Sunday, April 15, 2007 Crash, ‘mystery’ glitch mar Hirobo 2nd round By Elisabeth Baumgart STC Media Comm Intern
NOT all soared to the challenge in the Hirobo Cup Asia 2007 International RC Helicopter Competition’s second leg at the South Road Properties yesterday.
Although strong winds did not pose a problem, the helicopter of Korea’s Choi Won Ho still refused to take flight after unexplained glitches kept it grounded Friday afternoon.
Prior to yesterday’s competition, Ho was given the chance to test-fly his helicopter so he could finally participate in the F3C class. Still, it didn’t fly.
What happened still remained a mystery even to event organizers.
“They replaced the receiver, but still there was a problem. So we don’t know if it was a transmitter problem or a helicopter problem. We just don’t know,” said contest director Rene Avila.
Cebu’s Raymund Ladaga also failed to advance after his chopper crashed.
It was fine for the first few minutes of the official flight. But his helicopter slowly descended and crash-landed.
“The fuel line has a clip. Once you turn on your helicopter, you have to open the fuel line. We failed to open it,” he said. Ladaga said it was the pit crew’s responsibility to open the fuel line.
Despite the setbacks, 10 went on to compete in today’s final round.
In the P3C class, Taiwan’s Chan Kuo-Chan was the top pilot with a staggering score of 2,000. Countryman Chen Kung-Hsiang was second with 1, 825.56.
The Philippines’s Justin Neri placed third with a score of 1,657.31, while Jeffrey Infante and Paulo Rojas were fifth and sixth, respectively.
In the F3C class, Korea’s Kyung Yong Choi took the lead after the second round with 1,976.85, edging the Philippines’ Alvin Alcantara, who garnered a score of 1,966.67.
Another Filipino, Mark Alcantara, was seventh.
The top three winners in each class will be determined in today’s final round.
