Swiss F4C Championship in Lodrino

Under excellent weather conditions, the Swiss F4C Championships were held in Lodrino on September 24 and 25, 2011. These championships were organized by the Gruppo Aeromodellisti Molinazzo Bellinzona (GAMB). The organization left nothing to be desired, and the events were very well attended. A particular highlight of these championships was undoubtedly the strong international field, with Stephan Völker (3rd at the World Championships in Dayton) and Gianluca de Marchia (2nd at the World Championships in Dayton) providing especially tough competition.

For the first time at a Swiss F4C Championship in the helicopter class, a semi-scale championship was held. This new class was included in the competition at the suggestion of Andre Meylan to offer young pilots an affordable way to enter the competitive class. In this class, the build evaluation—for which a simple three-view drawing of the original model is sufficient—accounts for only 20 percent of the total score, while the flight evaluation accounts for 80 percent. The challenging flight program

This class corresponds to the standard F4H class, so the focus is clearly on model flying performance. In this class, young pilots can get started in a very attractive competition with relatively little effort, without having to invest an exorbitant amount of time and effort in building their models. The time required for construction and documentation to participate in the Scale class is often cited as a barrier to participation. Although the first championship in the Semi-Scale class did not yet attract the hoped-for “rush” of participants, the reactions from pilots and the audience give reason to hope that this will change next year. The class certainly offers appeal and a high level of flying skill, and we hope that a correspondingly high turnout will reward the organizers’ efforts.

Perhaps now is also the time to consider introducing an F4C Semi-Scale class. Given the amount of effort some nations put into building their models at this year’s World Championship in Dayton, it could be that in the future

It will become difficult to motivate young pilots to put in the effort required for construction and attention to detail. Semi-scale could certainly have a positive impact on entry into the “Formula 1” competition class. The number of participants in the F6A and F6B promotional classes, and

as well as the number of spectators, should give us pause for thought. We would like to take this opportunity to once again extend our heartfelt thanks to the Gruppo Aeromodellisti Molinazzo Bellinzona for organizing and hosting this year’s F4C Championship.

rb/smv