I think the problem with the FAI event is we tend to like bumper car combat in America.  There planes bump into each other , disintegrate and then they're out of the round while there is still streamer out there.  Therefore they fly a little more conservatively while doing combat.  We on the other hand determined that our planes are going to touch once in a while so we built tanks that could take it, gave them more power to handle it and then continued to vary from the idea.  In other words, we Americanized the event.  We love it, that's the way it is.

However in CL combat those guys were always dedicated to the idea of 1 heat 1 plane.  It's really more about the engine.  They'll have 6 planes and one engine that they swap between heats because an airplane coming back whole after a heat is kinda weird.  It's exciting, it's dirty and the competitors actually wrestle out there while playing combat unlike RC where we stand, gentelmanly 10 feet apart and whisper things like "Good shot, sir" and 'Well Played" while flying.  Never will you hear anything like "You mother was good to me last night" during an RC combat event.