2024 F1D World Champs – Rounds 3 & 4

I want to preface tonights report with a little context. When you aren’t in the arena fighting the bull, sometimes the matador is so skilled and so graceful at his craft he makes it look easy. With F1D, you see the scores and these competitors put up some outrageous times. Watching this team, overcome the obstacles thrown at them each day, I am reminded, there is still a VERY angry bull that can kill you very quickly if you blink for even a second. Are they talented builders? absolutely! are they skilled at trimming? without a doubt! But their ability to stare the bull in the face, when a model gets destroyed or they have broken six motors in a row, that is what separates the strong from the DEAD!

Now on to the main event and your reason for coming here:

Junior update from Chuck Andraka

Today, the second day of competition, was filled with ups and downs. The mine is not an easy place, and the competition is stiff. Little things are amplified. Altitude is everything, and winding must be spot-on to get any of it!

Guha started the day in round 3. While the air appeared nice, he found consistent sink in one corner each lap, losing several feet each pass. Combined with a weak climb, he managed a 12:10 flight, only reaching 29 yards. Elijah Rose adjusted his winding in testing this morning, and saw 10-minute half-rubber flights, which was promising. After breaking a few motors, he got a decent wind, climbed to 41 yards, and turned in a 17:12. While a marked improvement over the first day, he also got caught by the sink and left too many winds on the motor at landing.

Daniel took all the observations (each Junior also caddies for another Junior on the team), and adjusted his launch plan to avoid the sink. He put on a magnificent wind with 1300 turns, climbed to 50 yards, survived a brief brush with the wall and 4 seconds of steering to punch a 25:15 flight! Awesome!

Elijah broke in some slightly longer loops of rubber at lunch, but did not get a strong wind, resulting in his third 14-minute flight. However, we reviewed the data and he understands what is causing the differences in his winding between half and full motors. Daniel continued to unleash his winding skills, putting up another 50-yard climb, no-steer flight to 24:15, solidly sitting atop the Junior bracket.

Guha showed what he was made of in the 4th round. He decided to take a big swing, and pulled out a different plane. Upon launch, it stalled and tail-slid. He managed to take hold of it at 55 seconds, earning a second attempt (If the flight is less than 1 minute, a second attempt may be made). He and I looked it over briefly on the floor, and we noted a twist in the fin, so with 45 minutes left, he decided to return to the pits to repair. He found some boron issues on the wing spar, and a few other minor issues, but we believe the fin was the real problem. Guha then got back on the floor with 19 minutes to launch, and calmly wound his motor. He launched with about 5 minutes to spare, and the plane climbed better than any of his prior flights, practice or official! Problem solved. He climbed to 34 yards, and turned in a 17:24. Since he did not have a lot of time on this plane, the rubber was not well matched, with over 200 winds remaining (out of a wind of about 1100). So he is well-situated to make a push with Elijah tomorrow.

So proud of these young men. Daniel for putting on a clinic, and Elijah and Guha for having the patience and perseverance to find the issues, work on solutions, and keep their optimism up for tomorrow. Only your best two flights count, so there is room for both move up quickly as they exploit their adjustments.

Senior Update

Steve Brown batted leadoff for the morning round. This is my first team with Steve and i absolutely love being around him. Obviously he is a great competitor with 3 World Championships under his belt. But Steve is absolutely CALM when he is flying and he has this sly sense of humor that I love. When i asked him if he was ready to go first this morning, he replied immediately with a simple “ready as I’ll ever be” and picked up his stuff and started making his way to processing. Steve put up a very nice 24:41 give him a new best flight of the competition. he also gave us a good showing that there was significantly less drift in the mine today. Because its Monday here, that mean less public tourist traffic in the mine and less bodies generating heat. Steve landed in essentially the same circle he launched in. Steve’s afternoon flight of 24:20 didn’t beat is second best, but is was a clean flight from bottom to top.

John Kagan took the second morning slot. Overnight night John did some surgery to his primary airplane he had some struggles with yesterday and put up and absolutely beautiful flight of 27:21 in the morning round. and new TOP time for John. His launch was back to “normal” for that airplane.. no stall.. just cranking through this ridiculously high launch angle and making its way steadily to the top. He followed in the afternoon round with a 26:54 which gave him a new second best flight score.

Emily went third in the morning round. Unfortunately she had a big stall off the launch and couldn’t get it down quickly enough to abort the flight as an attempt, but she was able to get it righted. but that stall burned off a lot of her climb so she only ever got a little mor than half way to the top. She finished with a 25:04 though.. so even without the altitude, her plane is flying really efficiently. She got the stall problem figured out before the afternoon round.. boy did she ever! Her afternoon flight climbed like normal.. and kept on climbing and climbing.. she brushed the ceiling, but more panic inducing, at least to me, was for four consecutive circles it flew OVER the catwalk and completely out of sight for a few seconds each time. Each time I was convinced it wasn’t going to come back through.. and each time it did! once it finally circled below the catwalk, my panic subsided and I knew it was going to be a great flight. She landed with a 27:47 and a new second best flight to go with her 28+ from Round 1.

Kang Lee batted cleanup for the morning round today. Kang was feeling pretty confident after running a test flight when we first got to the mine this morning so he wound for the ceiling. His model had a perfect climb pattern and he was well centered between the catwalks at the top. I think he actually over cooked it more the he intended, because for the first time in all the years he has flown in the salt mine he hit the ceiling. and when i say he hit it.. he HIT it.. He did three consecutive circle scrubbing the ceiling. But as luck would have it, it stay centered in the slot between the catwalks the whole time and he never had to steer the flight. He landed, like Steve, in essentially the same circle he launched in with a new high time for the contest of 29:41! I can’t yet confirm, but that may well be a new site record! Kang took a slightly more conservative wind in the afternoon round to see if he could up his second flight time. He was shooting for something in the high 27 range. again his flight was perfectly centered and required no steering and landed with a new second time of 28:06, putting him solidly in First place at the end of day two.

Brett Sanborn, our defending World Champion, put in a beautiful morning flight of 28:47, giving him a new top flight to work from. He went out late in the afternoon round to try and better that flight and after a string of broken motors just ran out of time before the round closed to get a flight off. Brett’s plane is flying very well and I am quite sure he is going to give everyone a run for their money tomorrow.

Today was a very good day all around for Team USA.. it was a good day for most of the teams! As we gathered for the busses to take us back to the hotel there were lots of people commenting that this seems to be one of the most competitive World Champs they can recall.. and it certainly feels like it. If the air in the mine is as good tomorrow as it was today.. the final two rounds are going to be a bloodbath at the top of the leaderboard. These guy seemingly make 28-29 minutes look easy.. but trust me.. that Bull hasn’t fallen asleep!

Buoyant Air,

David Lindley