USA F5J Team Selects and World Championships News

2023 USA F5J Team Website

For all the latest info on the 2023 F5J WC in Bulgaria go to this website:  https://www.teamf5jusa.org/

USA Team Selects Update

Oct 30, 2022 update
The USA F5J TS event was held in Arizona, full scores and metrics HERE.

Aug 10, 2022 update
The final “no restart” rule was announced and re-confirmed yesterday, posted HERE. After conferring with the Tour’s Advisory Groups it was re-confirmed that the TS event is not a Tour event.

July 21, 2022 update
Hard to believe but the TS rules are still not resolved. After the AMA F5 TS Committee completed an F5J pilot “poll” on the remaining rules options those results were sent to the AMA’s “Executive Committee” per today’s update HERE. No time estimate was given for when this will be completed.

July 8, 2022 update
The 2022 Team Select (TS) contest has an RC Groups thread HERE (and HERE as of July 12) where you can follow the announcements and discussion about contest rules and format. The contest is still scheduled for late October and is to be hosted by Southwest Soaring Society in Arizona. However, the contest format and rules were preliminarily announced as having no emergency restarts which means that as of July 1 unfortunately the TS does not work out as an F5J USA Tour event. One reason is that a large percentage of Tour pilots are using the USA version of the CAM F5J AMRT that cannot be configured to run without restarts; as such it would be unfair to exclude them from a Tour event that prohibits restarts. Another reason is that while the AZ contest field is indeed an awesome venue it is not very “landout friendly.”

When the rules and contest format are finalized then the Tour’s Pilot Advisory Group will discuss this topic again and a final decision on Tour status will be made.
–Chris Bajorek

Sept 26, 2021 update
It was recently confirmed by Steve Manganelli, chairman of the USA-FAI F5 Team Select Committee, that the 2022 USA F5J Team Selects will be conducted by the same club that won the bid in 2021 before the WC was cancelled: the Southwest Soaring Society in Phoenix. The date will also remain the same: toward the end of October 2022. Expect more details in early 2022.

July 12, 2021 update
As a result of “virus rescheduling” and the most recent FAI report from Steve Neu on RC Groups (link), the next FAI F5J World Championships (WC) has been rescheduled in Bulgaria to 2023. The next US Team Select event has been officially delayed to 2022 (link).

The Team Selects Process

Here is a general rundown of the process the USA F5J community follows that leads to each Team Selects event that is held every 2 years.

  • The organizing AMA body that is responsible for managing the USA F5J TS event is the USA FAI-F5 Team Selection Committee* that is headed by Steve Manganelli. Three members of that committee–David Beach, Lenny Keer, and Steve Neu are also F5J USA Tour Advisory Group members. Several other active F5J pilots are also on that committee. As such, the USA F5J community is well represented.
  • The TS process is defined, in detail, in the 2018 Team Selection Program Plan. This is a perpetual document that explains the fees, procedures, etc. to be used in soliciting bids from clubs who wish to have the Team Selects at their field. This document also defines the process of selecting a team manager for the USA WC team.
  • According to the Plan the USA F5J TS must be held between July 1 and October 30 of the year of the scheduled TS event. The specific date can be chosen by the hosting club based on expected weather and other club needs.
  • Bids from potential hosting clubs must be sent to the AMA postmarked no later than March 31 of the TS event year.
  • The TS event will be run under full FAI F5J rules. All AMRT (altimeter) units must be FAI approved. All planes will be inspected for FAI compliance before the TS contest commences. This may also include verification of minimum wing loading.
  • The TS event must be conducted over a 3 or 4 day period. There are no fly-offs. All pilots compete all days. There is one discard over the entire TS event. All but the last day will be 10 minute rounds; the final day’s flights will be 15 minute rounds.
  • Juniors will compete in the same matrix as senior competitors.
  • The top 3 pilots from the juniors and seniors will comprise the USA WC team (i.e. 3 seniors, 3 juniors).

Early in the year of the TS event the committee chairman starts a new RC Groups thread on the Team Selects. That is the signal to clubs that are interested to prepare and send in their bids (proposals).

If you have any questions ask any of the F5 committee members. Thanks.

* Full F5 Team Select Committee list is available at this link. Scroll down to “F5B/F5D” list.

2019 USA World Championship (WC)

The 2019 USA WC team manager was David Beach. Website is here:

Team Selects for 2019 WC

Team Selects is the process of conducting one or more competition events with the goal of defining the team of USA pilots who fly at WC events. The USA Team Selects event was held in Denver on Sept 1-3 2018, details here, results here. Congrats to #1 Oleg Golovidov, #2 Charles Morris, and #3 Jonathan Garber for making the seniors team. Also congrats to #4 Toby Herrera for making it as a team alternate.

F5J WC 2019 Results

The event was held on August 12-16, 2019 in Trnava, Slovakia. See the September and November 2019 Tour newsletters for details on the WC event results.


F5J WC approval process with the AMA

The AMA has a formal program for supporting and sponsoring WC teams that includes funding assistance and insurance coverage for Team Selects and WC events. This program is thoroughly explained in the AMA’s World Championship Teams “Blue Book.” It is beyond the scope of this summary to cover all the details but suffice to say there were a number of formalities that had to be worked through but the AMA formally accepted F5J as a new WC competition format.