[NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC

Vicente Bortone vincebrc at gmail.com
Sat Nov 11 06:08:10 AKST 2017 

Friday – Semi Finals

No birthdays here today.  We’re cake-less.  Sans cake.  No mas torta.  And
sadness ensued.

There have been many posts already today on the NSRCA list and else where
on facebook, but if you were living in a pattern cave, the day was all
about wind.  He who owned the wind, owned the day.

Take pause, bow down, and kneel before the team that slayed the tempest,
for at the end of the battle, it was team USA that has FOUR PILOTS IN THE
FINALS!!

Andrew Jesky – 3rd
Jason Shulman – 5th
Joseph Szczur – 7th
AC Glenn – 10th

Yesterday we crowned Joseph a 2 time Jr. World Champion.  Today we behold
Team USA, 4 time Team World Champions!!!  We are the only country with 2
finalists…  3 finalists…wait, 4 finalists!   Have I mentioned that we have
ALL 4 Pilots in the finals??  Sorry, but it’s really a very big deal.

So let’s back up.  8:15am Andrew is first to up to fly.  A poor draw to be
sure, and therefore often a throw away flight.  The wind was already
stiffer than yesterdays, and angling more in your face.  Andrew did what
Andrew does so well under pressure and laid down a high bar to be beat.
There’s no need to describe the flight (going forward just assume that all
flights by all US pilots had adjectives like “Solid”, “Flawless”,
“Impressive”, “Stellar” and other various glowing praise associated with
them).  Andrew scored a 511 raw score, but we had no idea where that might
end up later in the day.  Pilot after pilot, that score proved to be a
strong one.  Eventually CPLR put up a 524, and Onda a 520 to jump ahead,
but the wind was really proving to be the better of many.

This was not your typical strong wind day at the Nats.  Nor was it even the
horrendous winds that we dealt with on Finals day in South Africa.  This
was a steady, cold, storm force wind that was exceeding 20mph steadily and
gusting far worse at ground level, with reports putting the winds 500m up
to be another 10mph faster.  I assure you, it was wind we would not fly ANY
contest at home in.  Even the Nats.

All of our guys flew extremely well, but it’s Jason and Joseph that I want
to give props to for the first round.  I’m a bit biased, but I thought
Jason flew the best flight of the line.  Take all of the previously
aforementioned adjectives and add distinct geometry and a graceful and
controlled pace.  While I felt it was the best flight I’d seen from him
this week, and clearly the best of the day thus far (did I mention my
bias?), the judges didn’t actually consult me and he only scored in the
490’s.

As for Joseph’s flight, I’ll simply say the kid can fly.  I think he
surprised us all.  Yeah, he’s a good flyer, Jr. World Champ yada yada, but
he’s just a junior.  Can’t hang with the big boys.  But putting up a 485
flying F in a 20+mph crosswind at the WC says otherwise.  He’s a 3 time
veteran of this type of competition and that experience shows.

As the morning wore on, the winds increased and transitioned from being
simply a severe challenge, to an exercise in survival, with serious
concerns for safety.   The flights themselves were not at risk, after all
these are the best pilots in the world.  But the take offs and landings
were becoming treacherous not only to the aircraft, but to those in and
around the flight line area.   The speed and turbulence of the air made the
last 3 feet above the ground an exercise in patience, throttle control and
focus.  All combined with just a little luck.

Our second round, which is round 5 on the standings that you’ve likely seen
(standings are attached as a photo) moved us to flight line A and what we
thought was a kinder, gentler panel of judges. Silly Americans…    More
good flights, more good, but not great scores. We were really hoping to
truly set the bar somewhere, but it didn’t happen.  I haven’t mentioned AC,
but he was simply a factory of consistency all week long with today not
being an exception.  Quality flight after quality flight.  No, I’m afraid
the flight of the day on line A clearly belonged to Tetsuo Onda from
Japan.  There’s really nothing to describe, it was just amazing to watch.

