Malcolm Siebert on the F5J Extreme comp at WHRF

F5J Extreme at WHRF

The inaugural (for us at least) F5J Extreme competition took place at the WHRF Electric Fly In on Sunday with just a few intrepid airmen taking to the skies.

Run in a relaxed and unhurried atmosphere with conditions giving us a mixed bag of small bubbles to super lift mixed with a little sink, plus variable winds, made for some interesting flying at times.
Although only four of us flew the competition, the range of models could not have been wider. Dion was there with his Eish, Gert with his Speed 400 model, Adriaan with his pocket rocket ­ vertical climb to spec in around 5 seconds - and Malcolm with a home brewed R/E floater.

Unfortunately, Gert's gearbox/motor decided that it was not prepared to allow him to fly the final round and expired with little fanfare 30 seconds into his final flight. One of the penalties of a really fast plane is that the landings are sometimes equally fast and Adriaans plane suffered a bit of damage after his second round.
The fly off for first place was then between Dion and Malcolm with Dion taking the honours by 17 points and Adriaan taking third.

I believe a few valuable lessons were learnt this weekend. Firstly, this is a fun competition with zero stress attached. Secondly, you do not need to have the very latest in airframe/motor technology to be reasonably competitive, a basic RES ship will suffice. Thirdly, I believe that even a moderate pilot could participate, and make a good showing.

To those that participated, it was great having you. To those that had car trouble, commiserations and we look forward to having you at a future date. To those that were thinking of participating but were a little nervous, F5J has about as much stress as a normal Sunday afternoon's flying.

Till the next event