August 2006, #167 - British Aerobatic Association

Contents
Pilots Briefing
Pilots Briefing ..................................1
National Reports:
The Gunpowder Trophy ................... 2
The Kernow Trophy .......................... 3
The Air Squadron Trophy ................. 6
Compton Beginners Class ................. 7
Compton Intermediate Free ......... 10
The Don Henry Trophy ................. 12
Saltby Glider Nationals - 1 ............. 13
Saltby Glider Nationals - 2 ............. 14
CAACI Waterford ........................... 18
Whither goes the Weather ........... 22
The Classic Aircraft Event ............. 24
The Sywell Adv/Unl Nationals ...... 27
The Golding-Barrett Trophy ......... 30
Snapshot ........................................ 34
Contributors Guide .................. 35
The BAeA Committee ............ 36
Published by the
British Aerobatic Association Limited.
Company Registered Office:
West London Aero Club,
White Waltham Airfield, Maidenhead
Berkshire SL6 3NJ.
Registered in England No.1168665
The Aerobatic News Review - #167
Typesetting by Nick Buckenham
Printed by GH Smith & Son, Yorks
Cover photograph:
A hover-fly view of Pitts S1 G-MAXG taken
by Peterborough Conington airfield operator
Julie Churchill during the 2005 Standard
and Intermediate Nationals
Time really does seem to be accelerating. It
doesn't seem very long ago since the AGM
when we were looking forward to a new competition season. Since then, we have completed
eleven competitions and there are still more to
go before the end of the season!
The Classic Aircraft Event and the Loop
Beginners Competition were very popular and
have encouraged new people into the sport.
Thank you to everyone who has participated in
competitions this year, either as pilots or volunteers and especially to those who helped newcomers at their first competition. I know that
the support, advice and friendly welcome offered really helped to dispel some of the first
time nerves and apprehensions. We are lucky
that we are involved with a sport that is not
only challenging, competitive and rewarding,
but also offers fun, camaraderie and lasting
friendships at the same time. I hope that we
can encourage more people to enjoy the challenge and fun of competition aerobatics.
We are already planning the programme for
next year. It looks likely that we will have a
number of new venues and we now have to
decide the types of competitions that we would
like to run. If you have comments about the
format of events, or suggestions for new competitions then please let me know. Your feedback
is appreciated.
Enjoy your flying.
Steve Green, Head of Contest Organisation
1
National Reports
The Gunpowder Trophy, Bodmin
From Stephen Hipwell
vres, it just goes so quick but again the
relaxed approach seemed to work.
Now with many sporting a good sunburn the pressure I was putting on myself
was mounting, having been in the lead all
day Olly’s words from Sleap kept playing
If I had not suffered
all my life with dyslexia I might be a
newspaper editor
rather than an Hotelier so do not expect
great prowess when it
comes to my literary
offerings. Having got
a hard earned green
card for a weekend
away the weather for
Bodmin could not have been better and in
all we managed nearly 60 flights between
us on Saturday.
Having flown so badly at Sleap my
only goal was to improve on my last
score, at least I should be able to make my
niece happy (with only nine at standard)
who had predicted that I could manage to
make the top ten. Really not expecting
much I flew the Known sequence just concentrating on playing to the judges. In the
end it seems that the practise off the Sussex coast had done some good (the curse
of the mobile phone means even the occasional yachtsman will complain about the
noise and it has been known for fisherman to give me some interesting hand
signals, not quite semaphore, which I believe mean go away). I am not sure I truly
managed to fly the best sequence but at
least I got the direction right!
Again with the first of the unknown
sequences I did not have any high hopes I
just went up and enjoyed the flying, it
seems that as I get towards the end of an
unknown sequence I start having doubts
as to whether I included all the manoeu-
Bodmin standard unknown #1
in my head “Oh you don’t know how
much I want to win this” and “just no
hard zeros”. In the end inevitably it was
my worst flight of the day. I had slowly
gotten worse and Ed had slowly improved. Luckily there was no more to do
and I managed to keep my lead by ½%.
It was a great weekend and it is a great
location and thanks to everybody involved.
2
National Reports
The Kernow Trophy, Bodmin
Report from Luke Goddard
What a wonderful setting and how
blessed we were with the weather, rolling
hills and views of both coasts; how I
wanted to be on holiday, rather than taking my first aerial view of Olde Kernow as
I carried on with my climb out, to start
the first sequence of the day.
I settled in and re-tightened my torture
device that was borrowed from a cargo
lorry. With the wind swapping directions
and lots of green fields around I started to
wonder where all my planning had gone,
especially when I started to look for those
all important visual landmarks that would
surely be so prominent.
I started the sequence and managed to
Luke, MAXG and the Kernow Trophy
make the inverted turn the wrong way
and found myself in “best guess” mode
for the correct reciprocal. I landed down
wind and wasn’t surprised that I was in
6th place. I was behind some excellent
pilots (the usual suspects!) who, as usual,
had performed brilliantly. I reassured
myself that Intermediate for me this year
was only a warm-up and that I should not
expect to do that well against the good
guys.
I was quite relaxed about flying the 1st
Unknown. I doubted that I would improve my rankings so I thought I would
concentrate on flying the best I could,
putting plenty of focus on visualisation,
timing and line accuracy. I was stunned
that I pulled it off and miraculously had
the highest score for the sequence. This I
was delighted with, until I saw I had only
moved up to 5th place. Well, the sun kept
Bodmin intermediate unknown #1
3
National Reports
had been well rewarded with a final flight
score of nearly 80%: “Great,” I thought.
“Maybe I could go home with something
to show for the effort.”
When Ben started to run though the
results, I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t been called out. Maybe I got missed
off the list or something? Or hang on, if I
haven’t been called out yet this might
mean I’ve done better than expected?
I couldn’t believe it - that massive trophy (which I had earlier wondered at)
with all those famous names on was mine
for a year! The moral of this story is
“Don’t become despondent if you are
seemingly out of contention; fly your best
and miracles can happen.”
beating down and the heat was building.
We all knew from the morning briefing
that today was going to be a long one and
all three flights were to be flown on the
same day.
I continued with the same focus as
before and thought that I should enjoy the
flying and I could only do my best. I
thought that I might get lucky and someone might make a mistake and I could
possibly scrabble up a few places and get
a gong. How great that would be, having
just moved up to Indeterminate - negative
G country!
I spent the whole time between flights
walking though the sequence and most
importantly keeping the old grey matter
hydrated, and found that my planning
The Gunpowder and Kernow Trophy contest, Bodmin
Beginners Class
Pilot
A/c Type
Reg’n
Known
O/all %
1
John Calverley
Yak-52
G-BXAK
542.1
73.252
2
Terry Miller
Eagle
G-IXII
535.1
72.308
3
Ray Marks
Eagle
G-IXII
532.6
71.970
4
Jack Willis
Extra-200
G-EEEK
508.6
68.724
5
Mike Thelwell
Robin-2160
G-OCFC
418.9
56.609
6
Ed Burbidge
Robin-2160
G-WAVT
180.0
24.323
The Gunpowder Trophy
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Pilot
A/c type
Reg’n
Known
Unk #1
Unk #2
Totals
O/all %
Stephen Hipwell
Ed Harding
John Wicks
Farrell McGee
Al Coutts
Elise Mason
Adrian Willis
David Slater
Simon Hampton
Pitts S-1S
Pitts S-1
CAP-10C
Pitts S-1SE
Pitts S-2A
Decathlon
Extra-200
Pitts S-1T
Pitts S-1
G-ITTI
G-MAXG
G-CPXC
G-FARL
G-PITZ
G-ZZAP
G-EEEK
G-BKPZ
G-MAXG
1019.7
949.6
960.4
976.7
929.2
917.7
804.4
150.2
246.4
863.5
822.7
805.1
699.8
612.3
756.9
797.9
767.6
716.8
821.8
915.6
823.2
816.6
896.0
724.7
747.1
852.4
800.3
2705.0
2688.0
2588.7
2493.1
2437.5
2399.4
2349.4
1770.1
1763.5
72.326
71.871
69.216
66.659
65.173
64.155
62.818
47.329
47.151
4
National Reports
The Kernow Trophy
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Pilot
A/c type
Reg’n
Known
Unk #1
Unk #2
Totals
O/all %
Luke Goddard
Mark Davies
Stephen Madle
Paul Tomlinson
James Brown
Simon Janvrin
John Vize
David Cowden
Richard Buchan
Pitts S-1
Pitts S-2A
Pitts S-2A
Pitts S-1T
Laser
Pitts S-2A
Pitts S-1T
Pitts S-2C
Pitts S-1D
G-MAXG
G-BTUL
G-ODDS
G-OSIT
G-CBHR
G-TIII
G-IIIL
G-ICII
G-OODI
1319.4
1471.3
1367.8
1466.7
1313.6
1337.9
1472.5
1113.1
1169.2
1348.4
1269.2
1316.7
1329.1
1309.6
1216.8
1207.7
1090.3
489.6
1367.1
1242.2
1241.4
1069.5
1204.8
1172.4
975.6
1196.3
1183.5
4034.9
3982.7
3926.0
3865.2
3828.0
3727.1
3655.9
3399.7
2842.4
74.171
73.211
72.170
71.052
70.367
68.513
67.203
62.494
52.250
Bodmin standard unknown #2
Bodmin intermediate unknown #2
5
National Reports
The Air Squadron Trophy at Compton Abbas
From Mark Davies
A pleasant evening was spent in similar company at the hotel, good food and
good wine, after an early breakfast it was
back to the airfield with none of the problems of the night before.