We had quite a long wait to finally see the outcome of all the scores.  TBL
is used on every round at the WC’s so even though you have a lot of raw
scores to compare, things change a LOT once TBL is run.  The wind, safety,
current FAI rules regarding wind, and whether or not we would fly the
finals tomorrow were the general topics of discussion overheard during our
impatient wait.  That, and about 30 levels of Candy Crush.

I’ll fast forward to the Team manager’s meeting held at 6pm to discuss the
finals, pick the flight orders and generate the unknown sequences.  The
highlights are pretty easy.  First we got a bit lost finding the host
hotel, but that aside, I’ve attached the flight order, and both unknowns.
Flight orders are drawn at random just like the Semi’s.  No two pilots from
the same team can be back to back, so there was a little shuffling to do
since ALL 4 TEAM USA PILOTS ARE IN THE FINALS!!!  BOOOYAHH!!!  Sorry…
We are up 1st, 3rd, 5th and 9th in the first round.

The unknowns are now computer generated on the fly, so that’s no longer a
process worth mentioning.

As of now, the finals are ON.  We will re-evaluate in the morning, but the
jury decided to follow the sporting code to the letter to avoid any chance
of protest. Which means we will fly unless either A) the winds exceed 12m/s
for longer than 60 seconds, which will force a delay. Or B) all the team
managers collectively, and unanimously agree that it is unsafe to fly.
Both of those are difficult barriers to stopping a WC contest.  I think we
will likely fly all 4 rounds tomorrow and hope against hope that everyone
goes home with unbroken airplanes.

I’m going to wrap this up tonight as it’s getting late.  This will be my
last post from here in Argentina.  Tomorrow we will of course try to post
the final scores and update info as the day progresses, but with the awards
banquet in the evening, and a mad rush in the morning to crate aircraft,
rebolt seats into vans, pack and drive 5 hours to B.A. and hope that
customs and US TSA treat us kindly, there won’t be time to write an update.
   I do plan to write something after I get home, simply to round out the
trip.  There are a lot of things Argentine that haven’t been mentioned.
Flocks of parakeets, storks flying overhead, horses almost as numerous as
dogs, sand roads, police everywhere, amazing hospitality (despite our
abysmal Spanish), crazy ass drivers, and on and on.  I’ll try to get to it.
   Until then…

Photos!

- Hanging out waiting for the first flights to start.  Kevin, Linda, Linda
with a hint of Andrew in the background stick plane-ing his flight.
- Sleeping porta potties.  Strong winds are a like porta potty lullabyes.
Puts them right out.  Thankfully no one was in them when they crashed. It’s
the best visual indicator of the severity of the winds we’re in.
- Jayson, Andrew, Gernot, Ola and Gernot’s dad… all impatiently waiting for
the final results.
-       Joseph and Don after their last semi-final flight
- Final Results!
- WC Central (figured I’d take a photo of it since we stared at it for 2
hours today waiting.
- A really poor picture of the countryside.  Looked much better in person.
The land here is flatter than the sea.  I’m thinking you could see brazil
from here save for the curvature of the earth.
- Our last trip to the Ice Cream store (an every evening event). Our
beloved Crema host standing next to Derek second from the left, and his
niece who thankfully speaks a little English in the front right.
- Finals Meeting.  All the finalists and their Team managers
- Final’s flight order
- Unknown 1
- Unknown 2
- Tomorrows weather…  Wind speeds are in Km/h
On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 4:48 PM Phil via NSRCA-discussion <
nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:

