Free flight model owners from around Australia converged on a dusty paddock at Morundah this week for the Australian Free Flight Society Championships.

A total of 21 pilots competed in F1A, an international glider category drawn by a 50m string line, F1B for rubber powered models and F1C, or engine powered models, all vying for the Widgiewa Cup.

Competition kicked off on Monday and winds up today (Thursday), with the public welcome to attend.

Australian Free Flight Association secretary Shannon Tolmie said members had been converging on the paddock at Widgiewa Station annually for the past 20 years.

“Competitors have come from Queensland, Victoria and NSW – this year’s event is smaller due to COVID and typically this would be a team trial event for the Australian team to go to the World Championships,” Mr Tolmie said.

“They were due to be held in France in August but have been cancelled.

“Usually, we get quite a few international guests including six to eight Chinese flyers, Americans, New Zealanders and Ukranians.

“So, we are down half way on the number of entrants we would normally have but we pressed ahead with the event.”

Mr Tolmie said the flat site was ideal with no powerlines or trees to interrupt flight.

“You can let a model go for 10 minutes and still stay in the paddock – there are very few sites where you can let a model go to its full potential,” he said.

“With other forms of model aeroplanes you can make them do what you want them to do but with these once they leave your hand, its purely up to whatever’s next.”

The engines do close to 30,000 rpm or six times that of a car engine, and the carbon fibre models weigh up to 760grams.

“Some models have GPS tracking so once its out in the paddock we can find it, while others use radio tracking,” Mr Tolmie said. 

Entrants ranged from seven to 82 years.

Many are gearing up for the Southern Cross Cup at West Wyalong on April 17-19 and the Australian Nationals for free flight, radio control and control line models at West Wyalong on July 7-14.

This will be followed by Wings over West Wyalong on October 22-24.

President Mike Pettigrew started building model aeroplanes at 10 in 1948 and stuck with the hobby.

“I fly aerobatics with radio-controlled models as well but this is more pure – you’ve got to get it right so it flies away and looks graceful,” Mr Pettigrew said, Mr Tolmie said competitors were staying locally at Narrandera and Morundah for the week.

“There are so many locals who don’t know we do this and we usually bring international visitors with us.

“In 2019 we sponsored a Ukranian flyer to come over here for the event.”

Mr Tolmie said the public were welcome on the final day (today).

Travel to Morundah, turn left onto the Urana Road and watch out for the red feather banners on the left marking a gateway before reaching the Widgiewa Woolshed turnoff. Stay on the marked tracks and shut the gates.