From: Chris Stoddard
Hi Roger,
Here is a short review of the F1B book by Masaru Koike
After seeing the notice in SEN 3179 I contacted Masaru Koike by email and arranged to purchase a copy of The F1B Book (Free Flight F1B - Technology and Science for Extending Duration). I paid by PayPal and promptly received a pdf format file of the text translated to the English language without the illustrations. About 2 weeks later I received the printed copy in Japanese language. It is rare to have the opportunity to read a detailed discussion by a high level competitor of the broad range of topics in a particular competitive event, this book does just that for the F1B class. I found it straightforward to read the English language text which contains the captions for the illustrations and then examine the Japanese language book to view the illustrations. Using a camera based translation app on my iPhone facilitated further understanding of details within the illustrations.
I’ve started reading portions of the book and had the feeling that Masaru Koike was seated beside me as an instructor. He competed in F1B at the 2023 FAI World Championship at Moncontour France, dropping a max in the final round of competition thus missing participating in the fly-off.