[NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC

[Patrick Harris]

https://www.facebook.com/USA-F3A-World-Championship-Team-541836459181879/

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On Sun, Nov 5, 2017 at 8:15 PM, Peter Vogel via NSRCA-discussion <
nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:

> Facebook.
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org> on
> behalf of Robert L. Beaubien via NSRCA-discussion <
> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> *Sent:* Sunday, November 5, 2017 8:13:36 PM
> *To:* General pattern discussion
>
> *Subject:* Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>
>
> Where is this being posted so I can see the pics?
>
>
>
>    - Robert Beaubien
>    - Drone Plastics
>    -
>
>
>
> *From:* NSRCA-discussion [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org]
> *On Behalf Of *Vicente Bortone via NSRCA-discussion
> *Sent:* Sunday, November 5, 2017 8:04 PM
> *To:* Derek Koopowitz <derekkoopowitz at gmail.com>; General pattern
> discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>
>
>
> Sunday – It doesn’t seem like we’ve been here for a whole week already!
> FINALLY the competition is upon us.  There are many advantages to getting
> here a bit early, not the least of which is that everyone knows there way
> around the area at this point.  Early in the week we are pretty strict
> about all staying together.  “no man left behind” so to speak. That usually
> means a lot of patience when trying to coordinate a group of 9-12 people
> caravanning with 5 vehicles.  Every destination takes about twice as long
> to get too (so as not to lose anyone) and every task and decision seems
> painfully slow.  But as we become more and more familiar with our routes,
> and the various destinations, it becomes easier and more reasonable to
> separate from time to time.
>
>
>
> Such was the case when AC said he was leaving at 5:30am to go practice.
>
>
>
> “um, Yeah… go for it.  Let me know how that works out. We’ll meet you at
> the contest site”
>
>
>
> “Oh…and take Chuck”
>
>
>
> The real surprise??  The Russians we’re already there and set up to
> practice.
>
>
>
> The reality is that’s how all these guys are wired.  Andrew and Kevin were
> also gone early while the rest of us to headed to the contest site with
> Joseph and Don who were scheduled to fly 2nd at 9:09am.
>
>
>
> Let me start by saying this was THE nicest day we have had BY FAR.  Sunny
> most of the day, moderate winds (7-10mph and even calmer in the afternoon)
> and around 70deg.  For the first time we were able to spend a good part of
> the day without coats and hoodies on.
>
>
>
> The organizers were kind enough to put all our pilots on the same line so
> we all flew on line A today.  It’s nice because it saves a lot of driving
> back and forth between the two lines which are at opposite ends of a mile
> long runway.  At 8:30am they began warming up the judges with several demo
> flights from Argentinian F3A pilots all of whom did a really nice job.  Up
> first for the entire contest was Steve Underwood from the UK.  He put up a
> nice flight and tolerated a lot of ribbing about having flown the best
> flight of the contest and being in 1st place.  It didn’t last long though
> as Joseph was second up and really put up a smooth, well paced sequence.
> He got pushed out a little more than planned in his spin and was forced to
> move the plane back in a bit aggressively in the next maneuver, but all in
> all a great effort.  He was rewarded with a raw score of 439.  More on
> where that puts him in a bit.
>
>
>
> I want to digress slightly to mention that without asking, without being
> told, our entire team was in the ready box area to watch and support
> Joseph's flight.  That meant that the guys at the practice site 25 min away
> had to pack up early and get on the road long before their own contest slot
> would have warranted, just to make sure they watched their teammate fly.
> It’s a good feeling when the whole team is focused on the whole team.
>
>
>
> I’ll cut to the chase a bit and just say that the entire team put up
> fantastic first flights.  If nerves were present, and I’m sure they were,
> it didn’t show in their performance.  AC's debut on the world stage was not
> only well executed, but well received, putting up an admirable 449.
>
>
>
> Andrew followed with a 465, and Jason batted clean up in the afternoon
> with a 462.  Some relative scores on Line A for comparison, Stephan Kaiser
> flew a 453, and CPLR flew a 484.
>
>
>
> Notables on the other line, Gernot (Austria) flew a 462, Robin Trump
> (Germany)  a 451, Lassie (Finland) a 447 and Onda (Japan) a 427.
>
>
>
> We won’t be able to compare the two lines until after flying is done
> tomorrow.  I wish I could post ALL the scores, but they never listed them,
> and they’re not yet up on the web site.  These are all from memory and
> discussing them with the various pilots.  It’s like trading baseball cards,
> “I’ll tell you Andrew’s and Jason’s score if you tell me Robin's and
> Gernot's…”.
>
>
>
> The atmosphere was quite festive at the competition venue all day.  There
> were actually a lot of spectators, many with families of kids.  The nice
> weather certainly helped the turn out, but it was encouraging to see so
> many people in attendance.  It sort of proves that with the right
> marketing, there is some interest from the community.
