SEN 3367
- Saga of the 2025 World Free Flight Championships in Romania
- Tangent Report – from the FB
Saga of the 2025 World Free Flight Championships in Romania
From: Julie and Faust Parker
Getting There:
Julie, Faust and Jim Parker traveled to Romania and back on the same flights.
Our flight to London was scheduled to depart at 7:40 PM on July 12th. We arrived on time and boarding went smoothly. Departure (leaving the gate) was on time, BUT as we were taxiing for takeoff it began to rain very hard which eventually resulted in a ground stop. We taxied around DFW for two hours before takeoff. This meant we would miss our connection at Heathrow. Fortunately, AA took care of putting us on another flight and our luggage was checked through. Unfortunately, the new flight got into Budapest (BUD) after the rental car facility closed on the 13th. Jim was rooming with Shlomi at our hotel in BUD and he agreed to pick us up at the airport and deliver us (4 people, 2 oversized airplane boxes,4 large suitcases and our carry-on gear) to the hotel. We needed a large shoehorn to get everything in the vehicle, but we managed. The next morning Shlomi took Julie and I to Budget to pick up our car and we were off on our road trip to Romania on the 14th.
Arriving in Romania:
Upon arrival in Oradea, we checked into the Ramada hotel and settled in for our 12 day stay. The room was quite nice with an incredible floor to ceiling room length picture window view of the city and its many church spires. We checked out the restaurant (Steak Hub), breakfast buffet area and rooftop SPA, then went shopping for basic supplies (bottled water, snacks, etc.) and scouted the area around the hotel.
The following day (Tues. 15th) we slept in, did the hotel breakfast and set off for the flying field. It’s about an hour drive depending on traffic to the Salonta turn off to the field and then about 20-30 minutes on gravel, dirt and cobblestone roads which were single file. The field itself was nothing to write home about. It appeared to be a harvested wheat field, with irrigation canals (some fairly deep) running throughout (but without water at this time). The ground itself was mostly rough with hard, dry, cracked soil. In places where it had been previously tilled it was very rough, to the point of making it difficult to walk. There were very few people on site (mostly U.S. Team members), no porta cans, and not much else. Andrew Barron had already set up two shade canopies for the U.S. team and we saw the two bridges he constructed over the main canal.
We returned on the next day (16th) for test flying and to get a better idea of the timing involved in getting to and from the field. There were a few more people flying and Julie put flights up with her #2 Q model which had only a few flights. We were also getting our gear put together for the contests and making sure all systems were good to go. It was actually cool this AM and people were wearing their team jackets; we would not need them again. Andrew was at it again with his mower cutting in areas projected for flight lines.
On Thursday (17th) we followed our routine of Wednesday and Julie tested Q#1. Some of the contest organizers were on site erecting the large main tent, and a smaller tent for the timers and staff to meet for instruction and lunch breaks. The 8 Porta cans were delivered and set up. We had wondered what the 5 woodsheds were for, and it turns out they were used for storage of support equipment used by the timers and staff. Andrew was at it again mowing additional areas for potential flight lines. Today was not as cool as yesterday (an Omen) of what was to come and there were many more contestants test flying.
The Friendship World Cup:
Friday was F1A and F1Q day at the Friendship World Cup. Five rounds starting at 9:00 (1.5-hour rounds) and a 45-minute lunch break. F1A and F1Q had separate lines with 6 flyers per pole. We did not move poles in this competition and ended up with the same timers both days. The 6 flyers rotated with the 1st flyer going to the back of the line next round. For Julie this was official test flying and it went well. It was breezy early, so the first two rounds were 180’s in Q. Yuda finished 8th with a drop in round 2 and Julie19th with a drop in round 5. In F1A they flew 240 sec. in round 1&2. Ken Bauer was in the flyoff of 25 and finished 21st Jim Parker 37th, Andrew Barron 55th and Shlomi Roesnzweig 61st.
Timer notes: The Q timer was a young lady that fortunately spoke good English (she was from Hungary but now lived in Romania). The first thing she said was “I am blind without binoculars”. There’s your sign! There was a group effort from the team to get her up to speed timing and it paid off big time. She was all in and appreciated the help. By the time the WC was starting she was a very good timer.