For the intermediates Compton is
made up of two separate competitions,
first we fly the free program and then we
fly the apprentices. Didn’t do so well in
the free only managing 4th, however I had
yet again been plagued by circumstances.
Sat in the Pitts waiting to start my helmet
comms started
playing up, whilst
I was trying to
sort that out Horror of horror the
wind caught the
canopy and
slammed it shut!
Luckily it didn’t
break but it did
jump the hinges and I had to grab it and
hold on to it. Now I was parked behind
that lovely DeHavilland Dove, nobody
could see me or my predicament, a quick
call on the radio for help proved that my
helmet comms had failed completely leaving me with no option but to sit there in
the sunshine holding the canopy until
somebody found me! It was about 10
minutes later that Julian wandered past
and seeing my helpless wave kindly helped
me out. A quick bit of fixing and headset
change and I finally got my go in the box.
Next flight for us inters was the apprentices, the trophy looked very nice.
Uncle had given us a briefing on what we
could do it seemed that this year we could
Compton! Well what a lovely day, and
all those people coming just to see the
intermediates fly!
My trip down on Friday was great,
CAVOK everywhere, very warm and only
a few airspace diversions due to Fairford.
Trip time from Syerston to Compton was
only 70 mins in BTUL.
Well our first problem started on Friday, by the time we had secured the aeroplane and given her a wipe down with a
cool sponge everybody had just left, no
problem, call a
cab and we
should be back at
the accommodation just a few
minutes behind
them, we were
only staying
about 7 miles
away. As nice as
Compton is it seems that Taxi drivers
don’t like it, after having rung several
firms the earliest taxi I could secure was
going to be after 9.30 that evening and
even he didn’t sound too interested. Top
tip for next visit to Compton, get there
earlier in order to get a Taxi, they won’t
come out after about 6.
Now being completely stuck at the
Airfield I owe a big thank you to Alan
Wood for driving back to pick us up, rumour has it each time he made the journey from the airfield to the hotel he
halved the journey time, Alan, maybe
your true vocation is in Touring Car
championship racing, Many thanks
though for collecting us both.
6
National Reports
do pretty much anything, provided we
completed the core of each figure and
finished in the correct heading and attitude we were free to add manoeuvres as
we pleased.
With nothing to lose and no nice trophy for 2nd place I thought why not give
this a good go, so with flicks and multiple
rolls and hesitations added just about
everywhere I was really looking forward
to this flight, I took off with a grin and
landed with an even bigger one. I enjoyed
this flight enormously, it was great fun.
Just one comment from a judge made it
worthwhile “A very entertaining flight”,
just what we had set out to achieve. With
that comment I didn’t really care where I
came (Ok, I did care). As it happened I
got to take that very nice trophy home.
It was interesting that only 3 of the
intermediate field chose to add to the sequence and we took the top 3 places, this
was a great competition to fly so come on
guys and gals, go for it next year and see
just how much extra you can cram into
those figures, an added bonus of lots of
rolling is less time spent on those awful
climbing knife edges and less time for the
judges to judge them!
All in all a very enjoyable day out,
great weather, great crowd and great
The Intermediate Apprentices figures
1: Stall-turn, opposition rolls up & one roll down
2: Sharks-tooth with multi-turn spin from 45° line
3: Pull / push / pull looping reversal with half-roll
4: Back-to-back opposite direction stall turns
5: Triangle with knife-edge upper section
6: Two opposite direction half barrel-rolls
7: Loop with quarter-roll in climbing section
8: Six point hesitation roll
place, thanks to everybody who helped
and flew. It certainly seems that the standard of flying at intermediate is very high
this year from several pilots, this should
make for a very interesting Nationals with
no clear favourite, watch out next year
you advanced chaps!
The Compton Abbas Beginners Class
From Randal Hockey
My best friend Chris and I made the
decision to enter the contest at Compton
very much at
the last minute.
Despite wanting to do a
competition
for the last
couple of years we were still contest virgins. We have Simon Abbot to thank for
talking us into it on Tuesday evening; a
session with Alan the next day had me
signed off to attend and feeling better prepared, and Chris bravely threw in some
practice flights to get cleared on Thursday
despite having little aerobatic practice this
7
National Reports
The Don Henry and Air Squadron Meeting, Compton Abbas
Beginners Class
1
2
3
4
5
6
Pilot
A/c Type
Reg’n
Randal Hockey
Ray Marks
Jack Willis
Terry Miller
Adrian Neary
Chris Vogelgesang
Pitts S-1
Eagle
Extra-200
Eagle
Pitts S-2A
Yak-52
G-MAXG
G-IXII
G-EEEK
G-IXII
G-ODDS
G-IMIC
Known
O/all %
580.0
544.7
498.7
481.4
477.7
423.3
78.372
73.610
67.386
65.055
64.558
57.205
The Intermediate Free programme
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Pilot
A/c Type
Reg’n
Known
O/all %
David Jenkins
Luke Goddard
Neil Bigrigg
Mark Davies
Paul Tomlinson
Brian McCartney
David Cowden
Simon Janvrin
Alan Wood
Laser-Z200
Pitts S-1
Pitts S-2A
Pitts S-2A
Pitts S-1T
Pitts S-2C
Pitts S-2C
Pitts S-2C
Extra-230
G-LAZA
G-MAXG
G-BTUL
G-BTUL
G-OSIT
G-IICI
G-IICI
G-IICI
G-XTRA
1395.9
1370.9
1344.0
1287.1
1285.1
1279.8
1241.0
1190.8
1114.8
77.550
76.164
74.668
71.503
71.392
71.102
68.942
66.157
61.933
The Air Squadron Trophy
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Mark Davies
Neil Bigrigg
Paul Tomlinson
David Jenkins
Alan Wood
Luke Goddard
Simon Janvrin
Brian McCartney
David Cowden
Pitts S-2A
Pitts S-2A
Pitts S-1T
Laser-Z200
Extra-230
Pitts S-1
Pitts S-2C
Pitts S-2C
Pitts S-2C
G-BTUL
G-BTUL
G-OSIT
G-LAZA
G-XTRA
G-MAXG
G-IICI
G-IICI
G-IICI
Score
O/all %
1481.6
1449.0
1434.8
1430.3
1382.9
1316.6
1199.1
1186.3
1125.0
74.081
72.448
71.742
71.516
69.146
65.830
59.957
59.316
56.252
The Don Henry Trophy
H/C
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Known
Unk #1
Unk #2
Totals
O/all %
Alan Cassidy
Gary Ferriman
Cas Smith
Julian Murfitt
Rob Howarth
Simon Cattlin
Simon Abbott
Corinne Dennis
Extra-300
Extra-300L
Pitts S-2B
Extra-230
Extra-230
Yak-55M
Extra-300
Extra-230
G-SIII
G-FIII
G-ICAS
G-CBUA
G-CBUA
G-NOIZ
G-SIII
G-XTRA
2043.1
1757.4
1630.2
1900.6
1797.0
1660.8
1106.8
1605.9
2738.6
2229.4
2028.8
1779.1
1511.1
2150.8
1713.7
1231.6
2457.6
1936.8
1893.2
1564.4
1873.4
287.6
1105.3
851.2
7239.3
5923.6
5552.1
5244.1
5181.6
4099.2
3925.8
3688.6
72.105
59.000
55.300
52.232
51.609
40.828
39.102
36.739
8
National Reports
year. Friday saw us flying a Yak and Pitts
in formation down to Compton on a
beautiful sunny day, so that even the
flight there was good fun.