>
>
>
> I think the organizers have to be very pleased with everything about the
> event.  It seems to be running very smoothly.  That’s not to say there
> weren’t a few issues.   The most alarming was the full scale plane that
> attempted to land (the airport is officially closed) in the middle of the
> morning.  It was a little dicey as line chief stood in the center of the
> runway trying to wave him off.  For a minute we were getting ready to make
> a mad dash to clear the runway of people and planes, but he eventually got
> the message and we heard him throttle up to continue on.  His flight path
> following implied that he was a little confused as to where to go from
> there, but he eventually went on his way.  I’m guessing he’ll start paying
> more attention to NOTAM’s in the future.
>
>
>
> Kevin had a minor wardrobe malfunction as the ties on his contest bib tore
> off one by one, but some creative cutting and some shoe laces alleviated
> that issue.  At least for the day.   We also had a little entertainment at
> Linda Jesky’s expense as a bum knee decided to temporarily give way leading
> her to re-enact the public service announcement for Stop, Drop, and Roll.
> She was ok, but more importantly, it was caught on camera :)
>
>
>
> After all our contest flights were finished, we headed back to the
> practice field for a few more flights.  This time is was Andrews turn to be
> in the air when a full scale jump plane came in for a landing, touching
> down almost on Andrew’s centerline, while he was still in the air.    The
> practice site is still an active airport, but with minimal traffic.  On
> this occasion there was a group skydiving over the airport and the full
> scale was coming in to take them back up again.
>
>
>
> The day ended with some rain moving in, packing up, and heading back to
> the inn.  We stopped at a local grocery/Walmart style big box store called
> COTO for some suppies, only to learn that Sunday is clearly shopping day in
> this neck of the woods and we waited in long, slow lines to check out.
> Urgency doesn’t not seem to translate into Spanish here.  Speaking of
> Spanish, I doubled my Spanish vocabulary today by adding the word
> puntuaciones???.  Scores???  The constant question I'm asking to get our
> score sheets and hope to see a list of scores.
>
>
>
> Tomorrows schedule has us flying on site B, with AC up around 9:40,
> followed by Andrew and Jason before the lunch break, and Joseph rounding
> out the day with a 3pm scheduled flight.
>
>
>
> We’re hoping for another strong day!
>
>
>
> Photos –
>
>
>
> - Leslie finds an interesting surprise outside her room.  Seafood raining
> from the skies. NO clue how this got there, but the ocean is about ¾ mile
> east of us.
>
> - Close up of aforementioned surprise.
>
> - Steve Underwood (kneeling) and his caller preparing to kick off the
> start of the 2017 World Championships!
>
> -  Don and Joe, watching Steve and mentally prepping for their flight.
>
> - Our judge panel.  If you look closely, you’ll see our very own Don
> Ramsey is 3rd from the left.
>
> - Joseph in ready box 1, about to fly.
>
> - Andre from South Africa getting ready for his flight.  Andre has been
> SA’s top dog for many years, and now has Roston Dugmoor, former Jr. World
> Champion nipping at his heels
>
> - Andrew and Kevin enjoying some lunch outside at the competition site.
>
> - Likewise, John Bentley and his wife from Canada enjoying the lunch
> offerings.
>
> - Russian Canopy!!!  The rebuilt Angle’s Shadow Canopy.  80gms (10 lighter
> than the original) comprised of foam ribs and central spine and Nylon
> reinforced tape!  It was an excellent fit and flew well for their young
> pilot.  A real lesson in overcoming adversity.
>
> - Linda J. taking a roll down the hill.  She really was ok   And no, we
> don’t have a callous cameraman (chuck??), he happened to accidently capture
> her in the background of another image.
>
> - Jump plane about to touch down.  Note the wind sock with we have been
> using as a center pole.
>
> - Chuck, me, and our innkeeper friends that came out to the practice site
> to see what all these crazy American’s are really up to.
>
> On Sat, Nov 4, 2017 at 11:22 PM Derek Koopowitz via NSRCA-discussion <
> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:
>
> Courtesy of Mark Atwood…
>
>
>
> Saturday
>
> SUN!!! We can see the SUN!!! Seriously, we woke up to not only a pretty
> day, but a warmer one. The highs were in the upper 60’s and with the sun
> out it was quite pleasant IF… ok, it’s a big if, IF the wind wasn’t
> blowing. But even the winds gave us a little break today, blowing in the
> low teen’s rather than the low 20’s.
