Philip Avonds is the 2011 Jet World Master in the 13.5 kg Class!

21 years after his last F4C Scale World Championship title (1990 in Warsaw, Poland), Philip Avonds succeeded in winning the 13.5 kg Class of the Jet World Masters 2011. The event was held at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, according to the IJMC rules. All final results here...

The event set new standards and we wish to express our most profound gratitude to the organising team!

The Belgian Team consisted of only 2 pilots: Philip Avonds (who also acted as the Team Manager) and Jean Pierre Zardini. They would have done well in the Team Trophy with the help of a third pilot, so Belgian pilots wishing to compete in the future are welcome (contact Philip). Here's a link to a video showing an interview with the Belgian Team.

Three Avonds models were entered, all three in the 13.5 kg Class. Jason Bauer (USA) entered a very nice F-15C (built from the full composite kit) in Aggressors colour scheme and was awarded with the highest static score within Team USA. He finished 8th overall. We thank Jason for maintaining the tradition of at least one Avonds F-15 competing in all of the Jet World Masters so far! Derk van der Vecht (The Netherlands) entered an F-16A expertly built by Gerald Rutten and finished 6th overall. Derk is a very talented young man, we'll hear more from him in the future!

Philip Avonds entered his new Fouga Magister for the very first time in a competition. Philip especially hoped for a high static score. He was not really concerned about the accuracy of the model, having spent over ten years on the model to get that right, but he had more concerns about his flying skills and currency since he hadn't flown in any competition since the Jet World Masters 2007 in Northern Ireland. The model did indeed very well in static and it was awarded with the second highest score (only the inevitable Yak-130 masterpiece of Vitaly Robertus in the 20 kg Class received higher marks). The Fouga is a remarkably accurate model and the high static score deservedly reflects this (although a few people could not resist to question this high static score...). Philip made two practice flights shortly after arrival in Dayton and was assured everything worked well. All three flying rounds were flown without any technical problem whatsoever and the Graupner G-Booster 80+ turbine performed flawlessly. The three flying rounds were flown in a decent manner although a poorly flown four point roll in the first and the second flight left the feeling he could have done better (went so well in all the practice flights... stage fright perhaps?). Anyway, his lead in static was enough, so the title was secured even before starting the third flight in which Philip scared everybody during the two consecutive rolls manoeuvre. Loss of concentration after the first of the two rolls resulted in a near crash...

No gyros were used on the Fouga during this competition, simply not enough time to try them out. As all flights were carried out in windy conditions, the flight scores would definitely have been better with proper use of gyros (higher realism). That's something for next competition! Here's a link to a video on YouTube showing parts of the second flight (with poorly executed four point roll...).

The 2013 Jet World Masters will be hosted by Switzerland. We are looking forward to this event. The USA set the standard very high but we are confident the Swiss will even do better!

Below are some photographs taken during the event. Scroll down or click here to find the final results of both the 13.5 kg and the 20 kg Classes as well as the results of the Nations Trophy, the Best Static Score, the single Best Flight Score and the Team Trophy.

Philip in focus before his flight, while his caller Marc Thienpont is watching over his shoulder

Monitoring the start up sequence of the G-Booster 80+ in his Fouga prior to a competition flight

Taking off for the third flight round...

(photo Claudia Westerholt)

...initiating the landing gear retract sequence

(photo Claudia Westerholt)

Fouga landing on the runway centreline

(photo Claudia Westerholt via Dutch Jet Team)

Fouga taxiing

(photo Claudia Westerholt via Dutch Jet Team)

Taxi back to the shutdown area

(photo Claudia Westerholt via Dutch Jet Team)

National Museum of the USAF in the background

Philip Avonds is happy to be the 2011 Jet World Master in the 13.5 kg Class and shows off the trophy donated by the National Museum of the USAF (L) and the IJMC 13.5 Class challenge trophy (R)

(photo Stephan Eich, www.modellpilot.eu)

You tube video of Fouga Magister at Jet World Masters 2011

Derk van der Vecht (R) with his caller (and uncle) Bert after a succesful flight round. He finished 6 th overall in the 13.5 kg Class. The F-16A is wearing the previous solo display colours of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Well done Derk!

(photo Dutch Jet Team)

Jason Bauer finished 8 th overall in the 13.5 kg Class and received top static score of Team USA with his F-15C from the full composite kit. Well done Jason!

(photo Mark Basel)

Winner of the 20 kg Class is Vitaly Robertus from Russia with his splendid Yak-130. A model that cannot be described with words, probably the best scale model ever built!

(photo Dutch Jet Team)

Final results of the 2011 JWM

13.5 kg Class results

20 kg Class results

Congratulations to Vitaly Robertus (Russia)!

Nations Trophy results

Congratulations to Team Germany!

Static score results

Again, congratulations to Vitaly Robertus (Russia)!

Single Best Flight results

Congratulations to Stephan Voelker (Germany)!

Team Trophy results

Congratulations to Federico Rosina and Mauro Pirotti (Italy)!