2018 National Aerobatics Championships
For the Aerobatic community, the Nationals is the key event of the competition calendar and this year it took place again at the Roundwood Model Aero Club on Saturday August 4th of the Bank Holiday weekend.
9 competitors turned up, 5 in Tier 1 and 2 in Tier 2 and 2 in Masters. The demonstration flight took place at 9:25 and the first competition flight was in the air around 9:45.
This being the best summer that I can remember as expected there was a slight turn in the weather which then rectified itself by the weekend. Maybe last years blood sacrifice by Tony changed our weather system. One can only pray.
The Nationals F3a competition includes that for a maximum of 50% of entry = 4 pilots go forward to fly two final rounds using the F19 schedule to determine the final placings and the National Champion.
So, what of the flying.
In Tier 1 Angus flew his Osmose YS175 powered, I flew my YS200 cdi powered Galaktika, Robert flew his Allure with a YS185cdi. Gordon and Paul continue to fly with sustainable energy electric power, both flying contra systems. We flew right to left with the wind blowing in at 8mph all day. The wind was deceptive and at times was turbulent but overall excellent for this style of flying.
By Round 2 Angus had taken the 2 x 1000’s spots with me in pursuit in the mid 980’s.
Gordon took 3rd place with Robert close behind. The standings for the P-schedule ended up with Angus, Myself, Gordon and Robert qualifying for the F19 rounds.
The F sequence really pushes us to the limit due the pace and complexity of the manoeuvres. One positioning error can lead to significant errors in the manoeuvres to follow. Angus’s flying was exceptional, and he took all rounds both P and F and retained the Irish Aerobatic Champion title for the 4th time. Now he still has a bit to go to catch up with Ray at 14 titles, but not a bad start : ) Robert took third place with Gordon deferring his option to fly the Finals sequence. The F sequence adds a great deal of fun to the competition and I hope that more will embrace it in the future.
In Tier 2 James dominated all rounds and Dave ended up pulling out after the 2nd round due to technical difficulties.
This year thanks to our new pilots open day (NPOD) in Portlaoise we managed to attract back some veterans in Stu and Dave Carr. Maybe an OPOD is in order? Both Dave and Stu took 2 rounds each. With Dave taking the title in a close battle.
Many thanks to the Roundwood Club for hosting the event and to Tony for organising it. Particularly to Paul/Tony for manning the barbeque, Paul for the flight line direction, and score keeping. Thanks as always goes to Dave Foley for making the journey to act as our only standing judge.
Thanks to the great weather all the competitors left the field at around 6pm all agreed that this had been a great days flying with great competition, and good spirit.
From my position as CD, the help from the Pauls and the co-operation of everybody in promptness at the line, whether flying or judging made it possible to get 42 flights in, in a little over 7 hours.
Shane Robinson
Contest Director
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