>
> We left for another early start to the practice field today that was made
> all the better thanks to Leslie Hockhalter who with diligent searching
> managed to find us cheap insulated travel cups that actually hold more than
> a thimble full of coffee (or in my case tea). It’s the little things in
> life…
>
> The practice sites were full today as everyone was getting in their final
> efforts. Even with an early start we were behind the Taiwanese who
> apparently must sleep at the field. The winds as I mentioned were less
> severe, but still not light. We traded obscene wind quartering out from the
> North East for merely heavy winds at a 90deg cross pushing in from the
> South. Better??
>
> AC started with a few flights of F-17 before he retired that for the next
> 4 days and focused his remaining time on P-17. The noteworthy event of the
> morning came during Joseph’s flight when low and behold, we heard a full
> scale!! Now bare in mind, we have not seen ANY signs of general aviation
> here what so ever. So it was a bit of a shock to not only see a small
> private plane, but to see it at 1000’AGL coming straight through the center
> of the box. Joe had plenty of time to get down low while it passed. He
> resumed his sequence only to here Andrew yell “he just lowered his gear…”.
> Sure enough, Joe managed to land and clear the runway less than 30 seconds
> before a Bonanza touched down on our runway. We were told later that the
> airport isn’t actually closed. They just see very little traffic. NOW you
> tell us.
>
> A few more flights and then we all packed up to go get ready for the
> opening ceremonies. For those that are unaware, the host country organizes
> an opening ceremony in the same vein as you see for the Olympics, albeit on
> a significantly smaller scale. But the idea is the same, with a parade of
> teams by country, and a little fanfare. We try to do our part to represent
> the US, dressing and working as a team. We arrived well in advance, were
> grouped behind a local representative holding our USA sign and proceeded to
> walk into the main area in a long parade among a surprisingly large crowd
> of spectators. Admittedly it’s fun to have a large crowd of people clapping
> for you as you’re introduced.
>
> After the opening statements and playing of the anthems, we were treated
> to a small airshow that included an RV-7 doing some low altitude aerobatics
> with smoke (lower and closer than would EVER be allowed in the USA I might
> add). They also performed a nice synchronized 3D heli demonstration (Also
> lower and closer than felt comfortable safe!). After that it was a nice
> party atmosphere with music playing, some food and beverages for the pilots
> and supporters, and a general meet and greet for all involved. A little
> social relaxation before the stress of the competition takes hold.
>
> Last event of the day was the team manager meeting for me, to learn the
> flight schedules and discuss any rules issues or procedural nuances to the
> venue. Mostly normal Q&A about various procedures along with some
> guidelines for how timing, scoring, weighing will be done. Most notable was
> a short lecture on the inappropriate use of some of the new gyro technology
> (it’s prohibited in any way, shape or form) and a reminder that this
> constitutes unsportsmanlike behavior which can result in disqualifying not
> only the offending individual, but their entire team. In other words, they
> take it very seriously.
>
> We make a very concerted effort to have the whole team at every flight to
> support one another, which will make tomorrow a very very very early start
> as the guys will try to put up a practice flight in the morning and be back
> in time to see our first pilot, Joseph, put up his official contest flight
> at 9:09am. The others fly later in the day, AC @ 10:40am, Andrew @ 11:16am
> and Jason @ 2:24pm.
>
> Fair warning, scores will NOT be posted real time. We will get our
> personal raw scores upon completing the flight, but a summary of scores
> will not be posted until the end of the day. On a plus side, with only 2
> judge panels, we will get normalized, ranked scores after 2 days, rather
> than having to wait 4. I'm sure others will post, but I'll try to be sure
> to post the days scores here as well.
>
> Update on the lost Russian canopy: It was never found, so they were up
> until 5am fabricating a new one, and successfully flew it today! When
> you’ve traveled 12,000 miles to compete, you find a way. Kudos to the
> Russian team for both ingenuity and perseverance.
>
> Photos:
>
> - Random Beechcraft that arrived in the middle of Joe’s flight
> - Sergio (flying) and Marcelo (Calling) from Columbia. I’m pretty sure
> they’ve been appointed the official translators of the US F3A team. Without
> them, we’d be surviving solely on McDonalds, Oreo’s and Pringles.
> - Local aerobatic pilot and his RV-7.
> - Team USA!
> - A look at all the teams as they filed in and lined up near their
> respective flags
> - Robin Trumpp and team Germany working on his new Karat biplane
> - Team Canada: Xavier Mouraux, Michi Akimoto, John Bentley and his wife,
> and Hartley Hughson and his wife
> - Team China – in an embarrassing twist of language diversity, Jenny,
> their helpful translator, had to help out the event director during the
> Team Manager meeting in explaining his English explanation, to other native
> English speaking TM’s. Say what??
> - Collection of Team Managers from 27 countries
> - Honey bee that decided the S in my hat was its soul mate.
> - Flight orders for all 4 days!
>
>
>
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>
> --
>
> Vicente "Vince" Bortone
>
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