SEN 1860
Table of Contents – SEN 1860
- Valley Fever Update
- Where in Mongolia
- Thermal Speed
- Looking for M&K
- Charlie Bruce
- More on CIAM
Valley Fever Update
A number of SEN readers will be aware that in February at Lost Hills one of the local public TV stations, KVIE did some filming during the Ike/Kiwi Cup about Valley Fever. This program aired this week and the link to it is http://www.kvie.org/programs/kvie/viewfinder/deadly_dust/default.htm
It has a very good interview with Malcolm Campbell (F1A flyer from Australia) , they wanted to talk to a international visitor who had contracted VF. They have some F1A good flying shots including a number of well known sportsmen ! They acknowledge NFFS in the credits at the end.
The take away from the program is that while many people’s encounter with Valley Fever is not serious there are a few people who have major difficulties and not enough is done to help these people. Also not enough research is done on Valley Fever and many medical professionals are not adequately educated on Valley Fever diagnosis.
What is very important is to provide information to people so they can take it to their doctor if they suspect something.. A serious case of VR is not to be trifled with and in all of the most serious cases talked about in the TV program the patient had difficulty getting the medical professional to consider Valley Fever. A good reference is the California dept of public health.
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/discond/Pages/Coccidioidomycosis.aspx
This web site has links in a number of languages as well as information for the public and medical community.
In a unrelated item, Walt Ghio found an article in a local news paper about a new way for testing for Valley Fever – this new way method involves DNA and can be done very quickly. The traditional way is to do a blood test but this requires the generation of a culture and can take about 2 weeks. Hopefully this new technique will be brought into general use soon.
Where in Mongolia ?
Does anyone know the exact location (long &Latitude) of the up coming world champs in Mongolia? I was reading a magizine today that had an article about Mongolia and it had some pictures of the most beautiful flat grass covered plain you have ever seen. It looked as if it went on forever.
Carrol Allen
Thermal speed ?
Hi,
I’m working on a thermal detector that can be used on the field and would like
to know the rate of ascent of air in a average thermal. Pounds or grams per square inch
etc. would help to set the sensitivity of my analog meter. Anyone that can help me
my email is marsh55@comcast.net
Thanks
Jack Marsh
Looking For M&K
john carter <carterbuild@yahoo.co.uk>
Hi I have been trying to raise e mail communication with Serguy or Mikhail this is proving to be a problem many e mails no answers does any one have an other way to contact tried face book drawn a blank
Do others have this problem john carter uk
Charlie Bruce
Just got the the very sad news of Charlie Bruce’s passing ( see below). I considered Charlie Bruce to have been the most knowledgeable vintage engine man I ever met. My son and I flew free flight with him for many years at our home field in Seguin Texas. I know to the SAM community he was instrumental in keeping the hobby alive with his years as the engine editor for SAM Speaks and he was a avid vintage stunt participant as well. There was know one that I ever flew with that represented the hobby better and seemed to enjoy it more. All our prayers are with Kay and his family.
Mark Troutman.
More on CIAM PROPOSALS from FFn
Besides the proposals to changes the rules for various model classes that have been discussed already there is another proposal to reduce the number of World Championships based on the participation in the different classes. This applies to all FAI model categories , not just Free Flight. This is what FFn says about it.
Reducing the number of Championships
There has been some criticism from national bodies of the
number of Championships which CIAM has now approved.
There was a discussion at the Plenary meeting last year and
now the Bureau is drafting a proposal to submit to the Plenary
meeting on April 11. This includes the numbers of people
flying in competitions of a new event before it can be accepted
as a new world championship class(set at very small numbers
compared to the participation in free flight World Cup). Of
much more concern are the guidelines for existing classes to
maintain championship status. These are currently set at a
minimum participation in world championships of either 12
countries from 3 continents or 14 countries from two
continents. If this is not achieved in the two consecutive
championships in a 4 year period, then the CIAM will
reconsider the status of the class. It is just a number count,
without any consideration of how many judges some other
classes need compared to the simple requirements of free
flight. There is another reason for reconsideration if there have been no bids to host the event during a 4 year period
but that has never been a problem for free flight.
The test is only defined for World Championships
, but there is a possibility that if an event loses world championship status
then it will also not be able to hold continental championships,
event though there are no tests
made on the participation at these events.
Junior only championships are excluded from the test. Gerhard
Wobbeking has made the good suggestion that
also the test does not apply to events which include complete Junior teams
(like F1D and F1E). At the time of writing, it is not certain that
this exclusion will be accepted.
To interpret these requirements for free flight, the table below
shows the average participation in free flight championships
during the last seven years (individual classes and the total at
each event). It is seen that the F1ABC World Champs beat the
limits by a large margin and even the F1ABP Junior World
Champs would meet them even if not excluded from the
requirement.
Indoor F1D just meets the limit with 15 countries and an
average of 3.5 continents, but the total number of competitors
shows that there are quite
a number of incomplete teams. They
have always had USA, often Japan and in 2012 both Argentina
and Australia competed with 2 flyers each. This makes the
continent count comfortable but it would be close if one or two
of the non-Europeans did not participate.
Indeed, preliminary entries for the current World Champs in Romania suggested 3
continents but from only 10 countries–below the threshold.
F1E fails to meet the proposed limits. Participation has been
steady at about 12 countries but the USA has been
the only country from outside Europe. It would need a lot of
encouragement to generate participation from more countries
and, in particular, countries from outside Europe.
The proposal from CIAM Bureau should be published before
the Plenary meeting on April 11, look on the FAI web site and
check that the exclusion of classes including full junior teams
is still there. If so, there is no worry for free flight. If not, tell
your national delegate of your views.
Table showing the
Number of competitors
followed by
Number of countries
followed by
Number of continents
F1A World 101 37 5.0 F1B World 95 35 5.0 F1C World 64 26 5.0 F1ABC World 263 37 5.0 F1A Junior World 44 17 2.8 F1B Junior World 31 13 2.8 F1P Junior World 16 6 2.0 F1ABP Junior World 91 17 2.8 F1D World 35 14 3.5 F1D Junior World 15 6 2.0 F1D S+J World 50 15 3.5 F1E World 36 12 2.0 F1E Junior World 22 8 1.3 F1E S+J World 60 12 2.0 F1A Euro 79 27 F1B Euro 73 26 F1C Euro 47 20 F1ABC Euro 202 28 F1A Junior Euro 39 15 F1B Junior Euro 26 11 F1P Junior Euro 13 5 F1ABP Junior Euro 78 15 F1D Euro 26 10 F1D Junior Euro 13 5 F1D S+J Euro 39 15 F1E Euro 34 12 F1E Junior Euro 23 9 F1E S+J Euro 59 12 Average numbers in Free Flight Championships 2007 to 2013