F3M in France!

[pcastine]

I work for a French company, and my job requires me to travel to Paris 4-5 times per year (yeah, yeah, I know – my life is tough. It’s not as glorious as it sounds, trust me!) I’ve always been interested in meeting new modelers and seeing what they do, so I got on the internet to see what kind of giant-scale competition there was in France. I’ve been flying IMAC now for almost 10 years, so I figured I’d start with like minded folks.

I found Grossvoltige.com; it’s a website catering to the “straight-line junkies” in France. It’s not IMAC; it’s F3M competition – pattern aerobatics with giant-scale airplanes. A little bit like IMAC, but with some significant differences. I found a contest on a weekend when I would be in France; so I made my reservations to go.

F3M uses a 150 degree aerobatic box with center- and end-figures, similar to what IMAC did prior to 2004. Aerobatic figures are flown at each end and centered in the middle. Some of the figures flown are FAI catalog figures; others were entirely new to me. For example, the loop with quarter rolls at 9-and 3o’clock. A half-loop with a full-roll integrated all the way through it. Two hammerheads, connected at the bottom by a half-loop. Quite different to watch, if you’re used to only IMAC figures!

There are three competition classes: Espoir (literally, “hope” in English) which is the starter class, National, and International. Espoir looks to me to be certainly tougher than the IMAC Basic class; four-point rolls and figures with some negative elements are present in the known sequence. The National class is hard to equate to an IMAC class; it has some very simple figures (hammerhead with one roll on vertical upline) but also has some figures which are not present in IMAC except in the Unlimited class (four-roll rolling circle with rolls to the outside). An Intermediate (or even Advanced) IMAC pilot would have trouble with some National known sequence figures. One would think that the International class (the top dogs in F3M) would be similar to the IMAC Unlimited class. While there are some similarities (in-out-in 3 roll rolling circle, for example) some of the International figures seem to be quite easy – a half-cuban with a two-point roll on the 45 degree downline, for instance.

In my opinion, F3M figures tend to focus on geometry, while (in my humble opinion) IMAC focuses a lot on rolling elements. For example, the National F3M sequence has only one positive snap roll in the entire sequence. The IMAC Advanced Sequence has 7; the Intermediate has 3. While a lot of the upper-class IMAC figures have multiple rolling elements inside a single figure, F3M doesn’t have so many. But F3M employs some complicated figures; for example, a half-loop (Immelman) with a full loop integrated on top of it. The known sequences are posted on grossvoltige.com (look for “Connus 2009-2010”).

F3M pilots fly two known sequences (“connu”), two unknown (“inconnu”) and two free programs. One sequence is flown as a single flight (as opposed to IMAC’s two sequences per flight); a pilot normally makes three flights on Saturday and three flights on Sunday. The best score of each type of sequence is kept to determine the final score. Espoir pilots do not fly the free (while not required for the Espoir class, they can participate if they want). The free program represents 10% of National pilot final scores and 20% of International pilot scores. Pilots are also scored on landings – the goal is to land on the center line of the runway and roll for at least 10 meters. Pilots are given either a 0 or 10 (added to raw score) for landing.

It’s also interesting to note that every pilot shuts down his engine on landing; either on final approach or shortly after touching down. Turning your plane back toward the judges with the motor running automatically earns you a zero for the round. Great safety idea!

Speaking of judges, there are no competitor judges in F3M. The judging panel consists of three independent judges who sit in the chair for the entire weekend and judge every competitor’s flight.

I found a contest located in the Brittany region of France on the weekend I would arrive. The Naoned Breizh Cup 8 was held on June 19th & 20th at the Aero Model Club de l'Ouest near Nantes, France. Contest Director Philippe Pally was very kind to welcome me to the event (forget about that stereotype that the French are rude – it doesn’t apply to the modelers in France!) My French language skills are poor, but there were several guys there that spoke pretty good English.

I arrived on Friday afternoon to see several pilots practicing for the contest. After a little sequence practice, the guys started throwing it down with the planes – these guys can huck with the best of them! It was pretty windy (we were only 30km from the ocean), but no one seemed to notice. Torque rolls and harrier rolling look the same in France as it does in the USA! Flying continued until 7 pm, when the field was shut down so as not to disturb the neighbors.

Saturday morning dawned cold and overcast, with periods of brief rain. But the flying began promptly at 9o’clock; 21 pilots were lined up ready to go. The Espoir class was first up to fly their connu sequence. There were some brief breaks in the flying when the rain picked up. After Espoir, National then International flew their connu. About mid-morning, the inconnu was handed out to all classes.

At lunch time, all flying stopped. The club had set up two large tents with a feast laid out inside. Not your typical American burgers and dogs: different salads, meats, cheeses, bread, pastries, and of course – wine! (But none for the pilots, sorry!) Everyone ate, laughed, and discussed the morning’s flights for over an hour. Then everyone picked up and went back to the flight line. Quite different than scarfing down a dog and a coke between flights at an IMAC contest!

