Dateline: Rome, GA

The US F3B Team Selection Trials continued today with 15 of the hottest soaring pilots in the US competing for the three coveted slots on "TEAM USA". At the end of the day, five rounds are complete; rounds six and seven are expected to finish Monday and we will name the team for next year's world championships.

The day's flying started before 8 AM with challenging conditions. Pilots flew two rounds of duration first, under heavily overcast skies and temperatures in the low-to-mid 60s. Lift was sparse, and many pilots scratched their flights out between treetop height and launch level. Winds all day were about 8 knots out of the east, with little slope lift to be found on the tree lines. Still, the skills of our best pilots showed -- they still maxed their times, even with heavy F3B planes in conditions that would have your average thermal pilot on the ground in under 3 minutes.

Two rounds of distance followed under the same conditions -- extremely difficult with lift spotty on course, but the occasional thermal drifted through to make things exciting. About noon the skies cleared to bright blue with cumulus clouds, and conditions became strongly cycling, and a third round of distance (the fifth for the weekend) was flown after lunch. Gavin Botha put up the high lap count for the weekend with 25 laps.

Two rounds of speed followed. Slightly variable winds and cycling conditions on course caused many pilots to elect to relaunch to try and maximize their conditions. Times were generally in the 18-22 sec range, with the fast time of the contest thus far set by Darrell Zaballos on Saturday with 16.9 seconds. Despite the close-in tree lines providing a psychological hazard for the pilots, everyone finished speed without incident.

We flew two more round of duration after speed, starting round six with the last duration task. Lift cycles had evened out some, and several flight groups had very light and spotty lift, resulting in some very impressive and tactical flying. Round 6 speed and distance will be flown in the morning, followed by round 7 and then the final results and identification of Team USA.

I've had the distinct pleasure as serving as an official timer and punching laps down at Base B in the hot Georgia sun, and have seen a lot of the action. So what did an average thermal flier learn from watching F3B? Well, like one of our club members Buddy Roos said, it's like getting free sailplane lessons all day long. It's not every day you can watch the best of the best compete up close. Here's some of the general things I picked observed:

1. It's all about TEAM.
I was surprised to see how much a great team makes or breaks a pilot. The whole group has to be functioning flawlessly to put a good round together, and the winch guys are really humping, especially when they are switching drums, changing lines, and running back and forth for multiple reflights. West coast team Botha/Zaballos/Jennings, and East coast team Lachowski/Kiesling/Lawless seemed to have particularly well-practiced techniques and procedures. It may be individuals who get selected for Team USA, but these guys are knocking themselves out to make each others' flights the best they can be.

2. Ya Gotta be smooth.
Smooth, consistent flying is the name of the game. Inconsistent fliers will put up one hot flight only to bomb the next, and low-level pilot-induced oscillation cost more seconds on speed runs than any bad launch (AKA too LOW too FAST). One of the most memorable speed runs, for me, was flown by Gordon Jennings. It wasn't the fastest, but the plane looked like it was on rails from the start of the launch to the end of the speed run -- smooth, steady, consistent.

3. Know your limits -- and use 'em
These guys know exactly what their airplane is capable of, and fly right up to the outer limits. They aren't extreme planes -- they're actually quite predictable. The pilot has to know exactly how much to expect from a launch, or how far he can search under what conditions, in case he has to bail across a field of sink to find the one patch of rising air on the field.
4. Check small things
Attention to detail is where it's at. The F3B guys here obsess over the exact fit and finish of their airplanes, and have them trimmed to perfection. They have intricate systems to keep track of what winches and batteries have launched how many times, with what line, so they know when to change out a line that's about to go. All those little things add up to a big increase in performance.

5. Know when t' hold 'em; know when t' fold 'em
The best teams/fliers have figured out their go/no go criteria before they launch, and talk about it during flight. "Past relight point, fly what you got," you hear. If conditions don't meet their criteria, they come down NOW, decisively. Indecision on relaunch loses precious seconds that you may not have. I saw teams relaunch three times during a speed round -- three launches in under four minutes! -- to get what they wanted. That whole team had to move like clockwork to make that happen.

6. Good enough is all you need.
I noticed this watching some of the less-experienced F3B hands. Some pilots will bail from lift that is weak -- but will get them their 10 minutes -- to go after something that looks stronger, only to have it fall apart on them. Other relighted after an OK -- but not ballistic -- launch, only to get a launch that was worse than the first, or get sink on course

7. CONFIDENCE, BABY!
The fliers who grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat in marginal lift on a long flight stayed confident the whole time, and their crews were always positive. I won't say they made their own lift -- but the mental edge had to help. I know I've been more often defeated by sinking feelings than sinking air, myself.

