WEATHERMAN – A completely new approach to tied-flight speed

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of many model aircraft competitions. As a result, resourceful Scandinavian tethered-flight enthusiasts have been looking for ways to continue enjoying their hobby. They came up with a trendy idea: WEATHERMAN. The concept is simple: Once a month—on a specific weekend—pilots fly as fast as possible at their local airfield and send their results to the organizer of the decentralized competition. The results are then posted on the competition forum.

Anyone can participate: young and old, men and women. The only requirement is to have a Weatherman model that complies with the current rules. Nine such competitions have already taken place this year, and each time more pilots have participated—from all sorts of countries. That’s because the approach is modern, popular, and fun.

Weatherman models are very simple designs! A model built from a standard plan or a kit—whichever works best for you. Depending on the chosen power source, you can compete in different classes. In the electric category, the E-0, E-3, and E-4 classes are currently available for purchase. These models fly at speeds between 100 and 160 km/h and are accessible to everyone.

But that’s not all. An E-4 model also serves as an ideal entry-level model into the professional Electric Speed F2G category. In this FAI category—which is still provisional—Swiss tethered-flight pilots Daniel Rota and Guy Ducas are world leaders. Daniel Rota set a new, highly acclaimed world record of 309.2 km/h just this past September!

Tethered flight with the Electric Speed F2G was featured in detail in the 6/2020 issue. Here are some technical specifications as a reminder:

• Maximum area: 6 dm²
• Maximum weight: 600 g
• Model suspended from 2 thin lines, each 17.69 m long and 40/100 mm in diameter
• Maximum 42-volt battery
• Flight of 9 laps (1 km) with a flying star

Winter is coming. You still have a few balsa wood strips and some glue left over, so head to your workshop, and we’ll see you in 2022 at the tethered flight field or online—but definitely at the next Swiss Tethered Flight Speed Championship—even if it’s just as a spectator.

• Contacts: Guy Ducas guyducas@me.com and Daniel Rota rotad@bluewin.ch
• Google search for “Weatherman control line”
• Link to the forum: https://www.slis.org/forum
• FAKO F2: https://fesselflug.ch
• Kit example: Classe 1.3 cc Weatherman: http://belairkits.com/detail.asp?id=1176

Daniel Rota and Daniel Janan, November 2021