District I
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
It’s not often that I only have to drive 35 minutes from my house to attend an AMA event, especially an F5J competition that I have never seen in person. I arrived unannounced and received a warm welcome from the club president and contest director (CD), Maarten Broess, and the contestants who took the time to explain to me the details of F5J competition and their aircraft.
During the two days that I attended, it became evident that you really need to experience F5J in person to understand the passion, flying skills, and the low-altitude-duration risk decisions pilots must make to earn points. Co-CD David Beach provided the following event report.
The Rhode Island Soaring Club hosted the Red Rooster F5J contest on May 22 and 23, 2021. The club maintains a great relationship with several sod farms, providing some of the best Soaring sites in New England.
The concept of F5J competition is simple. The aircraft are self-launched, folding-propeller sailplanes with a maximum 4-meter wingspan. Each model is equipped with an electronic device that limits the motor run to 30 seconds and records the launch altitude.
You earn points by maximizing your flight time within a 10-minute window and finishing with a spot landing. You lose points based on launch height, so each pilot must decide on where to go to find lift, as well as how high to launch in order to maximize their scores.
In addition to being an AMA sanctioned event, this contest is included in the calendar for the Eastern Soaring League (www.flyesl.org) and F5J USA Tour (www.f5j-usa.com), which helps to draw pilots from across the nation.
This year’s competitors came from New York to Maine, as well as Arizona! The contest included 17 pilots from seven states, all vying for bragging rights and the coveted Red Rooster prize mugs.
The sky stayed sunny and dry all weekend. Saturday started with light wind and just enough lift to keep things interesting. On Sunday, the conditions were much more challenging, with significant wind even for the first group of the day.
After 14 rounds of hard-fought competition, the results were tallied. The top three points earners are pictured above.
Thank you, Dave, Maarten, and all of the contestants for expressing appreciation of AMA for protecting the sport of aeromodeling so that we can continue to enjoy events such as this.
The Rhode Island Soaring Club sponsored the Eastern Soaring League USA F5J Tour event in West Kingston RI.