What were the hot planes? The ones flown by the hot pilots, of course! Heck, from Base B I can tell you there were 14 V-tails and one cruciform tail -- what more do you need?

OK -- there were a few planes that caught my eye among the Ellipses, Cobras, and Tragis:

- The "SP1", an original desiggn flown by Botha and Zaballos. From down at the turnaround, it looked like these planes were consistently outlaunching the rest of the field. Of course, I'm sure the pilots helped, as did the unique super-special construction winches with the double-bearing extra-long drums. These planes seemed to range well, hang well, go fast, and go slow. The planform looks unique, probably specially tailored -- Gavin said the plane was designed specifically to launch well, and that it definitely does.

- The Icon. Of course it stood out; it wwas the only conventional-tailed airplane on the field. It's a BIG plane, and flew like it was on rails. It's pilot (Jennings, I think) put up some very consistent flying.

- The Caracho (sp?). Lachowski & Kieesling flew this design, and possibly some others. Has a pretty unique look -- pylon mounted wing, unique planform, wide-chord ailerons & flaps. These seemed very fast & maneuverable -- quite impressive in speed & distance.

- Brian Agnews plane -- a Warp (I think)). Clean lines, nice handling -- a lot of potential there. Someone told me Agnew hadn't flown much F3B -- you could have fooled me!

I'll post the interim results once I receive them, and send the final scores along tomorrow if I can get them. I have a few other specific observations about launching, speed, and distance I can post then, too.

Standings partway into round 6:

1. Zaballos
2. Botha
3. Lachowski

Things may shift a bit once round 7 is complete and all throwouts are calculated.

Here are the round-by-round scores (you may have to tweak them to read on your browser:

After Placing after
Contestant Round1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Total Throwout Place
Zaballos 2985.0 2747.2 2941.2 2868.1 2908.6 990.0 15440.1 14461.5 1

Botha 3000.0 2819.2 2941.1 2769.6 2899.7 1000.0 15429.6 14444.1 2
Lachowski 2861.4 2905.0 2915.6 3000.0 2698.7 1000.0 15380.7 14393.6 3

Kiesling 2703.2 2970.8 2561.3 2907.7 2940.4 994.3 15077.8 14149.5 4
Jennings 2889.6 2833.2 2815.3 2570.5 2818.3 998.6 14925.5 14133.0 5
Lawless 2603.2 2802.8 2392.0 2767.4 2878.6 1000.0 14444.0 13926.6 6
Phelan 2562.5 2683.8 2640.7 2721.7 2990.0 997.1 14595.9 13704.8 7
Burnoski 2894.4 2718.3 2437.4 2879.7 2761.3 979.9 14671.0 13691.2 8
Renaud 2865.0 2815.5 2793.1 2457.3 2565.5 843.2 14339.6 13496.4 9
Golovidov 2723.9 2666.4 2671.3 2096.7 2606.6 984.2 13749.2 12997.0 10

Agnew 2542.4 2500.7 2666.2 2896.4 1878.6 1000.0 13484.3 12590.3 11
Leal 2393.4 2487.2 2548.0 2289.8 2329.6 998.6 13046.6 12211.9 12
Steifel 2252.0 2400.3 2275.5 2205.2 2670.5 991.4 12794.8 12066.4 13
Scegiel 2812.3 2508.6 2201.2 2332.2 2033.1 437.6 12324.9 11887.4 14
Wingstedt 2160.3 1663.3 1758.1 2447.2 2613.0 954.2 11596.1 11315.5 15

Day 3 ...
Flying began just after 8 am today after the mist lifted, revealing clear, cloudless skies and virtually dead calm conditions. We flew round 6 Speed in almost completely dead air, with the high times in the 19 second range. Light thermals began to cycle onto the course by 0930 as we started round 7 speed, and course times improved to a fast time of just over 17 seconds, not quite beating the course record set on Saturday. We lost one plane -- which fortunately was not severely damaged -- to a radio failure during one speed run, when the radio shut off just as the dive onto course began. The plane pulled out, circled, and landed all on its own with some minor cracks and a delam. Oleg Golovidov finished the contest flying his backup Stratos.

Following speed we flew round 6 and 7 distance. Lift conditions continued to improve with cumulus formations over the field, leading to strong cycles of lift and sink. Several flight groups were able to turn in fast courses with strong thermals on course -- high lap count set at around 24 laps. Several other flight groups were treated to heavy sink, and rushed to relaunch into better air.

Following the two distance rounds and a lunch break, we flew round 7 duration, which saw two flight groups launch into booming thermals, and the other two flight groups launch into marginal lift that resulted in scratching to make times. One pilot fought for air time at treetop height way downwind, and clipped a tree, lucklily recovering just above the ground and recovering the plane back to the field.