Saturday was F1B and F1C day with the same format as Friday’s events. Julie and I got to the field prior to the first round, but we were worn out from the previous day’s efforts. The weather was good and warmer than yesterday. F1B had 40 in the flyoff, with 29 making the max (240 sec.) and placings were determined by altimeter. Tia Zheng finished 1st, Greg Simon Tied for 33rd, Benard Guest 54th and Alex Andriukov 56th, they both dropped a max in the rounds. In F1C there were 24 Fliers and 9 maxed out. They did a 240 max and 7 made the max with results determined via altimeter. Todd Reynolds finished 5th, and Guy Menanno came in 20th, dropping 2 rounds.
Onward to the World Champs:
Sunday the 20th was the beginning of the World Champs. Model processing took place at “The Great Bustard’s Nest” (a wildlife preserve) in Salonta from 8AM until 3:30 PM. The opening ceremony took place at the Salonta central park in the middle of the city near the
city hall. Model processing was actually a very smooth process; the opening ceremony was not! It was hot with little shade, almost no seating, and no water closets. Most everyone had to stand, which blocked the view of the short stage, so you couldn’t see what was going on and their PA system was pathetic. It ended up being a complete waste of time.
Monday (21st) was the beginning of the World Champs flying starting with F1C at 8:00AM (1Hr and 5min. rounds with a10 min. break between rounds and a 55 min lunch break after round 5). This was true for all 4 classes with a 240 sec. max in round 1 and 180 sec. for the remaining 6 rounds. There were 53 contestants in “C”, 21 of those maxed out, and 6 made the first flyoff (6 min). No one made the 8 min. 2nd flyoff. Guy Menanno came in 4th, Todd Reynolds 28th and Taron Malkhasyan 29th. The U.S. placed 3rd in the Team Competition.
F1Q took place on Tuesday (22nd) with 44 contestants. Four maxed out after 7 rounds and three of those made the 6 min first flyoff. Yuda Avla was the only one to make the 8 min. flyoff to become the first F1Q World Champion! Julie Parker came in 12th, Mike Pykelny finished 28th and Jack Murphy 39th. The U.S. was third in the team competition. Julie finished 3rd in senior female.
F1B commenced on Wednesday the 23rd with 98 contestants. There were 32 max outs after 7 rounds which included a 4-minute max in round 7. The first flyoff round was an 8 min. max and only one flier maxed. It was a rough go for the U.S. Team. Greg Simon finished 44th, Tia Zheng 50th, Alex Andriukov 60th and Benard Guest 78th.
F1A took place on Thursday the 24th. There were 106 Fliers. Fourty one of which made the fly off. Ken Bauer was one of those but missed the second fly off max to finish 31st. Shlomi Roesnzeig dropped one max and came in 44th as did Jim Parker who finished 72nd
The U.S. Finished 2nd in the FAI Class F1 Challenge determined by total score in all events.
Team support:
This team effort was some of the best we have ever experienced. Blake and Tiffany did an outstanding job of keeping everyone informed and on schedule. The actual team members assisted with chasing, timing etc. on the days they did not fly. A special shout out to Tia’s dad, and Jackie Wang and Xinpu Sheng. Andrew Barron and wife Lidija did a ton of work getting the equipment (tables, Chairs, canopies, etc.) together as needed by the team (not to mention his bridge building and mowing). Rae Murphy, Sevak Malkhasyan and Chuck Etherington did their part. As they say, “it takes a village” and we had a good one!
The closing ceremony and banquet were held at La Vie Summer Garden in Salonta on Sunday (27th). Just like the opening ceremony, this was not an appropriate venue. Again, everyone was standing in front of the podium, so few were able to see the winners receive their awards. The P.A. system was inadequate for the number of people in attendance. The awards went on forever as they included the Friendship Cup, World Champs and the European Junior Championships so by the time they were finished, and we headed to our banquet tables we were shocked to find that the food had been laid out way too early and it was cold and basically inedible. To make it even worse they charged 50 Euro a plate! An appropriate venue would be a site with some sort of stadium seating for awards and an indoor facility for the banquet.