The competition itself was very well
organised and populated with a friendly
bunch of pilots, judges and assistants,
who did their best to calm nerves and
ensure that we understood what we
needed to do. Having never participated
in something like this does make you very
self conscious – you have the other pilots,
judges and assembled locals to watch you
do your thing from take off to landing. I
am more used to anonymously flying at
height away from anyone who could possibly see what mess I can make out of any
figure. Our flights were duly flown and
everyone felt relieved to be back on the
ground, where we could just relax in the
sun and watch the Advanced pilots be put
through their paces against a cloudless
blue sky. Aren’t all contests like that?
Discovering that I managed to win was
really the icing on the cake. Actually it
was a relief too, because when I flew with
Alan he said something like “the last person that I showed how to position in the
box won his first contest”, so I felt some
pressure to do it right!
I certainly felt like I learned a lot and
the experience was a very positive one. It
was fantastic to finally compete after
wanting to do so for many years. A big
thank you to the organisers who even
managed to get the weather to cooperate!
Compton advanced unknown #1
Compton advanced unknown #2
9
National Reports
Intermediate Free escapades, Compton Abbas
From David Jenkins
was right; I finally managed to fly the
complete intermediate known sequence by
starting at one side of Suffolk and finishing at the other side. After a bit of practise
I was able to fit it into a 1km box.
Compton arrived
and when I finally
read the rules it
became apparent
that I didn’t need to
fly the known sequence that I had
been practising so
hard. All I needed
to do was design
and fly my own free
sequence which just
had to have a maximum K of 160 and
certain required
figures. Easy-peasylemon-squeezy as
my 8-year-old
daughter would say!! After hours trying
to design a sequence to meet the rules, I
gave up, I did try and create one but each
failed attempt only showed me how difficult it really is. Fortunately Alan C gave
me one that he had prepared earlier!! It
turns out that the one I used was flown by
over half of the intermediate pilots..
Originating way back in time it had become the ‘alternate default free’. When I
mentioned this to Alan C, he suggested
that maybe they should change the maximum K to 159 just to make everyone
work a bit harder next year!
So, after practising Alan’s alternate
default free with invaluable critique from
Well, we all thought that Jen and Nick
would be far too busy filling the new
kitchen cupboards to chase us for reports
on the various competitions… How
wrong could we be? Two days before the
ANR deadline Jen
had the cupboards
done and was chasing us for our reports. Shame on us
for not realising
that with that shiny
new gold medal
comes responsibilities…the ANR article!!!
Having written
before in the ANR I
was stuck for ideas
so decided to follow Jens suggestion
that I look to see
what had been
written before..ABSOLUTELY NOTHING… It seems that this was the first time
for many years that the BAeA had a competition and the sun had shone on the
same day at Compton. So here’s the first
ever pilot report on Compton:
This is my first season and Compton
my second competition at Intermediate.
At the beginning of the year I was wondering how I would ever get used to the
inverted stuff. I read and re-read Alan’s
book and I couldn’t work out how to
avoid becoming disoriented. I dropped a
quick email to Colwyn, the intermediate
champion last year, and he advised me to
just get on with it and stop worrying. He
10
National Reports
marks by jazzing it up a bit i.e. added
marks for insertions!! So off we all went,
9 pilots and 4 judges with 13 different
ideas of what was needed.
After working out how to fly the 8
figures and watching a couple of the
flights I decided that I had to add some
extra twiddly bits to be in with a chance
so I put in a few more rolls and a flick at
the top of the cloverleaf and used the last
of the baby oil to make some smoke at the
end. The judges obviously didn’t fully
appreciate my artistic interpretation of the
sequence and hence Mark D won the trophy. Well-done Mark. I must say how
much I enjoyed myself doing the Apprentices. It was good fun to move away from
pure Aresti stuff and a nice change not to
fly too many straight lines.
Mark J, I loaded up the Laser and set off
for Compton. After unloading my stuff I
went off for a little practise somewhere
just past Madonna’s house. Everything I
practised fell apart, spins didn’t spin,
flicks stopped early or late but never on
time, vertical rolls went the wrong way. I
landed back at Compton wondering
whether I was really ready.
Saturday was gin clear blue skies with
a strongish wind straight down the box.
Large crowds had gathered just to watch
us fly (or so I like to think) so off I went
and flew my/Alan’s free sequence, the first
time I’d done it in front of judges. I didn’t
make any errors and to my amazement
they liked it enough to give me first place.
Next came the Apprentices thingy.
Eight non-Aresti figures with the confusing instruction that you could get extra
11
National Reports
The Don Henry Trophy, Compton Abbas
From Gary Ferriman
A brain fart in this made me zero the
Roller by putting 4 rolls where there
should have been only three (thankfully a
low K figure). This put me in third or
forth place with all to play for in the unknowns on Saturday.
Saturday brought us CAVOC weather
again with the largest crowd I have seen
at an airfield other than at displays.
The first unknown for me went OK
with the Guys who were previously beating me not doing so well and moving me
into an interim first place.
The second Unknown was a “Very”
tricky sequence with lots of opposition
rolls designed to prepare the Advanced
team about to depart for Poland.
With only a short time to prepare for
this a lot of mistakes were made, only Cas
Smith flying it without a zero.
Mine went quite well, but a stupid
zero on a high K figure left me furious
with myself.
Again inconsistency in the lower
places gave me possibly a fortunate win in
the “Don Henry” trophy again behind
Alan, who was flying H/C.
Let’s hope he flies as well in Poland
and brings a medal home.
Happy Flying,
Gary
Compton this year brought us fantastic weather from start to finish. Thanks to
this we had one of the best aerobatic competition weekends possible at a fabulous
venue.
The flight from Nottingham to Compton on the Friday was excellent although
care had to be taken with large TRA`s at
Fairford and Farnborough.
We flew the Known (Q) program on
the Friday afternoon, this was originally
going to be an unknown but as there
would be little time to learn one the
known was decided on.
12
National Reports
The Glider Aerobatic Nationals part 1 - a view from the ‘inside’
From Mike Newbound
This years Glider Nationals were again
held at Saltby airfield in Leicestershire and
with some great weather kindly organised
by CD Ben Ellis, most of the pilots were
in full practice swing by the preceding
Tuesday. Those of us flying the Fox were
keen to make hay
at this point considering we'd just
had the glider
back from its
birthplace in Poland (fresh from
a 500hr re-furb
and re-finish in
shiny new
acrylic) some 3
weeks prior to
the competition timing which
coincided perfectly with some
shocking
weather.
Myself and
Steve Jarvis spent
a couple of fruitless weekends staring glumly at a rigged
glider in the rain while debating whether a
28th cup of tea was really necessary that
morning. Fellow Interdeterminate pilot
Paul Watson had fared somewhat better
out in the Polish sunshine training with
Jurek Makula, multiple European &
World Champion and Polish hero in his
Fox. The rest of us scraped enough flights
together by the Thursday morning to limber up for the battle ahead.
The Intermediate class featured 5 pi-
lots this year with outgoing Champion
Steve Jarvis moving up to Un-Hinged but
we were soon a group of 4 as poor old
Don Gosden had performed a reverse half
cuban on his 1000cc Aprilia in formation
with a lorry on the Thursday morning,
scoring both a
Hz and a low in
the process.
Luckily he
bounces well
and was fine but
the bike was
unfortunately
written off. We
were pleased to
hear that Mrs
Gosden has
banned him
from further
biking but has
now conceded
that aerobatics
are safe after all!
With the comp
now underway
things were
pretty tight in UNL with Guy being
chased hard by Paul Conran and coolly
composed new boy Steve (who seemingly
chose to ignore that it was his first UNL
comp and that its supposed to be difficult!), closely followed by Andy and
Chris. It was just has tight with the Inters
after the known and Un-known 1, Paul
Watson making the early running with the
wily and ever consistent Graham Saw
defying the odds as usual in the beautiful
Lunak and former Sports pot hunter Pat
13
National Reports
ing my most perverse practice efforts! I
blame the sunstroke they must have suffering.