Despite a few thought of putting in round eight, we ended the contest after round seven, at about 1300, and had the field cleared by 1530.

The combination of good conditions, thorough preparation, herculean work by the CD and his assistants, great club support, and outstanding flying and cooperation by the attending pilots and crews combined to make this a great event.

I'm glad I came and helped out. I had a lot of fun, and learned a lot watching a lot of great fliers.

So after that last post, you're wondering: who made the team?
Congratulations to:
Gavin Botha
Mike Lachowski
Darrell Zaballos
Tom Keisling (alt)

for their great flying. These pilots will be representing the USA at the worlds in Germany next year. GO TEAM USA!

Here are the final scores, after throwout. The closeness of the scores will give you the idea of the kind of flying we saw over seven rounds:

1. Gavin Botha (CA) 17652
2. Mike Lachowski (NJ) 17566
3. Darrell Zaballos (CA) 17545
4. Tom Keisling (PA) 17437
5. Gordon Jennings 16948
6. Ben Lawless 16898
7. Rich Burnoski 16760
8. Phil Renaud 16632
9. Brian Agnew 16400
10. Dennis Phelan 16355
11. Oleg Golovidov 16114
12. Jeff Stiefel 15332
13. Mike Leal 15064
14. Don Sciegel 14642
15. Bill Wingstedt 14244

Again, great work and best of luck to the team.

The next two posts are the specific observations about flying techniques that I found from watching pilots at the F3B finals.  For those familiar with F3B, this is probably old hat, but I find that even reinforcing things I know can be useful.

1.  Launching
If there is one absolutely critical must-have skill for F3B, it seems to be launching.  Heck, that's probably true of any sailplane flying -- barring good air, you only have the energy you put into the plane at launch, so you'd better make the most of it.

I saw a lot of different launching techniques and styles at the finals.  The highest, most consistent launchers seemed to have the following in common:

They know their equipment.  The plane is trimmed for a hard pull and quick rotation on launch -- a carefully tuned mix of CG, hook position, flap settings, and elevator preset.  They know what their winches are capable of, and adjust both line and drums to suit conditions.  Teams were running mono as narrow as 1.05 mm and 1.11 mm, changing out entire spools as needed if the line got nicked or over-stressed.  They had those procedures down, and had their winch-area set up just so, to maximize their launch effectiveness -- marking winches and batteries based on number of launches, keeping equipment clear in case of a winch backlash, and that sort of thing.

The whole team drilled the same technique over and over, and the launch was a team event.  Pilot checks airplane; winch master confirms correct winch is selected and winch is on.  Timer indicates ready.  Spotter checks the air, and confirms the pilot's flight plan.  Pilot tells launcher when to go (on the horn, or wait).  Pilot: "Ready". Launcher: "Set", braces, and gets arm back into throwing position.  Pilot: "Go" -- launcher (or winchmaster) stands on tthe pedal, building tension until the winch starts to stall.  Then the launcher leans back and throws the plane for all he's worth.  The well set up planes are flying the second they leave the launcher's hands, already rotated for maximum climb.  Less proficient crews had a jerk or waggle as the plane stalled on launch, losing some potential as the plane got back to flying speed.

The launch is consistent.  I saw a number of pilots that circle-towed, doing big S-turns on the line to build line tension before climbing and zooming.  Except in the cases where they used this for a slight adjustment to get into the wind, though, I never saw this pay off.  The highest launches all seemed to come from pilots who climbed straight and smooth into the wind with minimal heading correction before the zoom.  Of course -- they also got the best setup, tension, and throw, too.

Zooms.  That monofilament zoom is amazing.  The consistent teams would have a signal when the line was at max tension, and would tell the pilot when to zoom.  This wasn't really that far up the climb -- maybe 60-70 degrees up from the turnaround, no where near as far as we tend to do on braided line with thermal winches.  They didn't dive too deep to start the zoom, and immediately rotated smoothly and pinged off into a climb.  I saw all sorts of climbs, from shallow to vertical, and even past vertical.  I guess in theory vertical is probably best, but the best zooms seemed to come from about a 70-degree climb.  Too many of the fliers doing vertical climbs pulled past vertical, climbing inverted, or pushed/rolled out too late, losing altitude at the top because they had no airspeed.

The pilots immediately started to execute the task at hand.  They had a plan beforehand -- if they were going to abort based on the launch, they aborted right then, otherwise they went into their plan.  You could tell the indecisive pilots -- they would kind of float around a bit off of launch, losing altitude without accomplishing anything.

