My Alarm clock started beeping at 3.00am Friday the 23^rd October 2009 and I remember thinking I hate whoever it was that talked me into going to this German F5D event!

I had moved on to hating the World by the time Mark turned up at 3.30 am, but by 6.30am when we picked up Olli and Paul at Dover and I had moved towards thinking we all must be barking mad?

It wasn’t till after we were on the ferry and tucking into the biggest fry up I have seen in years along with a Costa coffee that I remembered there is nothing like going away with a load of like minded chaps to an FAI Comp, and that is why we do theses crazy things. Unfortunately it was around that time when things started to brighten up that I discovered that teenage boys (Ollie) have the smelliest feet ever and no control over their body gas which meant that Mark’s vans aircon and electric windows got a lot of use across France, through Belgium and into Germany whilst the rest of us gasped for air. (note to self if we do it again put Ollie in a box on roof rack).

On arriving at the postcode of the German model air club we looked around surrounded by houses in the middle of a town and we started to think something was wrong. After a quick call to Darron who was luckily still in the UK infront of a computer we got co-ordinates of the airfield put them in the GPS which gave us a new heading 16 miles away so off we headed again. ½ hour later we were at the top of a lovely hill which would have made a nice flying site but we were still alone and no sign of a model flying club so again we kind of realised things were not right. 3^rd time lucky we tried the coordinates again and used full stops instead of commas and that seemed to be taking us back to where we started arrrr. Cut a long story short, the directions seemed to be to the Club Chairman’s house which was not that helpful however on travelling back to the original point as luck would have it I saw what could have been a model circling over a field, after the; is it a bird/ is it a plane, discussion we got so desperate we headed towards it anyway and bingo, it was the right place. What was more annoying/funny was that once we found the place we realised we had been driving past loads of bright yellow signs for the last hour all saying International Model Flying Club but we thought as they said International with a picture of a plane on them they were directions to the main airport not far away!!!!!! (2^nd note to self learn German)

The Model flying club is typical of all flying clubs anywhere but in the UK which is a lovely building with safety fences, a place for the kids to play, barby area, kitchen and most importantly a bar! As soon as we arrived we were greeted by all the English speaking Germans and offered drinks and told how to log in for a practice fly. As I was all sorted I took advantage of the first offer and tried the local brew whilst Ollie and Paul got their gear together to have a practice. All went smoothly and after the flying we all then had a drink with the locals and finally retired to the Holiday inn 4 miles up the road and enjoyed the Chinese "eat all you can see" for 12 euros next door. Yum!

The next day we had been joined by Darron who flew in at 1030pm the previous evening and we all headed off to the pilots briefing at 9.00am. They ran through the safety and immediately I started having recollections of my last event in Germany when the safety line was very close to Pylon 2, this time it was pylon 3 and very little room for error if you go wide more than twice you get a 200 and would become quite a problem for us later in the weekend.

The weather was cold with a good breeze coming straight down the course and rain in the air so I thought it would probably be a mid 60’s day especially as the models were being launched straight into the course rather than the flying starts normally used on the continent. We also though that as it was very British weather and normal launches we should feel right at home and actually be in with a chance of a top 5! A thought that did not last long…..

Flying started at 10.00 am sharp with 5 min gaps between heats so it was obvious we needed to be sorted and in the ready box 1 heat before we flew so Mark’s took that task and all went smoothly. The second heat of the day contained some names I recognised being Rene Dzida and Dirk Belting from Germany and Marcel Schlage from Switzerland and I watched as Rene put in a 58.5 which is the first sub 60 clean run I have ever seen, a 62 from Dirk and a 61 from Marcel plus 1 cut so I guessed it was going to be a fast day. First up for us was Darron who struggled with the Safety line and got 3 warnings and thus a 200. Straight after him was me and I decided to just go for it and stuck in a solid 63.6 which raised a few eyebrows and surprised me at the same time. Ollie put in a 70 with 1 cut and Paul found the Low small pylons difficult to line up on and cut across the top of 2 & 3 around 6 times much to the amusement of the CD who gave Paul quite a ribbing about a new record for cuts. From then on all I can remember was a blur of problems for us all in one way or another, I started having odd motor run times which eventually we realised was the motor mount coming loose causing the spinner to rub resulting in me gliding the finish of the Race. Darron’s fight with the Number 3 pylon or the Safety line dogged him terribly and Ollie deciding he did not want to have Paul being called the Cut King set about trying to cut every pylon in 1 heat and virtually managing it! Paul’s day was a fight to get a model he had first flown the day before sorted and finally started to go sub 70 buy the 6^th round and ended Saturday with a 67 but with too many 200’s from earlier knew he was now not in with a shout of a top 10 finish.

