Mark:
Day 8 – Sunday 8/9
8 days into the trip and we’re just getting started. Today was the first round of the prelims and for the USA it was a pretty exciting day. The most exciting part was that I didn’t have to get up at 5:45!!! Woohoo! So maybe that part isn’t important to the day’s events, but trust me, from where I’m sitting, it’s note worthy.
Jason was up first this morning with a 10:11 flight time. Some delays pushed that to 10:30 which was good as the sun was out in force and still fully within the box. Jason flew a very solid flight, holding a tight line at 150m and maintaining a slow pace. I can’t say we felt the flight was rewarded with good scores though. His average was a 421which at the time was the top score on the line. Unfortunately it seemed that he only warmed up the judges for Stephan Kaiser who followed him immediately and put up a 438. In the end, Jason would end up 5th on that line of Judges. Not a bad showing, but also not where he wants to be. You can fully expect he will make a move tomorrow!
Andrew flew at 12:08 on the same line that Jason had. I’m starting to think he’s a machine. Every flight is a lesson in geometry and consistency. Like Jason, he put up a great flight that didn’t feel like it got the scores we would have liked, but he flew a solid 440 to take first place on the line. As the day unfolded, it became clear that this was likely the hardest judge panel of the four. The morning flights ended with Onda from Japan flying a 447 to take first on our line, leaving Andrew 2nd, and Jason in 5th.
A quick aside here to mention yet again how well thought out and well organized Bernhard Schaden and his team are for this event. As I mentioned previously, the sun is in the box for the first 3 hours of each day (until 11 or so). The organizers were all set with sun shields mounted on heavy duty, anchored, adjustable tripods for the pilots to use. These were not opague, but rather very very dark translucent plastic such that if you HAD to fly through the sun, you could and would actually be able to see the plane through the sun shield as you past behind it. Equally impressive was that they also had sunshields for each judge to position so as not to be blinded for 3 hours while staring at the sky. The conditions were not ideal, but with good planning they were able to make it quite acceptable.
The other well orchestrated component was judges breaks. They allowed the judges to break every 6-7 pilots and during those 5 min windows they always had a demonstration for the crowd to keep things moving. Large RC Jet demos seem to rule the day and all were spectacular.
The afternoon brought some relaxation for those that had flown in the morning as Brett and Joseph would not be up until late in the afternoon. We took some time to tour the onsite airforce museum which is spectacular. Dozens of old planes spanning from the early days of flight up through modern times we’re on display. More fun was that they also had the history of RC Precision Aerobatic planes on display starting with the first WC winner Ed Kazmirski’s Orion, all the way up through to present day.
After we geeked out at the museum for a while it was time to get back to business and have Brett and Joseph fly their first rounds of the contest. Brett was up at 4:30 and by now the weather had changed quite a bit. The clear sunny skies that had ruled the morning had given way to windy, cloudy cover with a threat of rain. Brett’s flight was nothing short of spectacular. His Allure was locked on throughout the flight and he flew it crisply and accurately. The judges also liked his performance because his score of 470 put him at the top of his line. We got so caught up in congratulating him that we almost forgot that Joseph was in ready box 2 set to fly in just 15 min.
Some quick regrouping and we were all focused on supporting our Jr. pilot through his first round. The weather was starting to threaten even more (dark and overcast enough that no sunglasses were require, or desired by now) and rain seemed inevitable. Joseph took off and was locked on from the opening take off. He flew one of the solid flights we’d seen from him in practice all week. At the end we all knew it had been a great flight and congratulated him accordingly. It wasn’t until the scores came out… a 478, that we realized it not only put him at the top of the line for that day, but he had just flown the highest score of the contest thus far, on ANY of the four panels. It was an exciting moment for all of us, and an emotional one for Don to see his son perform so well and receive so many accolades.
We realize that this is the first step in a long race this week, but it was a really good first step for the entire team. We’re especially proud of Joseph for his performance, in fact we’ve decided that his efforts today have redeemed the Szczur “Diesel NOT gas” name and we won’t make Don sit in the corner any more.
Tomorrow will be day two of the prelims and our flight order is reversed. Brett and Joseph will fly in the morning and Andrew and Jason fly in the afternoon. The rains did eventually come this evening, so we’re hoping that they clear out by morning but leave enough cloud cover to shield the sun.
You can find all the scores at www.F3A-WC2015.com under ‘rankings’
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