MAAA Wingspan - Quarterly Magazine

20 An FAI F2B judge and technical expert in the area of control line, Joan McIntyre certainly proves that aeromodelling isn’t just for the boys. The China Aeromodelling body appreciated her extraordinary expertise too when they invited her to speak at their Judging Seminar in China recently. “One of the newly appointed FAI F2B judges from China had recently been in contact with me to seek guidance with general judging training,” said Joan, who is also the honorary secretary of the Control Line Aircraft Society (CLAS) in NSW. “Then, in April of this year, I received an official invitation on behalf of the main sporting body to fly to China and take part in a Judging Workshop at their Training Facility in Zhengzhou as a trainer and presenter, as part of their main dedicated training schedule.” Joan was deeply honoured to receive the invitation to make this presentation and says that she was welcomed at the Airport in Zhengzhou and looked after extraordinarily well by all concerned. Numerous F2B pilots, former World Champions, as well as the F2B judges, sponsors and sports officials travelled from all over China to Zhengzhou for Joan’s presentation. “I was officially welcomed at a dinner on the first evening, where I was presented with gifts. I was told that these were a token of their esteem and respect. It was an overwhelming experience,” she continued. “One of the former champions, who I had judged at Muncie in 2004, had travelled over 6000 kms to attend the seminar. It was such a delight to meet him again. I spoke briefly at the dinner about the MAAA and State Associations and presented MAAA badges to the organisers.” Joan, who travelled under the MAAA Insurance, says she was impressed by the dedication of the pilots, who train full time as professionals, and the overall structure for training at the specialised facility. Most of the training was actually undertaken in the lecture theatre, as regrettably windy conditions cut short field time for practical training. Nevertheless, the experience continued to be a positive one overall. FAI JUDGE JOAN MCINTYRE WAS DEEPLY HONOURED TO BE ASKED BY THE CHINA AEROMODELLING BODY TO SPEAK AT THEIR JUDGING WORKSHOP travel story: an invitation to china