over in a second; it was like watching an Indycar hit the wall at 200mph! I get a ZERO and a 100 point penalty for landing in the lines/pits.
In the fifth, flying my backup I put in a safe 20.25 sec run. Jeff gets a 20.35 and once again AaronV at 17.51 is fastest. After packing up for the night we head straight to the 909 Club for a dinner before heading to bed. Most of us end up ordering meatloaf, a huge piece, it was a good dinner with friends from the Chicago area.
Sunday, last day:
A nice morning, clear with a little less wind but it’s still not anywhere near dead. Very cool. I’m flying my backup; a basically brand new plane and I want to protect it. I do a range check and…..not enough! OK, change the crystal….. not enough, same thing. OK, I never really like the PCM Rx that’s in it so I swap it out for a PPM….not enough! I have only one module for CH48 so I go to the CD to see if I can change to 49, I do and….. not enough! I refuse to fly and miss my group. I go back to CH48, I’m upset and bummed. We had tried doing it out of the pits to clear any interference but it didn’t help. There was no one to offer any help. Jeff asks me to do it one more time and we walk out of the pits. I’m really not in the mood but we go through it again…..not enough range. Jeff asks me to hold the Tx out, away from my body….RANGE!!!
I’m wearing a polar fleece jacket, can you believe, somehow its affecting the ground of the TX, or something and kills the range if I have it touching my body. D’Anne notes that it probably only happens when doing a range check and have the antenna down/off. I’m now keyed up as much as before the event but I pull it together.
Anyway, I’ve missed my flight group for round 5 duration, I score a zero. The others in my group got 10’s with 90 and 100 landings. Jeff goes for a relaunch in his group after a bad launch and doesn’t get off the second time with enough working time for a full 10 min. We land him short at 9:48, he gets a 100 landing.
Round six, all tasks flown in order!
I’m up in the first group, so is the wind. I find air up front but as it comes back to the field I lose it and struggle downwind to get altitude again. I have spent too much time downrange and struggle to get back to the field, landing at 8:39, 100M short of the spot. Mike Smith has been in the same boat coming in with less than 8 min, the other two in the group both make time and landings. Jeff makes a 9:49 and a landing of 100 but only because my eyesight is better than his. He lost sight several times during the flight, I could tell him what his plane was doing and give him control commands during those moments!
Distance, I’m in the first group and do 21 laps to MikeS’s 24, a 19 and a 19. Jeff relaunches but still gets slammed by a brilliantly flown relaunch by JoeW. Jeff gets 17, Joe 23 and Randy Chronic 18. TomK hits misfortune in his group and hits the high-tension lines at the side of the field with his Caracho! The plane will hang on the line for a day before dropping.
The last speed, the air is terribly variable, Jeff and I end up with two of the many 21 sec runs. Tom Kiesling is quick with a 15.82 run. Time to pack up and wait for the official results. Fliers that have been helping out start asking questions and now is the time we can answer them. Pressure is off and we can relax, it’s been an easy day!
The Team!
1 Gordon Jennings
2 Joe Wurts
3 Mike Smith
alternate
4 Aaron Valdez
the rest
5 Tom Kiesling
6 Darryl Zaballos
7 Ben Lawless
8 Mike Lachowski
9 Rich Burnoski
10 Randy Chronic
11 Jeff Steifel
12 Dennis Phelan
13 Bill Wingstedt
14 Tim Foster
15 Dave Corven
16 D’Anne Thompson
Look for full scores in the scoring spreadsheet on this website.
Traveling back:
Before we get tired we’ve driven to Cambridge, OH. Monday morning and we’re off for our ride through Pennsylvania, a state that’s as long as its name! We came out I-76 and are headed back the same route. We decide to stop in Hamburg, PA and visit the new Cabela’s store. You’ve probably heard of them, an outdoor retailer? Their store there is new and huge. From the outside it looks impressive but your jaw will drop once you get inside. Most of it’s on one floor, an expanse of everything you could possibly need or want for hunting, fishing, camping, We ran through the place in 2 hours or so, missing all the areas like clothing so we could see all the other areas including the aquarium, the deer display and the mountain of stuffed wildlife. Stop in if you ever go by! We finished our trip together at an exit near Jeff’s home and even up as well as get our keys back. Joanne is waiting for me at home with a hot meal and four dogs; I make the distance in short time.
A whole week of flying, this is something you have to love. OK, two days of traveling but its all part of the action. As a team we did as well as we fly, not USA Tteam material but we can handle the tasks and be competition for the guys that want to make the team. As Rich Burnoski says, “You want to make the team, you have to beat me!” If our third teammate had joined us we might have done a little better, we were hoping to support Brian Agnew but he had to opt out. We were hoping to have helpers so we could concentrate on flying, luckily a two man team doesn’t need all the support of a three man team but it still would have been nice!
This contest was a true test for the individuals going for positions on the team. I’ve been going to TS contests since 1990. All those previous have had winds less than the lowest winds we saw this past weekend! It was cold and many times the air was “spotty”, very difficult at most times. A look at the spreadsheet and scores will show only one person getting 3000 points in a round, Aaron Valdez. Usually the top guys will have several of these, and many 1000’s. These are the best indicators of how tough it was.
In two years I hope to report on another F3B team selection event. The event is awesome! The tasks are always fun to perform as well as watch. A team selection contest is the best place to do either or both!