Check out what Mark had to say about practice day!
Day 12 – Thursday August 13
Mark:
This will be a short update as most of today was spent at the practice field. With the entire team in the Semi-Finals ( can I hear a WOOHOO!! ) it was pretty obvious how we were going to be spending the day. Since it has only been 2 cycles since the introduction of Jr. pilots at the World Championships, I believe we are the first team to ever have all 4 pilots qualify. Not to mention all in the top 15 and three of them in the top 7!
Everyone flew 8 or 9 flights, with a combination of F-17 and Unknown’s being flown. These guys are good. Everyone has F looking very polished and even the unknown flights were all reasonably clean. For those wondering, we came with an entire notebook of schedules made up from the catalog of maneuvers so that we would have new “unknown” sequences for them to practice with.
Exhaustion is starting to take its toll. Long days in the heat just seem to add up when it comes to fatigue. Another reason tonights report will be short ☺ Up until today I had managed to avoid getting posted on “Team USA caught sleeping” Face book page (ala Kevin Young) but alas, I succumbed. Everyone is very tired, but the pace will continue for another 2 days before we can really relax. We did enjoy a late dinner along with Team Canada at the small restaurant next to the hotel which has become our default back up plan (soooo…like almost every night).
Tomorrow’s weather looks to be a bit challenging with storms rolling through which will likely come with gusty winds and changing wind directions. It wouldn’t be a world championship without weather playing a role, and it would appear that we will not be let down.
We took a few team photos today, so those should be here somewhere in Cindy’s gallery.
Wish us luck! We’d love to set a new record and have 4 pilots in the finals!!!