The winners podium: Tetsuo Onda in first place, with Lassi Nurila in second and Andrea Cervi in third
After a thrilling competition in Dan Feng, China, Japanese Radio Control Aerobatics pilot, Tetsuo Onda, claimed the top spot of the podium at the 2026 ASFC F3A World Cup thanks to an exceptional performance.
The event, that concluded yesterday, brought together 42 pilots from around the world for a high-quality competition in the F3A World Cup calendar.
Behind the winner Tetsuo Onda were 2025 F3A World Cup overall winner, Finland’s Lassi Nurila, who took second place, with Andrea Cervi from Italy in third.
For Onda, this is his third consecutive win in 2026: in April, he won the F3A World Cup in Korea, and prior to that, in New Zealand.
“The preliminary round was good but we had a hard fight in the finals. Being able to win amongst two world champions and top flyers in the world is really a big deal for me,” said Onda.
About F3A Aerobatics
An F3A radio control model aircraft has a maximum fuselage length of two metres and a wing span of under two metres. Its weight must not exceed 5kg. Complex aerial manoeuvres are performed by the competitors, with impressive precision and skill.
During the preliminary rounds, competitors fly aerobatic patterns which are evaluated by a panel of judges who award marks, independently from each other, between zero and ten for each “manoeuvre” or “figure”. Manoeuvres are assigned a difficulty factor (K-factor) depending upon their complexity, and points are subtracted for “defects” observed and the severity and number of defects.
The top ten pilots from the preliminary rounds advance to two additional final rounds, where they fly a more demanding sequence.
