Mark:
Day 11 – August 12th
WOW… what a day. I’m not even sure where to begin. Today was the last day of the preliminary flights. After three days, all four of the US team had basically secured a place in the Semi-finals. That meant that today was a day to fly relaxed, and try to really smoke a great flight. The flight order didn’t have anyone flying until almost 12:30 so we opted to start the day at our “Private” practice field. On the road at 7am, at the field at 8am, Andrew in the air by 8:10.
Andrew, Jason and Joseph each put up 2 or 3 practice flights by 10am and we were back on the road to the contest site. Brett and Bryan opted to practice close to the contest site since they were up first. Occasionally we’ve been caught in some horrendous traffic in town and they didn’t want to risk being late to the field.
We are now driving in and around town with confidence and are comfortable with our bearings such that we can explore alternate routes, or investigate new areas that we pass by. This is one of the fun aspects of the WC trip. We’re here long enough, and are forced to visit multiple locations throughout the town (hotel, practice sites, contest sites, hobby shops, groceries, restaurants, etc) that we are able to gain some familiarity with the area.
Oh, and more cool cars on the way back. We got dusted by a Ferrari, passed another Lotus Elise, and spent some time following a Bentley. There are 2 Tesla’s that frequent the contest but we have yet to ascertain who the owners are.
Back to the contest… Brett flew at 12:30 and flew his best flight of the contest (IMHO). Light winds and a constantly changing wind sock made it difficult to pick a flight direction. All the prior pilots had flown right to left, so there was some hesitancy to switch the line and start flying left to right. Brett made the call and it would appear it was the correct call. Judges have been extremely critical of Stall Turns and Spin entries, and trying to fight those two maneuvers down wind only makes their job easy. Brett finished his flight and before he had even landed the scores were up and we knew he had put in a great flight that would help is overall position by the end of the day.
Joseph flies 3 after Brett so he was already in ready box 3 by the time we’d carried Brett’s plane back to the pit areas. He knew a good score today could really position him well for the JR. World Championship trophy, but he was relaxed and joking around a bit. We almost had a disaster when the line director leg hooked his contra props while trying to walk by and jerked the motor against the frame pretty hard, but all seemed ok. Joe also had a direction dilemma, but chose to follow Brett’s lead and fly left to right. We had a slight delay for a helicopter to come in and land, but then we were off and Joseph flew a keeper. Not his best flight as he got off to a rough start out the gate. He lost his line coming into the box and was headed out badly. He was able to correct quickly, and used the next 3 maneuvers to work it back in and was able to really lock down the flight from that point on.
Ok, I’m reading this dreck that I’m writing and realizing that it’s a boring diatribe of flight “play by play”, so I’ll cut to the chase. Andrew flew a great flight, but was up 2nd in the round and didn’t seem to get scored where WE (biased American supporters) thought he should but it was enough to secure his position in the top 3 spots. Jason flew very late in the day and basically achieved a secure position in the top 10.
As the round ended, so did the wireless connection. Basically hundreds of people all trying to surf for scores overloaded the system. The waiting began….
Tonight was Nations Night! A party thrown by the organizers for all the participants with dinner, music, and most importantly, the announcement of the semi-finalists and the drawing of the flight order. The team left as each of their flights finished to go start practicing the F sequence, so Darin and I attended the party and pulled flight orders on their behalf. Having FOUR pilots from one country in the semis was a new concept and we had to draw multiple times to provide adequate spacing for our pilots. Final draw was Andrew 8th, Jason 15th, Brett 21st, and Joseph 26th. A good draw all in all.
Tomorrow will be a long day of practice for the team. The judges and jury (as well as Tim & Linda Jesky, and Mike & Cindy Wickizer) are taking a day trip up into the Alps for some site seeing.
OH… and last but most certainly not least!! We learned that our team score is based on our highest placing three pilots INCLUDING our Jr. pilot. That put us a few point ahead of the Japanese going into the Semi’s, rather than a few points behind. Still, lots of room for movement so we’re taking nothing for granted.