Having said all that, the timers and contest staff worked very hard to accommodate the organizers’ directions. The C.D was at a disadvantage as the original C.D backed out at the last minute, but the issues that occurred during the World Championships could and should have been handled in a more efficient manner. One big problem was holding the Junior European Champ at the same time and on the same line as the W.C. This should never have happened and caused problems. They could have held it with the Friendship Cup which had fewer fliers or after the W.C. on the two days before the closing ceremonies.
Julie and I have attended 6 World Championships. We rank Romania and Hungary as the worst. The best were Israel and the U.S. (2). Argentina falls somewhere in between (good but not great). Romania’s problems were many. The field was reasonable, but the organizers did not utilize it correctly. There were several instances where the flight line needed to be moved or reoriented, but they did not act. This resulted in consequences. They also insisted that everyone remove their tents and sunshades from the flight line, which was unreasonable with temperatures pushing 105F (40.5C) especially considering our aging Free Flight community. They only provided 8 porta cans for the 515 attendees, and none were placed near the flight line. There should be a requirement for some of these to be adjacent to the flight line and they need to be mobile (on trailers), especially since we are now encouraging female participation.
Going home:
Our return trip was even more stressful. We set off for BUD on Monday July 28th late morning and stayed in the same motel as before. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:30AM on the 29th but left a little late. This made our connection at Heathrow very tight (just over an hour). When we arrived at Heathrow we boogied as fast as we could to get to our flight gate which was as far away as it could possibly be, but fortunately we made it just in time. We took off and headed for home, but about an hour and a half later the captain came over the intercom and said we were returning to Heathrow because of a mechanical (electronic) issue. Apparently, we had lost pressurization and A/C in both engines. They thought they might be able to solve the problem, but because of safety rules could not cross the Atlantic. Therefore, we returned to Heathrow, parked in a maintenance area where we had to depart down the stairs and onto a bus. They routed us back through customs and nobody seemed to know exactly where we were supposed to go. After a lot of confusion, we finally got through to an agent at AA who booked our afternoon flight the next day (30th). They set us up in a hotel and fed us dinner and breakfast the next morning and then we headed to the airport for a 4:00 PM departure, which was rescheduled to 6:00 PM, but did not leave until 8:30 due to an ATC software issue. We did not get into DFW until 12:00 AM. Jim’s wife Cathy picked us up in Jim’s Tahoe and the plan was for them to take us home to Weatherford and then go home. But after unloading our gear and saying goodbye at 1:00am (the 31st), the doorbell rang, and Cathy said they weren’t going anywhere as the car shifting mechanism was not working. So, they spent the the night, and Jim was able to find a part and fix the problem later that morning.
It is obvious that the airlines are overwhelmed with the amount of air travel and are short of pilots, air crew and maintenance personnel. The ATC’s (air traffic controllers) in most airports worldwide are using out-of-date traffic control equipment and need serious updating.
Julie and Faust
Tangent Report – from the FB
Tiffaney O’Dell is with Derek McGuckin and
2 others
.
Not our highest turnout for the two America’s Cup contests in Tangent, OR, but enthusiastic flying by all comers. It was good competition in F1B on both Friday and Sunday, with the winner not decided until the final flight. The conditions couldn’t have been more different though. For the Tangent Classic on Friday, it was breezy, with wind speed starting from 4-9 mph in the misty morning and increasing to 7-15 by afternoon. The maxes were 3 minutes all five rounds, with chases straying into farther fields. Derek McGuckin and Bill Gannon were clean through four rounds, while Blake and Bernard Guest dropped the second round, Bernard by just 12 seconds. Bill dropped the fifth round, so Derek could win with a max out. But it wasn’t to be. Derek picked such good air in the fourth round that his No. 1 model may have landed on the hill approximately 2 km away, so he had to fly his backup model. It wasn’t in trim and he did less than 2 minutes, dropping him to third while Bernard took the win. For the NW FAI Challenge on Sunday, the weather was calm and cloudy to start, with fairly easy thermal picking. All three flyers, with Blake flying F1A, Dane Jensen joining the fun and Bill Gannon sitting this one out, maxed out through five rounds. The first indication of