After 7 rounds we all realised that a top 3 was out of the question so that meant we could enjoy the local hospitality Saturday night and not have to worry about headaches in the morning. The organisers had arranged a get together at a local restaurant and very kindly invited us so we joined them and on turning up there must have been 40-50 people, resulting in a very enjoyable evening trying the local brew and schnaps and having some very lively banter which gets very confusing when most only speak a little English and we don’t speak any German at all.

9.00am we were back on the field for the last 3 flights. The wind had dropped and the sun was low over pylon 1 and it was very damp from all the rain the night before but still the top guys were banging in the 59’s and 60’s so it’s obvious they don’t care about the weather they are all just darn fast.

We all had good airspeed but kept falling foul of either cutting Pylon 3 or going too wide and crossing the safety line as it was such a narrow corridor and it make you realise why these guys are so good. We fly in an airfield 2 miles square and our safety line is so far away if you cross it one would need to ask if you should be allowed to fly. Their line is so tight it forces newcomers into a good discipline which might explain why the top 9 pilots all had a sub 70 average times.

On the up side everyone managed a sub 70 time and only Pauls model was damaged after a launching accident which unfortunately meant he could not fly again and gave Ollie the opportunity of getting ahead of his master which he took and is still probably grinning about.

The flying stopped at 12.30 and the old barby was lit again whilst the scores were collated. A local club member then put a number of very impressive models together and put on a little show to keep us amused during the break. This ranged from a very large scale Sopwith Camel to a modern fast jet, they even had a couple of F5D Foamy models flying so perhaps we could challenge them to a F5D Foamy international meeting

The prize giving started at 13.30 and to add a little flavour they played the national anthem over the intercom when we all went up to get our certificates. I guess we made a lot of friends that weekend as I am sure we all got as big a cheer from everyone as the winners did which was nice. We then quickly had to rush off as we had a 1830 ferry to catch.

How did the Spying go?

Well I think they were expecting a bit of espionage as every time I went near Marcel, Dirk, or Rene’s model one of the German team would start barking like a dog which was strange but clearly also an alarm system they had set up.

However I did try just asking and Marcel was happy to talk and he confirmed a few things and others I saw.

1. Everyone uses the D05 and no-one had the D05 Flapped version.
2. Props used went from 4.7 cam to 5.5 cam although I did see a couple of APC’s 4.7 as well.
3. Marcel is flying a Neu motor and at the last event used a 4.7 prop and is trying a bigger 5.5 at the moment on a different Neu.
4. Most seem to be using Kokam cells and still use Heaters to get a constant temp in the pack before the flight.
5. Everyone without exception used the SM limiter and most had not even heard of a Neu limiter which caused us trouble in model processing.

Thoughts after the event.

It was a long drive home however Darron and Ollie bonded well and Darron gave Ollie an A to Z of F5D technical stuff which kept Ollie quiet so we were all happy. It also gave me the opportunity of arguing a lot which always make the time fly by. This helped Paul go to sleep muttering something about never wanting to touch another poofy electric plane as long as he lives, and Mark just drove in silence gritting his teeth!

What became clear to me and Darron, was that we do not always agree, one subject of disagreement is to me it seems it does not matter what prop you use, and to some degree what model you use what really matters is you need to fly fast, fly low and turn left! That’s what all the top guys did and repeated it lap after lap on the same track. To get even cornier than the previous statement to do a sub 60 all you need is one of these, no not the bubbly, its Marcels right thumb.

Yes we are going again next year hopefully to all the German events as it was a great weekend so if you fancy the trip get your name down early as there are only 3 seats in the van.

Top 10 Results

1. Reme Dzida, Germany
2. Marcel Kremer, Germany
3. Dirk Belting, Germany
4. Marcel Schlage, Switzerland
5. David Dzida, Germany
6. Christian Robler, Germany
7. Christian Hanke, Switzerland
8. Rob Ashley-Roche, GB
9. Markus Wanner, Germany
10. Jorg Heuser, Germany

Full List.

Link to a Gallery by the Koelle Team

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