At the close of play, Brendan won the
Sports class, I scraped ahead of Graham
Saw to collect my first Gold in Inters and
Guy once again retained the overall UK
Greer flying very well on his class debut in
the venerable boingy B4. Brendan
streaked away in Sports to a lead never
relinquished, leaving Charles Baker, Brian
Griffin and Ron Jubb to scrap the rest
out.
The Unknowns were really hard this
Sports unknown
Intermediate unknown #1
title at UNL with Steve and Andy 2nd and
3rd respectively with Paul and Chris unfortunately retiring due to personal reasons with the last Unknown still to fly.
year in all classes, as usual we had an excellent team of experienced judges who
between them managed to concoct some
pretty head-banging programmes, negat-
The Glider Aerobatic Nationals part 2 - a view from the ‘outside’
by Tailslidetottie
I have long maintained that the rolling
land between the shimmer of Rutland
Water and the majesty of Lincoln Cathedral is Britain’s undiscovered playground,
and the hub of this paradise is Saltby Air-
field. Little wonder then that the aerobatic cognoscenti make a beeline for the
place. Saltby hosts two of the three annual glider comps; the Nationals in June
and the Open in September. Apart from a
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larly after last year’s Saltby Open which
had been decidedly Saltby Closed? You
guessed: Darn, another of our excuses
for cr*p flying gone! The other excuse,
aircraft, was also nipped in the bud. This
Nationals boasted the cream of the aerobatic crop: Swift, Fox, Lunak, Pilatus and
passion for engineless flight in unnatural
positions, all one requires is a 4-season
wardrobe and a constitution strong
enough to survive visits to Saltby’s fabled
Ablutions Block. Accordingly, the usual
suspects sauntered along during the first
full week of June. There were also initi-
Unlimited unknown #1
Intermediate unknown #2
more. And thus the scene was set.
The Glider Aerobatic Nationals flies
four levels of entry over four days; Beginners, Sports, Intermediate and Unlimited.
Regrettably – and for the first time in
years – there were no entrants for Beginners; nor were there any female competitors at any level. Hopefully both will be
rectified for 2007. Nonetheless, the other
classes were well represented. As ever, the
event was only made possible by the hard
work put in by the contest director,
judges, assistants, scorers, tuggies, launch-
ates, an international line-up no less: Fred
and Pik from Switzerland, plus locallygrown Graham Hill and Charles Kirk,
although Chas became known as the thoroughly un-British ‘Data’ because of his
over-zealous applications of Factor 500
sunscreen.
Factor 500 gives the clue - the weather
was hot. Tropical in fact. Off came the
long johns, on went the shorts; the brightness of the day intensified by the glare
from so many legs. Did the perfect
weather make the pilots happy, particu15
National Reports
point team, the Buckminster Gliding
Club’s willing support both airside and in
the invisible area of administration, and
last but by no means least the angels who
did the catering. And everyone played
their part cheerfully – great thanks to you
all.
outside gliding, and is to be treasured.
And so it is that the Tollemarche Arms in
Buckminster village is offering stunningly
good room rates for the rich and camping
facilities for the rest of us for the Open in
September plus the 2007 Nationals. Contact the Tolly on 01476 860 007 for details.
Somewhere amongst the fun, the meals
Unlimited unknown #2
Unlimited unknown #3
out, the wonderful sunsets on the village
green outside a rustic pub with pint in
hand; somewhere between the cabarets
courtesy of Brendan O’Brien; somewhere
amongst the more sober moments such as
when Don Gosden pranged his motorbike
(Don OK, bike stuffed); somewhere between celebrating the arrival of Cindy
Copsey’s newest grandchild, and laughing
unsympathetically at Pam Stoward’s nasty
moment in Saltby’s Ablutions Block (she
got locked in the shower and called for
help for 15 minutes, but nobody took any
For the fan-on-the-front brigade, a
word of explanation. Gliders – although
serene in the sky – are helpless on the
ground. Thus glider pilots have to help
each other to launch, retrieve, rig and derig. Every time. Not surprisingly, camaraderie abounds and friendships are
forged which override those fraught moments during competitions. Naturally, we
promote this ethos off the airfield too –
mostly in hostelries within minimum
crawling distance of Saltby. Flippancy
aside, the atmosphere is noticed by those
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notice because they thought it was just
some noisy blonde laughing); somewhere -
squeezed between all that - a competition
was flown. Here are the results:
Sports National Champion
1
2
3
4
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Known #1 Known #2
Brendan O'Brien
Charles Baker
Brian Griffin
Ron Jubb
FOX
Puchaz
LUNAK
DG-303 Elan
G-JKC
G-GCU
G-OM
G-CKKC
1290.1
1238.1
1103.8
1065.7
1423.5
1318.0
1190.6
1226.1
Unk
Totals
O/all %
1220.7
1135.3
1075.2
967.7
3934.3
3691.4
3369.6
3259.4
74.655
70.046
63.939
61.849
Intermediate National Champion
1
2
3
4
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Known
Mike Newbound
Graham Saw
Paul Watson
Patrick Greer
Fox
Lunak
Fox
Pilatus B4
G-JKC
OK-0927
G-JKC
G-DSV
1416.7
1435.4
1448.4
1373.0
Free Unk #1 Unk #2 Unk #3
1718.8
1714.5
1533.7
1461.3
1155.7
1291.2
1358.1
1275.2
Totals
O/all %
1453.1 1201.2 6945.6
1307.7 1116.2 6865.0
1267.6 915.3 6523.2
1157.0 909.0 6175.6
72.501
71.660
68.092
64.463
Unlimited National Champion
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Known
Prog 1 Unk #1
Fox
Fox
G-JKC 1616.2
G-JKC 1362.7
2051.3 1529.1
2179.7 1423.2
1419.4
1476.3
1683.9 1079.5
1487.3 1369.8
3 Andy Cunningham Fox
G-JKC 1200.2
1738.9 1150.6
1321.3
1371.1
1579.8 1460.4
1523.5
6066.700
1646.0
1100.3
3939.600
1 Guy Westgate
2 Steve Jarvis
4 Paul Conran
Swift S1 G-JZP
1503.0
5 Chris Cain
Swift S1 G-JZP
750.2
17
443.1
Unk #2 Unk Free Unk #3
696.9
Totals
9379.400
9299.000
7479.000
National Reports
Waterford Intermediate
From Paul Tomlinson
wheel? After a thorough change of underwear, Farrell and I lined up for a formation departure to Weston in Dublin. GOSIT took one sniff of the
Irish Sea and the hazy journey ahead, backfired once
and proceeded to run like a
sack of spanners. All too late
my double-winged friend!
We were rolling and a boatless crossing followed. Luck
didn’t change at the FIR
boundary with the officious
Dublin controller who was
NOT going to let us into his
controlled airspace. We had
to route south and around
the back of the zone and a
very welcome Weston airfield loomed into sight.
After a ‘mostly’ Guinnessless night in the outskirts of
Dublin, we headed to Kilrush
and met Eddie Goggins for a
day of practise and critique.
Our plans to get to Waterford that evening were scuppered when
400ft cloud and more high ground to
cross made the transit impossible. So then,
Kilrush airfield, very pretty, very welcoming and well worth a visit but no bar! Nor
means to get to or from a B&B! Paul
O’Donnell (Captain Dangerous) put the
Extra away, got into his new Audi RS4,
pressed the button on the steering wheel
that is clearly marked “Don’t press this
button” which clamps your ‘butt’ to the
seat and bypasses the exhaust and headed
for home from the airfield with a noise
After the glorious ‘Waterford Affair’
at standard last year, I was excited to be
heading back to the Emerald Isle to do my
best at intermediate. However, the 30kt headwind wasn’t on the forecast and I
nipped in to Shobdon to refuel and have the best chance
against the crud I could see
ahead over the Welsh mountains. Just as well! A low
cloud base and being funnelled into the valleys led me
to a strangely calm state of
mind. I had plenty of fuel, it
was daylight, I was still flying and I could see the roots
of the mountains disappearing (albeit sometimes vertically) into the cloud, so no
need to panic eh? Just stay in
the valleys and get to the
coast. Suddenly, I was in
cloud! I didn’t see it coming
and now I couldn’t even see
the wings! PANIC!
