1981 F1E European Cup in Italy

More than 30 participants from Germany, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland gathered on the Cansiglio Plateau in the Italian province of Treviso over the weekend of September 26–27, 1981. Under the direction of Rolando Amato, the Aeromodellisti della Marca Trivigiana organized an F1E European Cup. To cut to the chase: the organization ran flawlessly; only the weather didn’t cooperate as one would hope for such events.

Eight model airplane pilots had traveled from Switzerland, including all three members of the national team, who were eager to make up for their less-than-stellar performance at this year’s European Championship.

With increasing cloud cover but still good flying conditions, the competition began on Saturday afternoon. Three rounds were on the schedule, after which eleven competitors—six of them Swiss—remained in the running without having lost any time. A tiebreaker was therefore generally expected, but first, things turned out differently, and second, not at all as expected. No sooner had we arrived at the launch site on Sunday morning than the heavens opened, and it poured down in buckets, accompanied by lightning, thunder, and hail. After some delay, the competition resumed. Only a few managed to achieve the maximum flight time; after this fourth round, it was also clear that there would be no tiebreaker. Finally, after yet another delay, the jury shortened the fifth round from one and a half hours to one hour, contrary to the round times specified in the competition announcement. Until shortly before the end of the round, it was pouring again; as a result, the controls on many models failed, so that many had to settle for a flight time of around 30 seconds. The rain gradually let up, which—albeit

largely unintentionally—benefited the Swiss, who had returned to the launch site late. During this “brief lull,” François Tapernoux achieved his best time and thereby secured the overall victory in this competition. The team victory went to our national team, which delivered a consistent performance. Overall, the Swiss results were impressive: no fewer than six Swiss model aviators ranked among the top ten in the individual standings. From a Swiss perspective, this enjoyable and successful European Cup concluded with a reception followed by the awards ceremony.

Heinz Jeger

François Tapernoux is one of the most successful Swiss magnetic glider pilots today.