2.  Landing
- Unlike TD, F3B is not a landing contesst -- or else it is, and everyone is just too good at it.  It's a big spot, 1 meter per 5 points, and I saw very few landings under 95 points.  Crews helped by laying the tape out into the wind, and counting down time until the plane was right close to the end of the tape.

Also unlike a TD contest -- where you see every kind of landing technique imaginable, from the wallow-stall-splat to the speed-dork-spike -- everyone used a very similar technique.  They used their flaps early in the approach, to get down to one approach speed -- fast for control, but not too fast.  Then (unlike me) they came in with a clean airplane on a steady glide path (about two spans up at 15 seconds and 75m out), applying flaps right at the end to stop the plane over the spot, either settling in or with a slight nose push to stop the plane on the spot.  I didn't see too many AMA "spikes".

More observations from the team trials ...

3.  Duration
Not too much different here, except that F3B guys fly heavy airplanes for 10 minute tasks every round, and we'd rather have our 3-5-7 landing contest with 57 oz airplanes.  The pilots had a good plan at launch, adjusted for the conditions, and weren't afraid to bail to cross the field or run way downwind if necessary.  They turned perfectly smooth, whether it was a slow, wide, 10 degree bank circle, or a tight, spinning 45 degree bank circle.  And they weren't afraid to circle at treetop level a quarter mile downwind if that's where the lift was.  Know you airplane is the name of the game here.

A good team helps here -- the best were giving constant, positive feedback about where the lift was, how to adjust the thermal circle, when to stick with it, and when to bail.  I found myself thinking: "Where are the guys like this when I need a timer?"

4.  Distance
I thought this was the best event (partly because I got to fly a lot of it leading up to the event when we were training the officials.  It's a LOT harder than it looks!).  It's not as pure-adrenaline ballistic as speed; it's much more tactical, combining good air reading skills with good turning and racing skills.  Except for the number of people needed to run it, it would be a great event all by itself.

These guys know a lot about ballast, and have tried all different settings at all different conditions.  They're constantly adjusting to suit conditions, and comparing notes with each other about how much lead they're adding.

It's tactical flying.  Sometimes its best to cover the top guy in the group, flying in his air, so at worst he beats you by a lap or so.  Other times, your read on the air is best -- we had a couple of rounds where there was one guy on one side of the course, and the other three on the other.  Sometimes the lone wolf buried everyone; sometimes he got buried; once it even looked like the lone wolf was in worse air but tricked the other three into coming down and relaunching into his air.  Definitely a thinking man's game.

Smooth flying pays.  The high lap counts not only usually had good air, but every turn looked the same.  Know when to speed up, and when to slow down.  Denis Phelan was explaining how to get consistent -- by timing every lap until you get each two-lap upwind/downwind combo to the same rhythm.  It looked like the team helped out here, too -- the turn indication system worked on both light and audio signal, but since when several planes turned at once the audio could get slightly delayed, the guys turning on the light wasted less time than those turning on audio only.

Have your relight drill down.  'Nuff said.

5.  Speed
You've got to be ready.  The start of your working time is no time to find out that something on your plane doesn't work.  (Finding out when you enter the course is even worse!)

The consistent runs started at the launch.  The speed run really started at the push -over from the zoom, with a steady dive toward base A followed by a quick vertical dive and smooth pull into the course.  The guys who "floated" off the line generally seemed to lose more altitude and start with less speed than those who were aggressive at entry.  The initial dive onto the course looked really hard to judge -- a perfect dive meant coming on course at maximum velocity.  Dive too short, and you lose velocity pulling out; dive too long, and you waste altitude without gaining any more speed.  The fastest had a fairly constant altitude usage through the first three laps of the course, with of course extremely smooth consistent turns.

A few pilots did split-S's mid course, instead of the tight pylon turns most of the others did.  I never figured out if this was better -- it looked like they not only bled off speed turning, but sacrificed altitude in the process.  I don't recall a run where it looked like this tactic paid off.

It's not for the faint of heart.  Any altitude left at the end of the run is wasted, and we saw a lot of potentially really fast runs blown in the last lap because there was altitude that wasn't used; or there was altitude wasted early on in the run; or because the elevator was over-controlled and the plane bled off a good bunch of airspeed.

My hat's off to the guys that fly F3B.  I'm really impressed with their piloting skills, and the amount of things they have to master to fly one round -- let alone fly well and be competitivee.  Even if you never want to be any more than a run-of-the-mill TD pilot, if you get a chance to go sit and guard a turnaround for a day at an F3B contest you should jump at it.  It will give you a lot to think about.

Congrats again to the winners; I'm glad I got to help out.  It was definitely worth my time!  Good luck at the Worlds!

(And to the rest of the world ... watch out for those Americans ... they can launch!)

Glenn Dean
Atlanta, GA