As the day wore on, the clouds parted but the wind picked up. No one seemed to mind as the flights continued on. There is only one flight line run – only one plane at a time. A lot of the guys were incredulous when I told them that in IMAC we normally run two planes at a time; even three in some large contests!

After lunch, pilots not flying were furiously studying their inconnu. Stick planes, writing notes on the sequence, hashing it out with your caller – I could have been watching any typical IMAC contest at this point. It was great to see the camaraderie present here, just like you’d find at an IMAC contest – if someone had a problem with their motor or needed some advice for flying the sequence, guys jumped in to help.

The inconnu flights continued throughout the afternoon. Due to the rain delays, the pilots wouldn’t be flying the free program today. The flights finished about 6:30; some guys got in a little last-minute hucking before the 7pm curfew, then a big pilot dinner finished off the evening.

On Sunday, the rain departed but the wind was really blowing. In the morning was connu and then inconnu flights for all classes. Break for a full lunch under the tent, and then the free program began. Here’s where pilots put together their own personal routine to music and get it on!

After the last inconnu flight, pilots were busy prepping their planes for the free program. Filling smoke tank fluids, moving equipment around to slide the CG aft, changing out their 3 blade props for 2 bladed ones. Some pilots even loaded streamers, wingtip smoke, and chaff. Guys explained to me that the free program could be a mix of 3D and aerobatic figures, but most importantly it must be flown to the music – matching the style, flow and rhythm. Aerobatic French art!

After the free flights, the final scores were tallied to determine the winners in each category. All places were announced, and first through third were presented with trophies and stepped up on the podium for photos. Afterwards, Philippe thanked those who helped work the contest, thanked each judge with a bottle of wine, and even thanked me for attending.

I had a great time at the contest. Even though the rules are a bit different than IMAC, it was easy to see the love for the planes and the sport is just the same. I even made some new French friends to share some ideas with. Now I just gotta figure out how much it’d cost for me to ship my plane to France for next year….

Some other interesting tidbits (no judgments here, just observations)

• In France they all fly mode 1: throttle and aileron on right stick, rudder & elevator on the left
• There were five 150cc-class planes (out of 21); three 100cc planes, the remainder 50cc or less (one glow-powered plane, if I remember correctly)
• There were fifteen DA engines, two DLE’s, one ZDZ, one 3W, and one OS engine.
• There was one Spektrum transmitter; the rest were Futaba. Everyone except 2 or 3 were on 2.4gHz. (Guys told me that only heli pilots in France use JR, but no one knew why this was so.)
• It seemed to me (I didn’t keep count) that there were more JR servos than any other brand in the planes, followed by Hitec, then Futaba.
• It was about evenly split between wood planes and composite planes.

[pcastine]

Photos from the event:

[jmoesdad]

Does this mean you'll be wearing a barrett and ascot during your unknowns from now on?

[pcastine]

More photos:

[pcastine]

More photos:

[pcastine]

First row photos: First is Espoir class, then National, then International. Second row photos: Free program participants, congratulating a winner, thanking the judges. Third row: judges with their "pay"; me and the CD

[1bwana1]

Very nice report, thanks for sharing.

[dmichael]

Awesome, Pete, thanks for sharing. Looks cold there.

[Jim Woodward]

thanks Pete.
Jim

[pcastine]

Another interesting thing to note was how quiet everyone's planes were! EVERYONE had a cannister muffler, and most used three blade props. The field was closed down every day at 7 pm so as not to bother neighbors there with the noise.

There was ground sound checks on each day. Two meters were used, and the sound was checked at four different points relative to the plane.

And some planes were SUPER quiet - after close inspection I figured out why. Some of the guys line their cowls with noise absorbing foam. Seemed to be a really effective approach!

Pete

[jraycut]

very cool Pete! Thanks for taking time to write up a report for us!

(nice shirt by the way.....hmmmm maybe an authentic CCA 'SewBusy' shirt???)

[McFueler]

It was nice to hear from an IMAC guy that got to go to a F3M contest and see what it was all about in person. Sounds like you had a good time ! Thanks for taking the time to put this up for us to read.

[meflyrc]

Hey Pete, Did you see any floppy hammers???

[mexico]

	Quote: Originally Posted by pcastine
	Another interesting thing to note was how quiet everyone's planes were! EVERYONE had a cannister muffler, and most used three blade props. The field was closed down every day at 7 pm so as not to bother neighbors there with the noise. There was ground sound checks on each day. Two meters were used, and the sound was checked at four different points relative to the plane. And some planes were SUPER quiet - after close inspection I figured out why. Some of the guys line their cowls with noise absorbing foam. Seemed to be a really effective approach! Pete

Any idea what the foam was? It would have to be able to withstand some heat without melting.

[tony-amps]

Pete,

Thanks for the great report. Seems we all have allot more in common then most of us think.
Love for the sport of aerobatics and aviation. Camaraderie is some thing I think we all share because of the sacrifices we make to be able to compete and maintain our airplanes . Not an easy thing as you well know. Again thank you for taking the time to give us such a cool report

Tony Fandino