Saturday with sunglasses—Sunday with an umbrella

In addition to familiar demonstrations, new disciplines were also showcased. For example, the smartly dressed Andy suddenly jumped out of an Acro Super Decathlon that was weaving rather wildly through the sky. This jump was not due to nausea; shortly after exiting the glider, Andy opened his elegant black-and-orange parachute and steered it purposefully toward the landing zone. There, he touched down right at the feet of the parachutist, who was steering with precision. HLGs (Hand Launch Gliders) require well-trained physical coordination from the F3K pilots taking off. They accelerated their lightweight yet robustly built models by spinning them like in discus throwing and hurled them steeply into the air. The next challenge was to locate the tiniest thermal bubbles. These also exist near the ground.

Towing can also be done in a “multipack”—and very quietly at that. Using the electrically powered Racal, Andy Wäspi managed to launch up to nine glider models into the sky at the same time. Each glider pilot was responsible for unhooking his own model. And this worked exceptionally well, despite the rather complex rope configuration. As a result, a large number of gliders could be towed to the required starting altitude simultaneously and without noise.

The Albatros L-39 seems to be popular among many model builders. In Hausen, a large model with a 2.7-meter wingspan and a weight of 24.8 kg was on display.

Edgar Bruhin’s Warthog A-10, with a wingspan of 3 m and a weight of 23 kg, also fell into this class. Both turbine jets were impossible to miss in flight—both in terms of their sound and their size.

On Sunday, thanks to the forecast, it was easy to find spots right behind the barriers with a prime view of the airfield. Equipped with rubber boots and umbrellas, the spectators weren’t deterred even by the prolonged rain shower that passed over the airfield around noon. At that time, the festival tent was serving a wonderfully fragrant risotto, which was in high demand thanks to its warming effect. Around 2:00 p.m., the rain stopped and flight operations could resume. Visitors were now rewarded for their patience with a flight program carefully adapted to the low-hanging clouds.

While last year’s “Fox Hunt” pilots put on what was essentially a carefully choreographed aerial ballet, this time they set out on the hunt with far more aggression. The goal, however, is actually to precisely shave off the “fox tail” from the opponents’ aircraft while allowing the respective model to continue flying unhindered. In three-dimensional space, this is a very demanding challenge, and in the heat of the moment, there were occasional unintended collisions between the models. And it was precisely these unpredictable situations—amid the tangle of aircraft chasing one another in the sky—that created the thrilling suspense for the spectators.

Many of these aircraft had already had long careers. Instead of rotting away in a dark storage room, they now ended their days with honor on the fox hunt. To make saying goodbye a little easier, some of their internal components—such as the motor, servos, and receiver—will likely be reborn soon in a new model. More photos can be found online at www.tellesys.ch.

Hermann Mettler