Complying with a CIAM office request asking for smallest possible file sizes, the F2 subcommittee has decided to remove manoeuvre diagrams from the set of rules and to place them in the Annex instead. A remark was added to the rule, saying that the diagrams in the Annex are to be considered as part of the rule. Following further language polishing, carefully done by Peter Halman, the F2B rule was unanimously (!) accepted by the 37 delegates present at the 2005 Plenary Meeting in Lausanne. It will be set in force by January 1st. 2006.

What this means, in short, is:

• 15cc or .90 engines, both 4- and 2-cycle.
• Controllers (on-board and remote) for IC engines banned.
• Electric motors (max. 42 volts) legal, controllers allowed.
• Shut-down devices legal.
• Starters legal.
• 2-circle operations legal.
• Max. 9 meter/second wind speed.
• No change in manoeuvres and sequence
• 10 times weight pull test
• Marks range 0-10 with 0.1 increments
• K-factor remaining
• No high-low score droppings
• Noise testing properly defined

After almost five years time and countless hours spent by experts worldwide, the F2B Working Group has reached a point where the community not only has a chance to put the rule to the test, but also where innovation no longer is banned from the circles.

Following an initial 2 years period of time, beginning Jan. 1st 2006, during which the rule will be applied as it now stands, the S/C understands and supports the future need to run an extended field test of a set of rules where K-factors will not be applied. Due to formal reasons, the terms for such a trial critical to define and it may take a bit of time to come up with suitable solutions.

The now set in force rule for F2B is not 100% perfect and will undoubtedly require constant adjustments. It is however, as I see it, a major step in the right direction and may one day well be remembered as one the most democratic examples of rule making in CIAM.

At this point in time and before returning to the flying field, I wish to express my sincere thanks to those who have contributed (in random order and very definitely among many others):

Andy Sweetland (for language and accuracy), Paul Walker, Ted Fancher (for the "constant length / 2-D input"), Claus Maikis (for common sense), Keith Renecle (for 3-D expertise and his fantastic simulator), Igor Burger (for mathematical precision and for the setting-up of the F2B Forum on the Internet), Bengt-Olof Samuelsson, Bruno Delor (for Sporting Code compatibility), Peter Halman (for critical reading and language), Bill Draper (for finding errors in 2-D diagrams), Massimo Semoli (for judges point of view), Keith Trostle, Enrico Mauletti (for F2B Motors noise readings), Guido Michiels (for asking critical safety questions) and to Laird Jackson (for carrying the project through and providing the kind of support needed at times where quitting was an option)