changing conditions was when Bernard dropped his 3-minute Mulvihill flight. Then Derek dropped his sixth-round flight the same time Blake dropped in F1A. Then Bernard put up a flight that got more than 90 meters high, but came down at more than a meter a second and he did just 2:06. That left Dane to max and win. He had heat, fluffies and a breeze and launched near when Bernard landed, but maybe too soon. He did 2:03 and Bernard won again. Derek flew a little later and boomed off, although Blake tried to launch in his air and only did 99 seconds. Emrick Smith flew F1P, maxing all rounds until getting caught by the seventh-round 2-minute air, doing 2:02. Both mini contests were flown on Saturday, with two flights in an hour and a half. Blake flew by himself in F1H, while Lynn Edmondson won both F1S contests vs Bill Gannon. The F1G competition looked to be heading to a three-way flyoff in both competitions with me, Dane and Bernard maxed out. However, Bernard had a weird climb on his Round 4, and it happened again and cost him enough height that subpar air cost him his fifth max in the Tangent Classic. It turned out one prop blade had delaminated, causing his pitch to be out of whack. Dane was flying an older model coupe that had to be wound in the model with the prop. He had a miraculous max the third round, when his prop stopped after about 3 seconds, but he still maxed! He had broken motors a couple times while winding, but at the beginning of the fifth-round the motor-break caused damage to his rudder and took time to remove the rubber. I got ready to go, we were working to get six flights between the three of us in the 90 minutes. I waited a good 15 minutes for good indications and maxed. Blake taped up Dane’s rudder and he launched, but his model didn’t behave normally, stalling and not circling in lift. His first drop, 1:23. It turned out a support on his stab had come loose when his motor broke, causing the stall. Bernard helped fix it. I maxed my last flight and Blake put in his first F1H flight, and there was just 10 minutes left with both Dane and Blake needing to fly. They both launched with less than 3 minutes left in the round. Blake did 91 seconds, while Dane came agonizingly close with a 2-second drop. Bernard and I flew off at 7:15 a.m. for the NW FAI Challenge. I put up a pretty good flight of over 4 minutes, but Bernard had me covered doing over 5. I won the Tangent Classic with the only maxout. I hope we get more competitors next year to enjoy our field, wonderful camaraderie with the 5 Days in Tangent Willamette Modelers Club contest, and the beauty of the Willamette Valley.
Mike Richardson
Great write up, wish I could have been there to enjoy the activities. Just didn’t feel like making the 2 day drive.
Jerry Fitch
Hi Tiff, thanks for the play-by-play. Sorry I wasn’t there. Maybe the schedule will be more conducive next year.
Derek McGuckin
Thanks Tiffaney O’Dell and Blake Jensen for the fun contest! The change in thermal conditions during the 6th round on Sunday was amazing.
Derek McGuckin
A bit more on the Sunday contest for F1B. The first 5 rounds and half of round six had great warm air and nice thermal conditions. Bernard Guest, Dane Jensen and myself maxed easily for the most part. I had one squeaker. Then round 6 happened. Bernard flew first and boomed off in a huge thermal. His plane passed 300+ meters in 2 minutes or so. Dane launched shortly after and boomed off as well. Dane’s plane had a timer issue and didn’t DT until 11+ minutes and landed somewhere in the 13th minute. It was still on the field!
I flew next and it looked pretty good so I launched. The change had started. My plane was down in around 90 seconds. Kind of shocking after the great conditions up to that point. Was it a one off? Nope.
Bernard decided to fly the 3min Mulvihill flight and a had a nice climb to 90+ meters and was down in right over two minutes or so.
The 7th round started and Bernard flew first. He watched all the thermister details and picked what looked like good air. Once again he had a nice climb and the air bailed and he dropped. Dane was ready to fly and watched what happened to Bernard and decided to fly when Bernard’s plane was on the ground. The theory being that Bernard was early and the thermal was coming in. Conditions looked good so he launched and the thermal bailed again. Dane’s flight was two seconds shorter than Bernard’s. I wound and with Bernard’s assistance picked good air and boomed out for a max. The thermals were there, just much harder to pick than earlier in the day.
The challenge was that the overall conditions weren’t noticeably different between the easier early rounds and the end of round 6 and all of round 7. We were all tricked! Isn’t free flight fun!!!!!!
Bernard Guest
Derek McGuckin yeah that was crazy. It turned from easy to darned near impossible in about half an hour.
Tiffaney O’Dell
Derek McGuckin If it was easy we wouldn’t do it, right???
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