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F5J International team selection 2018


Peter

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There will be a meeting in the next few weeks of the SFTC and one of the items on the agenda will be to set rules for team selection for the various 'F' classes during the 2018 season. For F5J this means selecting a team to represent the UK at the first World Championships in 2019. The method decided upon has to be approved by the BMFA council and published in the BMFA  rule book in January 2018

The usual method of team selection has been to use a series of league competitions. The present F5J league consists of a large number of regional competitions of widely differing sizes and the results of these competitions are added together to make 'national' result. Unfortunately this means that those at the top of the list rarely, if ever, fly against each other so would be meaningless as a means of selecting a team. However the system does have the advantage of attracting newcomers to the class.

Other F classes have used a more centralised league system for many years but this system has the drawback of involving a great deal of travelling and has inevitably lead to accusations of elitism and declining numbers.

A single team trial was used this year in order to select a team for the 2018 European Championships but this was a necessity because of the late announcement of this event taking place. Normally a single team trial has been ruled out as a means of team selection because consistency is important and a single trial has the risk of bad weather or throwing up a freak result.

Two trials or more are obviously better but how far can you go before it becomes a league?

Using results from Radioglide, Interglide and the Nationals is a possibility and F5J at RG and the Nats might become 2 day events but this has not been discussed and decided yet. In any event, the Nationals in 2018 coincides with the Euros so many of the best pilots will be missing.

Dates of 21/22 July and 15/16 Sept have been pencilled in for trials in 2018 at the NFC in order to make use of their few spare weekends.

Is this the best option? Any more ideas?

 

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Far as I,m aware all the competitors at the 2017 F5J team trials liked the format used . .

i.e. 2 separate competitions on one weekend .With % scores added together .? 

Buckminster was also agreed as a good venue for all ,though still along travel for Scots ..

The only change I would like to see at team trials is to use full Fai rules.

 

Regards the South /Eastern area and F5J lthis is growing nicely with new competitions and new competitors  and the last thing we need at the moment is to turn it into team qualifying  league  .

Graham

 

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Pleased to read, from Graham, that most of the entrants liked the '17 trials format and the venue, and I can't see any objection to the full FAI rules being used for these trials.
It would seem sensible to have the trials over 2 weekends, as Peter suggested, as you never know what the weather's going to be like in our lovely country.  It would be a kind of mini-league, but it is an important event after all.  I might even come along and watch.

And by-the-way, I know it wasn't an F5J event but two planes would have more than likely been lost at the last Bartlett's comp of the year (held at Bartlett's Farm) had not Pete M and Eamon K not been able fire up their motors to get home.

Peter Ley

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4 hours ago, Kikapu said:

And by-the-way, I know it wasn't an F5J event but two planes would have more than likely been lost at the last Bartlett's comp of the year (held at Bartlett's Farm) had not Pete M and Eamon K not been able fire up their motors to get home.

Absolutely.

The first time it has happened to me - I am only new at this -, but the restart saved my model.  Ruined my comp as I was at 9.10 but still saved the model :-)

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Agree with Wixy that this years format was absolutely fine and we only need a second weekend as reserve date, in case of bad weather.

This event should also be publised as a national F5J contest where everyone is welcome to participate and enjoy a weekends F5J flying at our national flying Center. The team selection process will be more robust as a result of a stronger and more diverse entry.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My preference would be to hold two weekend comps with each day being a separate comp. If two comps are held then the best 3 scores from the four to count. If the first weekend is cancelled due to bad weather it would drop back to it being a single weekend comp with both days to count. By introducing a drop score it will also help ensure that pilots continue to support the TS's knowing that a single bad day at the office or sheer bad luck at one comp doesn't necessarily rule them out. Full FAI rules should be used for TS comps as others have already said.

The 2 weekends format would ensure that the pilots have to show a high level of consistency to get into the team and should rule out the possibility of a freak result creeping in. Im not 100% convinced that holding all TS's at Buckminster is beneficial to the overall process of team selection but it does have the advantage that its not anyone's home field and is located in a reasonably central position.

A two weekend format IMO would ensure that there is a high probability that the best team is selected.

Colin

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  • 3 weeks later...

The method of F5J team selection for the 2019 W/C was discussed at the SFTC meeting last Saturday. The conclusion was that a majority favoured a single weekend trial in July at the BMFA HQ  Buckminster with a reserve date in case of bad weather etc in September. The full FAI rules will be used as will be used at the World Championships which currently means no motor re-starting permitted. The dates are  21/22nd July and 15/16th September.

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  • Committee Member

Should those of us who enjoy a competition but have no aspirations to make the team consider entering the trials, or leave them to the experts?

On 11/16/2017 at 22:30, Steve Haley said:

This event should also be publised as a national F5J contest where everyone is welcome to participate and enjoy a weekends F5J flying at our national flying Center. The team selection process will be more robust as a result of a stronger and more diverse entry.

On 11/16/2017 at 16:39, Kikapu said:

I might even come along and watch.

Steve is generously inclusive but maybe we amateurs should take our lead from Peter (Kikapu) on this one?

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Nick you and all interested in F5J should Enter if possible .

Come for the experience ,the greater the numbers the better the competition.

Motor restart should also be allowed if it encourages more participants.

ps there Is only one expert J.Wurts  the rest off us are mere competitors.

G

 

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  • 1 month later...
Richard Swindells

No idea who is on the sftc. I was even up for election this year, but to date have not been notified of the results.

I was not asked for my option at the team selects. Who were the people canvassed there?. I'm not convinced asking one or two pilots who you know will agree with you and quoting it as fact is representative.

Personally I think it's more important to have the options of those not attending ts as to what would make it more attractive. The handful of pilots at the team selects would be likely to attend whatever the format.

I've experienced the f3k world champs since 2011. It's a simple fact that the nation's that rely on one or two team selects to choose their team under perform. Several times their very best pilots have not even attended due to a single event of bad luck in the qualifiers.

Personally I like team selects for f5j. I can try my luck and fluke a place on the team without having to commit any additional time and effort to the class...but that's not the way it should be. (I think we are lucky that last year's ts did give us the best team, it will not always work out like that)

I don't believe JW is unbeatable either 😀(4/8)

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