F3P Indoor

F3P Indoor Aerobatics by Sal Piu

Interestingly, I’ve started receiving inquires for additional F3P information. This exasperates the need to have a common web site with information for those interested to get started in indoor RC aerobatic competition. I am seeking to establish a common website for indooraerobatic related information such as F3P competition. I discussed this at the October NSRCA board meeting to consider adding an Indoor Radio Controlled Aerobatics section within the NSRCA web site. The primary reason is that there is no common site for F3P generic info. Second, with some constraints, this type of info does fall within the NSRCA mission statement in several respects. The next step is for me to assemble a detailed proposal on how to integrate this effort within the NSRCA site, so that is what I’ll be focusing on for the next few weeks. The F3P USA Team trials event, originally scheduled for October 10th, 2020, in Indiana, was cancelled. This event is currently tentatively scheduled for some time in May 2021 at the same location, the Sparta Dome in Indiana. This new tentative date still provides plenty of advance time to support the world F3P championship event now scheduled for late 2021.

I have not had an opportunity to fly indoors since the Covid-19 impacted access to my usual indoor flying sites. I suspect many indoor rc pilots have encountered similar issues. This is probably the reason why I currently do not know of any F3P contests scheduled for this winter season. If you have resumed access to your local indoor flying site, I’m curious to know if there was anything unusual encountered other than

the need to wear masks more frequently and keep social distanced while flying.

Here is an interesting video to a new link I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_ OMPL4ujsY. This video shows the flying pace needed to conduct the highest-class F3P sequence maneuvers, with a contraprop setup. It also shows how indoor obstacles can still be contacted even at this slow flying pace.