With the intermediate competition in
mind, a stall turn ¼ up ¼ down finishing
downwind (nah not really!) and I found
my way clear of cloud. I picked my way
though several apparently un-landable but
uninhabited valleys and lower than comfortable over a dense forest with one of
those Alpine looking “W” tracks, I spotted a col with some brightness above it. I
skimmed through and much to my relief
there was the Irish Sea below and Caernarfon ahead. I’m still not sure how that
TV aerial found its way on to the tail
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CAACI intermediate unknown
CAACI standard unknown
that made my hair stand up and the local
sheep run for cover. We decided to retreat
to Clonbologue airfield and the Irish Parachute Club very kindly let us share their
bunkhouse with the free fall guys. Having
spent an evening with them, I now understand that there is another dimension to
the human mind that I hadn’t previously
encountered and aerobatic pilots by comparison seem quite sane.
The Saturday cloud base eventually
raised enough by the afternoon to let us
transit to Waterford, but a lot of sitting
around and staring up at deteriorating
conditions led to a good decision to reconvene on Sunday. A last minute change
of box leaving us ‘judges right’ instead of
left as mentally practised resulted in my
having some turns to work out. My last
up unknown flight didn’t feel that good
from the cockpit, but I managed to persuade the judges that it was better than it
felt and more importantly, better than my
intrepid fellow competitors.
I was absconded to the judging line to
help with the rest of the show and the
hazy sun left me looking like I’d been
spanked with a bible, or perhaps it was
the night out on the town with Farrell
back in Dublin that evening that did the
damage?
Slow and steady on Monday and a
clear and uneventful late afternoon trip to
Caernarfon and beautiful weather onwards, left me inbound to Kemble and
time to reflect on another fantastic Irish
outing.
My thanks to all the Irish guys for
their contest organisation and superb entertainment. Special thanks to Nick B for
taking some good CD decisions under
difficult conditions. Thanks to Farrell
McGee too, for being ‘lead a/c’ and treating me to another hugely hospitable Irish
experience.
I said it last year and I’ll definitely say
it again – “If you didn’t go this year, you
really ought to in 2007.”
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National Reports
Waterford Results:
CAACI Beginners Class
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Known
O/all %
1
Declan O'Regan
Extra-200
N22-JW
387.8
52.400
2
Alan Murphy
Extra-200
N22-JW
317.2
42.867
Standard level CAACI Trophy
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Unk
O/all %
1 Stephen Hipwell
Pitts S-1S
G-ITTI
969.0
73.972
2 Farrell McGee
Pitts S-1E
G-FARL
920.3
70.249
3 Martin Hill
Pitts S-2A
G-CCTF
910.1
69.476
4 Ed Harding
Yak-52
G-YAKH
836.2
63.830
5 David Shutter
Pitts S-1D
G-LOOP
824.8
62.962
6 Paul O'Donnell
Extra-200
N22-JW
761.8
58.152
7 Jonathan Cooper
Yak-52
G-YAKH
757.8
57.851
8 Jack Willis
Extra-200
G-EEEK
735.7
56.159
9 Adrian Willis
Extra-200
G-EEEK
733.7
56.010
10 John Wicks
CAP-10C
G-CPXC
719.6
54.928
CAACI advanced unknown
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National Reports
CAACI Intermediate Unknown
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Unknown
O/all %
1
Paul Tomlinson
Pitts S-1T
2
David Jenkins
Extra-200
G-OSIT
1307.6
69.555
G-EEEK
1228.3
65.335
3
Neil Bigrigg
4
John Vize
Pitts S-1A
G-BTUL
1201.1
63.887
Pitts S-1T
G-IIIL
1182.6
62.902
Unknown
O/all %
Advanced CAACI Trophy
1
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Eddie Goggins
Extra-200
N22-JW
2331.7
79.311
2
David Bruton
Extra-200
EI-SAM
2198.4
74.774
3
Ron Allan
Pitts S-2B
G-IIII
1982.7
67.439
4
Corinne Dennis
Extra-230
G-XTRA
1550.7
52.744
The Celtic Challenge Trophy
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Unknown
O/all %
1 Adv
Eddie Goggins
Extra-200
N22-JW
2331.7
79.311
2 Adv
David Bruton
3 Std
Stephen Hipwell
Extra-200
EI-SAM
2198.4
74.774
Pitts S-1S
G-ITTI
969.0
4 Std
73.972
Farrell McGee
Pitts S-1E
G-FARL
920.3
70.249
5 Int
Paul Tomlinson
Pitts S-1T
G-OSIT
1307.6
69.555
6 Std
Martin Hill
Pitts S-2A
G-CCTF
910.1
69.476
7 Adv
Ron Allan
Pitts S-2B
G-IIII
1982.7
67.439
8 Int
David Jenkins
Extra-200
G-EEEK
1228.3
65.335
9 Int
Neil Bigrigg
Pitts S-1A
G-BTUL
1201.1
63.887
10 Std
Ed Harding
Yak-52
G-YAKH
836.2
63.830
11 Std
David Shutter
Pitts S-1D
G-LOOP
12 Int
John Vize
Pitts S-1T
G-IIIL
13 Std
Paul O'Donnell
Extra-200
N22-JW
761.8
58.152
14 Std
Jonathan Cooper
Yak-52
G-YAKH
757.8
57.851
15 Std
Jack Willis
Extra-200
G-EEEK
735.7
56.159
16 Std
Adrian Willis
Extra-200
G-EEEK
733.7
56.010
17 Std
John Wicks
CAP-10C
G-CPXC
719.6
54.928
18 Adv
Corinne Dennis
Extra-230
G-XTRA
1550.7
52.744
21
824.8
62.962
1182.6
62.902
National Reports
Whither goes the Weather…
From John Vize
…. or is it now Somalia, Rwanda, Burkina Faso or Chad? Anyway, I spoke to a
nice lady in Glasgow, couldn’t understand
the accent mind you, but I think she said
“What region?” Remembering a hint
Robert had given me, I said, “ Fishguard”.
Armed with the number she’d given
me I called The Special Branch in Fishguard. A rather harassed woman answered. “ Is that Special Branch?” I enquired. “Yes” she said, “It is”.
“I’d like to arrange flight clearance for
a trip to Waterford.”
“Oh, you’ll have to speak to Bryn.
He’s out, will you call back?”
I rang later at the suggested time but
Bryn was still not in the office. “I’ll give
you his mobile” she helpfully volunteered,
but imagining him out on a drugs bust or
raiding the headquarters of The Sons of
Glendower, I decided instead to call the
office number again later.
When I called next, two days later,
and the day before our departure the same
woman answered, sounding more harassed than ever. Somewhat incongruously
there was a child crying in the background. Well, deepest Wales, I thought;
probably a rural police station, where the
guy lives in.
No, he still wasn’t home and I’d better
give him a ring on his mobile.
I did. And he answered. “Is that Special Branch” I said. “Yes”, he replied
“Bryn speaking”.
“I’d like to arrange clearance for a GA
flight to Waterford from Haverfordwest
tomorrow”. “Oh, I can’t help you there
boy…we’re tree surgeons!”
It’s ok for
you guys
with your
glass cockpits and you
chaps in
your tourercum-aeros
CAPs and
Extras but
we Pitts
artists are
truly fair
weather
flyers, right.
Well you
have to be, don’t you, to stay legal I
mean….and to preserve your sanity.
Strictly VFR.
Take the simple matter of flying across
the Irish Sea to compete at Waterford in
the CAACI contest. To some it’s just a
question of drawing a line on a map, filing a flight plan and calling Special
Branch.
Incidentally, a few years ago a fellow
flyer, on whom I’d come to rely to do all
that admin stuff on foreign trips was,
prior to a Waterford contest, unaccountably delayed at the office, ( which was rare
because he often berated me for ignoring
his recorded messages on my mobile,
“The sky is blue and where are you?” and
reminding me that, “No-one ever died
wishing he’d spent more time at the office”) and asked me to make the call to
Special Branch.
I willingly took on the task and dialled Directory Enquiries. That was before
the days of talking to call centres in India,
22
National Reports
in his bathroom. His lady is looking out
of the window at the gathering sea fog
and hears fast approaching aero engines.
