11th Free Flight Seminar in Aarau

Conference chair Christian Gugger was pleased to welcome a rather impressive number of participants. However, it was hard to miss that the average age of the participants and retirement age were quite close to one another.

In a brief overview, Christoph Bachmann, president of the F1 Free Flight Technical Commission, provided an update on the commission’s work and the Swiss Model Flying Association (SMV) in general. This included a number of important points:

• Of particular note: the significant financial support for model aviation provided by the Pro Aero Foundation and Swiss Olympic.
• New as of 2009: Foreign nationals may be eligible to compete in Switzerland after just two years of residence.
• A well-deserved retirement: After many years of service on the F1 Technical Commission, Kurt Bleuer stepped down at the end of 2008.

In an interesting historical overview, Maurice Bodmer traced the development of flying-wing aircraft. His in-depth knowledge of the subject spans from the early 1940s to the present day. As is well known, birds are excellent fliers—and flying wings. Based on this, Maurice believes there is still great potential in the development of flying-wing aircraft.

Dieter Siebenmann, an indoor model aircraft pilot with many years of experience, will offer an “Indoor Flying” course if there is sufficient interest. Over the course of two Saturdays, participants will have the opportunity to build a competition-ready model.

Dieter Siebenmann—as a member of Bertrand Piccard’s “Solar Impulse” project—is an expert in the processing of so-called prepregs. Prepregs are industrially prefabricated, resin-impregnated carbon fabrics that can be stored for up to one year when properly refrigerated. Using various practical examples, he demonstrated their specific applications in model making.

The steering magnets in F1E models inevitably lose their magnetic strength over time. To recharge these magnets, Charles Stierlin (MG Dintikon) has been operating a sophisticated charging device for many years. Magnetic model aircraft enthusiasts can have their magnets brought back up to speed by Charles Stierlin at any time.

Andreas Tschanz—a top pilot with the Magnetflieger—gave a highly interesting presentation using practical and theoretical examples to illustrate what matters most in the design of F1E models.

At the end, participants were able to examine detailed features of free-flight models in various categories and take home some practical tips. Many thanks to the speakers for providing the participants with an informative afternoon—Heiner Borer