Sept 30 2022 – Warren Day has accepted the position of Tour chairman and will begin serving on Dec 1, the start of the 2023 season. Congrats and welcome aboard Warren!

Sept 1 2022 – Chris Bajorek has announced his decision to step down as Tour chairman at season’s end and to greatly reduce his Tour workload. Please read his memo to the Tour HERE. See the status of open positions HERE that need to be filled for the Tour to continue in 2023. Thank you!

The F5J USA Tour is a recognition and awards program that consolidates season scores for pilots that participate in one or more qualifying F5J contest events. Pilot rankings will be web-published throughout the season and awards will be given at the end of the contest season. The year-end results will be promoted in the RC soaring community with the goal of increasing F5J awareness.

The purpose of the F5J USA Tour program is:

  • To establish a competitive series of regional F5J contests
  • To provide a promotional platform that enables F5J contest growth in the USA
  • To provide an F5J contest series suitable for preparation to compete in F5J World Championship events

Registering your F5J event — Clubs and contest groups wanting to host an event can submit an online application:

Register an Event

The deadline for registering your events for the current season is August 15. Registration for the next season will open on Nov 1.

Pilot Standings — Pilot standings for the Tour can be viewed here:

Pilot Standings

Tour Apparel — A variety of Tour shirts and accessories are available here:

Tour apparel

Tour Newsletter Archive — Feel free to browse past newsletter issues:

Newsletters

RC Groups — An active thread is available for Tour announcements, contest info, and general Tour discussion:

2022 Season
2021 Season
2020 Season — 2019 Season
2018 Season — 2017 Season

Celebrating 5 Years!

Organization

Chris Bajorek, Chairman

Tour Advisory Group – This group is responsible for helping manage the Tour. It includes the following key supporters and pioneers of USA-based F5J.

Lee Wolfe
Lenny Keer
Jim Monaco		 Steve Neu
Larry Jolly
David Beach

Pilot Advisory Group – Members of this group are active F5J Tour pilots with deep background in other soaring competition disciplines. They participate in key discussions that make the Tour better.

Jim Monaco
Jim McCarthy
Brady Baggs		 Lenny Keer
Oleg Golovidov
Warren Day

Thanks to our volunteers for helping to make USA F5J the best it can be.

For a financial declaration statement regarding the Tour’s collection and use of fees please click here.

Tour Rules and Guidelines

Qualifying Events   Contest Rules
Pilot Standings Scoring   CD Guidelines
Event Rules & Processes   FAI F5J Altimeters
Keeping Pilot Scores Up to Date

The F5J USA Tour reserves the right to update its rules and guidelines without notice.

Awards

In addition to the posting of pilot standings there will also be award “hardware” given to the top 10 season finishers. These awards are either handed out at the first event of the Tour season in early December in Arizona or they will be mailed out. Note that individual contest event awards are still handled by the local clubs.

2021 Awards ceremony at F5J in the Desert, Maricopa AZ, Dec 4 2021 – Top L to R: #1 Jim McCarthy, #2 Ali Khani, #3 John Armstrong, #4 Lenny Keer, #5 Skip Miller – Bottom L to R: #6 Darwin Barrie, #7 Randy West, #8 Brady Baggs, #9 Steve Willcox Jr, #10 Steve Willcox – Photo credits: Randy West

Q&A

Q: Why should I register my club’s F5J contest with the F5J USA Tour?
A:  Because being on the Tour will probably encourage more pilots to travel to your event.

Q: Are there any fees to clubs or pilots?
A: Yes, for clubs. When you submit your F5J Tour event scores, for every pilot that has flown the minimum number of rounds you are also asked to include a $4.00/pilot fee (a Paypal link will be provided to CDs). This fee will be used to purchase end-of-season awards, other related expenses, and an annual contribution to the USA F5J World Championship team.