“Aeroplanes” she cries. (It’s one of the
things he’s always liked about her).
“Sounds like Pitts,” says one of Britain’s
most experienced Advanced aerobatic
stars. As he came to the window we,
oblivious to this coincidence, flew straight
over the rooftop of his guesthouse.
We groped around in the gloom for
what seemed a lifetime and I hung in close
to the other Pitts for fear of losing him in
the splodges of scud we kept running into.
And then in a climbing turn to port I lost
him as we ran into cloud. Instinctively but
reluctantly, (not
knowing exactly
where the hell we
were) I turned
right for separation, keeping the
ball central and
using up all my
accumulated
brownie points. I
saw the ground
through a hole,
dived for it and
resolved to stay in
contact with it
come what may.
Resuming navigation, I found Waterford, joined left
base, landed, taxied in, shut down, got
out and kissed the ground. Perhaps they
thought the Pope had made a surprise
visit.
Well, it may not be practicable to fit
blind flying instruments into a Pitts S1,
but I did order a parachute the very next
week.
Directory Enquiries, Special Branch,
Tree Surgeons. Perhaps I should have
‘twigged’ earlier.
I eventually got through to the real
Special Branch in Swansea, who were very
helpful about the flight but somewhat
bemused when I said, “Oh, and can you
come round and trim my Leylandii?” I
know, you shouldn’t joke with the fuzz
but I couldn’t resist it.
So, anyway, there we were at Haverfordwest en route to this year’s CAACI,
two S1s (registrations withheld to protect
the innocent), when an S2 lands and disgorges a well known Intermediate pilot
and, from the front cockpit, a one-time
Chairman of the
BAeA. After drinking tea, filing a
flight plan and getting the Waterford
actuals, (four
eighths broken at
two thousand) we
happily set off in
Vic for the forty
minute crossing.
A lot can happen to Irish coastal
weather in half an
hour and about five
miles out from the
Eire coast it was
less than 800 and
by landfall it was
400. One of the three broke formation,
preferring to go above and hope for a gap
inland. I closed up, choosing formation
rather than navigation and communication, as my capacity for concentration
couldn’t handle all three.
Cut to a B&B in Dunmore East. A
vertically challenged Britannia Captain is
23
National Reports
The Classic Aircraft Event - spot-on first time!
With the undoubted benefit of a little hindsight ….. from Nick Buckenham
own decision a couple of years ago to
float the prospect of
the Association putting
on a gentler sort of
mildly competitive
event, aimed principally at non-BAeA
member pilots who
have thought about
entering a full-on aerobatic competition but
then shied away from
Doing It for any number of real or imaginary reasons. We of
course think of ourselves as a friendly, open and welcoming
bunch, but to outsiders the perceived need
for well honed skills and a hairy aeroplane probably loom larger than we’d
care to admit.
A new-style competition to meet this
target first crept into the committee plan
back in 2004, but like all good New
Things it has taken a little more time and
effort to become a reality than first envisaged. Too many questions and not
enough answers remained when the 2005
contest calendar was fixed, but this year it
all came together when
Leicester Airfield provided
the venue and
we duly ran the
first “Classic
Aircraft
Event”. Right
up to the eve of
the big day we
If we’re really honest – and who of us
would admit to anything else – a detailed
recollection of one’s
first aerobatic sequence
in front of the judges is
at best a memory rosily
tinted by time. Even
more to the point, who
could re-assemble the
logic train of the preceding weeks and
months that led to
“Hey, I could do that!”
taking shape as a formal intention to be addressed and resolved. Why did you do it? What would
have made it an easier decision to take?
Which bits of this process were the most
difficult, and could have been eased by a
friend who already competed, a trawl
through our website, a book of answers,
inspired guesswork, a sensible pill….
whatever? Fortunately we’re all on the
inside now, and so the real cause of those
stumbles toward the first set of wing-wags
are pretty much lost. All, some or none of
which is why old BAeA hands Nigel Arthur and Barry Tempest reached their
24
National Reports
aeroplanes more associated with competitions from way back then, rather than a
competition of the second millennium. In
fact the
weather played
ball, Leicester
airfield was
exactly the
right place, and
an extremely
informative day
was had by all.
In discussion it
became clear
that quite a lot
of effort had
gone into preparation by most pilots, and
all seemed pleased that the usual BAeA
bash-on Pitts brigade were not to be seen
– but then somewhat apprehensive that
the opposition appeared, just like them,
well informed and ready to go. All to play
for then.
As much of this would be quite ‘new’
to the competitors, CD Ben Ellis and
Chief Judge Steve Todd delivered an unusually comprehensive briefing that covered just about every possible aspect of
the day to come. A flying order and some
more copies of the specially devised Classic sequence were conjured-up from the
held our breath, the usual entrant’s page
on the BAeA web being remarkably shy of
actual intending contestants – we forget of
course that whilst
this list of commitments provides the
fuel for much insider comment, to
outsiders it’s irrelevant, or at least
they have no clue
as to it’s influence
on pre-contest expectations and
chatter. Our nerves
held….
On the day itself the entry was all that
we could have wished – two Jungmanns,
four Chipmunks, a C-152, two RF4s, a
Robin, a Starduster and an Acrosport – all
The Classic Known sequence
25
National Reports
comment “I never realised it was like
this!” springing from many a pilot’s lips.
Lunch came and went, the weather stayed
hot / sunny / a bit windy, everyone flew
again, judges judged, assistants scribbled,
results were calculated – and at the finish
a positively beaming Mark Simpson in his
Starduster had inched a couple of percentage points ahead of the almost identical
scores of Mark Williams (RF-4) and Andrew Barlow (Acrosport-2). The Loop
magazine Trophy thus made friends with
it’s first keeper, the medal winners basked
in their moments of glory, and right
pleased we all felt that the day had turned
out so well. No doubt about it – this new
event will be a regular feature.
Overall impressions? We certainly
fired-up some ‘outsiders’ to the BAeA,
proved that when carefully handled the
older machinery can put up excellent performances, put a dozen big grins onto as
many faces, and went a few steps further
down the ‘Lets spread the BAeA message’
road.
All told – a very satisfactory day, spoton first time.
computer, and at about 1030 it fell to
Dennis Neville in DHC-1 G-ALWB to get
the show on the road. Inevitably a few
misty-eyed nostalgia experts appeared
who of course said ‘I told you so!’ and
then we saw that without any doubt the
usual competitive spirit was just as much
in evidence as at every other BAeA event,
the gauntlet was down and only the best
pilot would win.
There was a bit of a wind to contend
with, the slower but graceful Jungmanns
(Jungmenn? Jungwomenn?) and the diminutive Fournier RF-4s having to work
quite hard to be in the right place at the
right time. But hey – what we saw was by
and large quite excellent, and bearing in
mind the unusual / elderly equipment a
real credit to all. After each flight Steve
Green, Graham Hill and I took turns to
de-brief each pilot and provide such morsels of advice and guidance as we could,
so that for the second flight some of the
more obvious lack-of-experience errors
could be sensibly addressed. Most importantly it was very clear that the level of
pure enjoyment was abundantly high, the
The Classic Aircraft Aerobatic Contest - Results
1
2
3
H/C
4
H/C
5
6
H/C
H/C
7
8
Pilot
A/c Type
Reg’n
Mark Simpson
Mark Williams
Andrew Barlow
Michael Pickin
Adrian Hatton
Jon Higgins
Clare Tector
Tom Stambach
Paul Stanley
Dennis Neville
Anna Burroughes
Ed Burbidge
Starduster
Fournier RF4D
Acrosport2
Bucker Jungmann
Fournier RF-4D
DHC-1
Cessna 152
DHC-1
Chipmunk
DHC-1
Bucker Jungmann
Robin R2160
G-BNNA
G-AWBJ
G-VCIO
G-BTDZ
G-AWGN
G-BYHI
G-LEIC
G-BCGC
G-ARMG
G-ALWB
G-BHPL
G-WAVT
26
First
flight
Second
flight
Totals
O/all %
774.3
778.6
787.1
775.8
659.1
726.4
699.2
682.4
642.2
490.1
578.0
456.7
802.5
752.2
743.4
663.1
764.5
690.1
715.4
669.0
645.4
715.2
619.5
429.1
1576.8
1530.8
1530.5
1438.8
1423.6
1416.5
1414.6
1351.4
1287.6
1205.3
1197.5
885.7
74.377
72.207
72.193
67.869
67.149
66.815
66.724
63.746
60.734
56.854
56.487
41.779
National Reports
The British Advanced Aerobatic Nationals, Sywell
Report from 2006 advanced champion Gary Ferriman
the lower places changing places due to
inconsistent flying.
Saturday finally brought good weather
and Eric got the flying underway by about
9am.
The first unknown was a tricky little
sequence that I did not fly particularly
well but again the others inconsistency
kept me on top of the Leader-board.
At this stage it was decided that we
would fly the
2nd unknown
on the Sunday
and the Masters during the
remainder of
Saturday. A lot
of pilots were
not too happy
about this,
wanting to get
home after a
stressful 3 days.
Anyway Eric
ruled and fly the Masters we did.
I flew it well for the first time in a few
years. I was first behind Alan (H/C).
Sunday again brought poor weather
and “very” strong winds. We finally flew
about 11.30. We had a “Box” wind of
over 40 knots. The challenge was not just
to fly the figures but also to keep it where
the judges could see it. I think I coped
with this well after a lot of thought about
the positioning with the massive cross-box
wind.
First in this kept me first overall and
for the second year British Advanced
Champion.
Two weeks of very nice CAVOK
weather gave us hope that this would
carry on during the Nationals weekend.
But alas the BAeA weather gremlin
thought otherwise. Thursday arrived with
cloud virtually down to the deck. Therefore no chance of getting there for the
briefing.
Fortunately the new guidelines on
weather-delayed starts helped every competitor and
“most” of us
were able to
make the delayed briefing at
3pm.
Almost on
arrival I was
collared by Graham Hill to do
a quick “Twirl”
for the local TV
crew. A bit of
fun before getting down to the serious flying.
The weather finally cleared enough for
us to start competing at 4pm. We started
with the Q program. This was going to
count into the competition final score this
year for the first time. This is definitely a
good idea for many reasons but mostly
because a lot of time and AVGAS goes
into learning it.
Because of the 6pm deadline only the
Advanced pilots finished the Q on time. I
was first after Alan who was flying H/C.
Friday brought the Free program,
again delayed till 4pm because of the crap
weather. I was still in first place but with
27
National Reports
The British Unlimited Aerobatic Nationals, Sywell
Report from 2006 unlimited champion Mark Jefferies, age 47
Here are my few words. i can just only type. Very well organized, nice
and sunny bit of wind on Saturday + Sunday, had to dash to do a show
Sunday, sorry. Thanks to everyone. Cheers, mj
Unlimited 2006 National Championship Results
1
2
3
4
Pilot
Mark Jefferies
Kester Scrope
Steve Carver
Nick Onn
A/c Type
Extra-300S
Extra-300S
Extra-260
Sukhoi-26
Reg’n
G-IIUI
G-IIUI
G-EXTR
G-XXVI
“Q”
2356.8
2217.9
2217.5
2103.9
Free
3279.9
2704.0
2442.0
969.7
Unk #1
2351.6
1862.2
945.9
2133.8
Totals
7988.3
6784.1
5605.4
5207.4
O/all %
69.463
58.992
48.742
45.281
Advanced 2006 National Championship Results
H/C
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
H/C
9
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Alan Cassidy
Gary Ferriman
Julian Murfitt
Cas Smith
John Askew
Isi von Arx
James Allison
Dave Kaberry
Corinne Dennis
Tim Jenkinson
John Paulson
Extra-300
Extra-300L
Extra-230
Pitts S-2B
Zlin-50
Extra-200
Extra-230
Extra-300
Extra-230
Extra-300
Extra-300L
G-SIII
G-FIII
G-CBUA
G-ICAS
G-MATE
G-EEEK
G-ROMP
G-IJMI
G-XTRA
G-SIII
G-IJMI
"Q"
Free
Unk #1
Unk #2
Totals
O/all %
2013.2
1955.7
1783.2
1838.5
1538.1
1624.8
1890.2
1625.3
1355.4
1825.5
925.2
2450.2
2328.4
2346.0
2100.2
2105.8
1965.2
1847.5
1781.9
1442.6
2145.1
1546.9
1287.1
1604.1
985.1
1133.4
815.6
960.1
949.6
2685.8
2512.8
2260.5
1473.3
2347.2
9294.3
8343.7
7676.8
7016.0
6976.2
4723.4
4553.3
4367.3
3747.6
1825.5
999.4
74.117
66.537
61.218
55.949
55.632
37.667
36.310
34.827
29.885
14.557
7.970
Some of Sywell’s excellent new facilities
74.2
Chief Judge:
John Gaillard,
South Africa
28
National Reports
Unlimited - the unknown sequence
Julian Murfitt’s winning Free sequence
Advanced unknown sequence #1
Advanced unknown sequence #2
29
National Reports
The Golding Barrett Trophy, Sleap
From Chris Burkett
was inspecting the weather forecast with
heightened interest.
All of a sudden, a miraculous thing
happened - a day before the competition a
serious spell of CAVOK arrived! Uncle
Eric, in his
CD's report,
complains that
everything at
the contest was
simply far too
perfect to be at
all noteworthy
(perfect
weather, perfect venue, no
hitches) … well
Eric, I for one
was not complaining!
Like many of the Standard level debutants before me I elected to enter the Beginners competition first, on the Friday
afternoon. I had no idea how I'd fare attempting to fly unknown sequences at
Standard, but at least I should be able to
make a decent effort of the Beginners
Known sequence. Myself and Luke, a Will
Curtis 'Dream Team' prodigy, came out
on top at Beginners and - behold - a first
medal.
That night it turned out I had booked
myself in to a very 'posh' B&B - along
with most of the judging contingent! (So,
bribery explains these results, I hear you
say...damn, I expect they'll be more expensive next time!). Our lodgings were in
an Elizabethan manor, complete with
suits of armour, coats of arms and the
like. It certainly contributed to the slightly
For some months I had been suffering
from a condition, most common amongst
Tiger Moth pilots, and just a small minority of Pitts pilots, known as "Aileron
Envy". Despite having two pairs of available and eminently suitable
wing trailing
edges, our machines have but
a single pair of
ailerons. Sure
enough, aileron
effectiveness
and roll rate
does suffer in
comparison to
the four aileron
biplanes.
For a while I became convinced that it
was impossible to fly a really clean stall
turn in my aeroplane, and I was looking
for a convenient excuse. I kept torque’ing
off, and full opposite aileron was insufficient to correct it - Aileron Envy had
grabbed me. However practice, timing,
words of wisdom from the Wise Ones,
and judicious throttle juggling finally
proved what the rest of you knew anyway
- that yes, of course you can fly a stall
turn well in a Pitts S-1C!
The time had come to try my hand at
a Standard level competition. I don't
know whether you'll remember this now but May was cold, wet and horrible here,
with a never ending procession of front
upon front blowing through. Having
missed out on the opener at Breighton, I
was targeting Sleap for my Standard level
'debut' - and as the days counted down
30
National Reports
2's and 3's. "Oh well" I thought, after
yesterday and this morning I've already
done as well as I hoped for - never mind,
put it down to experience.
A while later I went back in to collect
my scores - and was shocked and amazed
to discover an aggregate score of 75% but how come? What about all those 2's?
Leafing through the score sheets, not a 2
in sight! Ben had showed me the scoresheet for somebody else! (He claims this
was an entirely innocent mistake - but do
I believe him?!!).
So that was it - somehow I had managed to stay just ahead of Olly and the
rest of the pack. I had claimed a trophy in
surreal aspect that the whole weekend
seemed to have for me.
Back bright and early on Saturday to
the Shropshire Aero Club: nineteen competitors at Standard, with two sequences
each for Standard and Advanced: a long
day ahead for the judges.
Flying the Known sequence I felt 'on
top of it' - not so the Unknown - it felt
like I was hanging on to the tail of a tiger,
just managing to hang in there and keep it
strung together.
Back on the ground, I voiced this to
Ben, doing the scores. "Hmm" he says, "I
see what you mean" - and shows me a
score sheet with the later figures scoring
Golding Barrett Trophy competition results
The Golding-Barrett Trophy - standard level
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Known
Unknown
Totals
O/all %
1
Chris Burkett
Pitts S-1C
2
Olly Elmer
Pitts S-1SE
G-BHSS
992.9
849.0
1841.8
71.389
G-MAGG
991.7
834.9
1826.6
3
Ed Harding
70.799
Pitts S-1
G-MAXG
907.5
898.0
1805.5
69.981
4
Charlie Kimbell
Pitts S-2A
G-WREN
911.9
821.0
1732.9
67.167
H/C
Richard Loukota
Pitts S-2A
G-ICAS
828.5
890.2
1718.7
66.616
H/C
Luke Czepiela
Pitts S-2C
G-IICI
1027.2
683.9
1711.2
66.324
5
Farrell McGee
Pitts S-1E
G-FARL
885.7
798.6
1684.3
65.282
H/C
Harry Mason
Pitts S-2B
G-ICAS
826.1
770.5
1596.7
61.886
6
Trevor Bailey
Cessna-150
G-AZOZ
798.8
783.5
1582.3
61.330
7
Martin Hill
Pitts S-2A
G-CCTF
781.8
792.0
1573.8
61.000
8
John Wicks
CAP-10C
G-CPXC
670.2
840.7
1510.9
58.561
9
David Slater
Pitts S-1T
G-BKPZ
719.3
772.8
1492.1
57.834
10
Stephen Hipwell
Pitts S-1S
G-ITTI
747.5
739.6
1487.1
57.640
11
Paul O'Donnell
Extra-200
N22-JW
582.5
753.6
1336.2
51.790
H/C
Andrew Barlow
Acrosport-2 G-VCIO
470.6
719.9
1190.6
46.147
12
Simon Hampton
Pitts S-1
G-MAXG
592.4
516.5
1108.9
42.981
H/C
Elise Mason
Decathlon
G-ZZAP
723.9
383.8
1107.7
42.935
13
Darren Tilley
Pitts S-2B
G-BRVT
547.9
503.4
1051.3
40.749
14
David Shutter
Pitts S-1D
G-LOOP
533.3
409.7
943.0
36.550
31
National Reports
Golding Barrett Trophy - other class results
Beginners Class
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Score
O/all %
1
Chris Burkett
Pitts S-1C
G-BHSS
603.4
81.534
2
Luke Czepiela
Pitts S-2C
G-IICI
582.2
78.676
3
Andrew Thomas
Pitts S-2A
G-WREN
525.4
70.998
4
Richard Ellingworth
Pitts S-2A
G-WREN
504.7
68.198
5
Andrew Barlow
Acrosport-2
G-VCIO
483.6
65.358
6
Tim Constance
Yak-52
G-FLSH
470.3
63.548
7
Robert Deeth
Robin-2160
G-WAVT
470.1
63.528
8
Mike Rennoldson
Slingsby T-67M G-BNSO
393.3
53.150
9
Steve Jackson
Yak-52
350.2
47.320
G-CBPY
Advanced Class
Pilot
A/c
Reg'n
Known
Unknown
Totals
O/all %
H/C Alan Cassidy
Extra-300
G-SIII
2127.9
2571.9
4699.8
76.172
1
Gary Ferriman
Extra-300L
G-FIII
1573.6
2419.4
3993.0
64.717
2
Eddie Goggins
Extra-200
N22-JW
1608.2
2346.0
3954.2
64.088
3
Ron Allan
Pitts S-2B
G-IIII
1562.7
2138.4
3701.1
59.986
4
Cas Smith
Pitts S-2B
G-ICAS
1863.2
1773.5
3636.7
58.941
5
Julian Murfitt
Laser
G-CBHR
1683.0
1790.2
3473.2
56.292
6
Tony Maxwell
Pitts S-2B
G-IIII
1119.6
1788.7
2908.4
47.137
32
National Reports
my first competition: truly beginners luck
- perhaps time to announce my retirement
as well, and save later embarrassments!
I proved (to myself) that the S-1C is a
winning machine - stall turns on-axis, and
no scope for excuses. These can be postponed, to reappear at the higher levels by which time Aileron Envy will most
probably have resurfaced (in its Vertical
Rolling guise) and I will probably be bolting on some new wings!
I'd like to record my thanks to those
who've given me much appreciated advice
and encouragement - notably the Little
Gransden brigade (Mark, Kester and Ian)
and to Alan, most especially for finding
the time to write his book - if you don't
yet have a copy you should get it!
Sleap - advanced unknown sequence
GB Trophy - standard unknown sequence
33
Snapshot
34
Information
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ments for publication should be sent to Jen
Buckenham, together with a remittance
payable to ‘British Aerobatic Association’.
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Aerobatics News Review, the Journal of the
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sent direct to Jen Buckenham at the address
or email overleaf.
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Any portion of BAeA Aerobatics News Review may be reproduced without written permission provided that due acknowledgement
of the source is made at the time of republication.
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Other key BAeA people who can be reached
via the Internet are:
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members there’s a fee of £5.00
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The annual membership fees of the British
Aerobatic Association Limited for 2005 are:
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An application form can be obtained from the
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Surcharge if artwork required. All advertise35
BAeA Directors and Committee members in 2006
Alan Cassidy - Chairman
18 Woodhurst Road, Maidenhead, Berks SL6
8TF
Tel:
01628 637732
Fax:
01628 777083
E-mail: chairman@aerobatics.org.uk
Martin Sandford - Points Tables etc.
Folliotts, River Road, Taplow, Bucks SL6 0BJ
Tel:
01628 633780
E-mail: bipo_pilot@yahoo.co.uk
Jen Buckenham - Membership Secretary
84 Green End Road, Sawtry, Cambs PE28 5UZ
Tel:
01487 833022
Mob: 07773 768386
E-mail: membership@aerobatics.org.uk
Steve Green - Head of Contest Organisation
61 Tennyson Road, Battersea
London SW8 3SU
Mobile: 0797 3885006
E-mail: contests@aerobatics.org.uk
Anne Sandford - Treasurer
Folliotts, River Road, Taplow, Bucks SL6 0BJ
Tel:
01628 633780
E-mail: treasurer@aerobatics.org.uk
Dave Cowden - Company Secretary
Mayfield House, 5 Wrens Warren, Chuck
Hatch, Maresfield, East Sussex TN7 4WW
Tel:
01892 771310
E-mail: dc.aeros@tiscali.co.uk
Ben Ellis
19 Thistledene, Thames Ditton
Surrey KT7 OYH
Tel:
020 8398 2114
Mobile: 07711 821249
E-mail: benellis@aol.com
Ian Scott - Power Judging
11 Glendale, Orton Wistow
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE2 6YL
Tel:
01733 239136
E-mail: judging@aerobatics.org.uk
Gerald Cooper
White Lodge, Fen Road
Owmby by Spital, Lincs LN8 2HP
Tel: 01673 878804 (eve)
Email: cas.projects@talk21.co
Chris Cain - Glider Representative
29 Towes Mount, Carlton
Nottingham NG4 1DT
Tel:
0115 956 1126 (eve)
Mob: 07994 327324
E-mail: gliders@aerobatics.org.uk
Simon Janvrin
Broxmead Lodge, Broxmead Lane
Cuckfield, West Sussex RH17 5JH
Tel:
01444 417955
Email: simonjanvrin@aol.com
Eric Marsh - Keeper of Trophies
Cavendish Hotel, Baslow
Bakewell, Derbyshire DE4 1SP
Tel:
01246 582311
Fax:
01246 582312
E-mail: info@cavendish-hotel.net
Judi Jones - Glider Judging
58 Sandy Road, Addleston, Surrey KT15 1JA
Tel:
07711 591336 (eve)
Email: judihjones@aol.com
Tom Cassells
Hill Top Farmhouse
Upper Dunsforth, York YO26 9RU
Tel:
01423 324435 (eve)
E-mail: tcassells@reedboardall.com
Julian Murfitt
3 Partridge Mead, Banstead, Surrey SM7 1LN
Tel:
01737 355289 (eve)
Email: julian.murfitt@mekon.com
Nick Buckenham - Web, ANR typesetting
84 Green End Road, Sawtry, Cambs PE28 5UZ
Tel:
01487 833022
Mob: 07773 768386
E-mail: webmaster@aerobatics.org.uk
Nick Wakefield
Wood Sutton, Leysters
Leominster, Herefordshire HR6 0JF
Tel:
01568 750366
Email: wakefield.nick@btinternet.com
Directors of the BAeA
36