> That "slip" still doesn't undo the fact that ALL FOUR are in the top 10!!!
>
>
>
> *Phil Spelt, AMA 1294, Scientific Leader Member SPA L-18, Board Member
> Oliver Springs, TN (865) 435-1476v (865) 604-0541c*
>
> ------------------------------
> *From: *"Peter Vogel via NSRCA-discussion" <
> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> *To: *"Derek Koopowitz" <derekkoopowitz at gmail.com>, "General pattern
> discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> *Sent: *Friday, November 10, 2017 4:19:09 PM
>
> *Subject: *Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>
> Whoops!  Sorry. My eye slipped on crossing the photo
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Derek Koopowitz <derekkoopowitz at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Friday, November 10, 2017 1:01:59 PM
> *To:* Peter Vogel; General pattern discussion
> *Subject:* Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>
> Unfortunately he didn't... you're looking at Onda's score.
>
> On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 11:46 AM, Peter Vogel via NSRCA-discussion <
> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:
>
>> [image: Image]
>>
>> Check it out folks!  AJ beat CPLR in round 6 (barely, but still!).  Way
>> to go AC, Joe, Jas and AJ!!!
>>
>> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org> on
>> behalf of Matthew Finley via NSRCA-discussion <
>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>> *Sent:* Friday, November 10, 2017 11:42:25 AM
>> *To:* Atwood, Mark; General pattern discussion
>> *Subject:* Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>>
>> Mark,
>>
>> If the finals are canceled, will they have then the following day, or go
>> with the semi standings ??
>>
>>
>>
>> Matthew E Finley
>> Q.C.I Technical Assistant
>> 248-794-8487 <(248)%20794-8487> mobile
>>
>>
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: "Atwood, Mark via NSRCA-discussion" <
>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>> Date: 11/10/17 2:39 PM (GMT-05:00)
>> To: Stuart Chale <schale1 at outlook.com>, General pattern discussion <
>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>>
>>
>> It’s hard to even describe the wind these guys flew in today.  Nothing
>> any of them have ever flown in before in any event, Nats, Tucson, South
>> Africa, anywhere.  The biggest surprise to us all was how well the contra
>> set-ups persevered.
>>
>> Pilot and TM meeting tonight at 6pm for unknowns and flight order.  That
>> said, there is a better than average chance that the finals will be
>> cancelled.  Winds tomorrow are expected to be even more aggressive and
>> 90deg crosswind.
>>
>> It’s doubtful that they will make that call before they see what the
>> reality is in the morning.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Nov 10, 2017, at 3:55 PM, Stuart Chale via NSRCA-discussion <
>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:
>>
>> Not sure if this will work but check out this video of a landing at the WC
>>
>> https://www.facebook.com/arturomarino.cellini/videos/10214457828389502/
>>
>> If the link doesn't work look for the Facebook Argentina site
>>
>> On 11/10/2017 1:37 PM, mups53 via NSRCA-discussion wrote:
>>
>> Way too awesome
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
>>
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: "Atwood, Mark" <atwoodm at paragon-inc.com> <atwoodm at paragon-inc.com>
>> Date: 11/10/17 12:29 PM (GMT-06:00)
>> To: Mike Mueller <mups53 at gmail.com> <mups53 at gmail.com>, General pattern
>> discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>> <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>> Cc: Vicente Bortone <vincebrc at gmail.com> <vincebrc at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>>
>> All four in!!!
>>
>> [image: image1.jpeg]
>>
>> On Nov 10, 2017, at 3:15 PM, Mike Mueller via NSRCA-discussion <
>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:
>>
>>  This from my friend who is there about today.
>>  Sounds very promising:
>>  Hi Mike
>>
>> Hope all is well with you guys!
>>
>> The semis are done here in Argentina - awaiting the results - but I would
>> guess that 3 and maybe all 4 Americans are in the finals :-)
>>
>> Really, Andrew J and Jason flew incredibly well today in wind right at
>> the FAI limit.... Andrew, in particular, was just incredible.
>>
>> Surprisingly despite the wind, the YS’s have not really dominated, but
>> certainly have not been a disadvantage.
>>
>> Even in the wind, lots of biplanes and lots of contras - perhaps not with
>> the same dominance as in Europe.
>>
>> The stand out models in the wind for me was the Zonda, and also
>> Wolfgang’s monoplane flown by Reto Schumacher....
>>
>> Tomorrow’s forecast is as windy as today, so will make for an
>> interesting (but scrappy) finals....
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> President of F3AUnlimited.com <http://f3aunlimited.com/>, Gator-RC.com
>> <http://gator-rc.com/>, and Caiman Distribution LLC.,
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>>
>> On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 9:08 AM, Vicente Bortone via NSRCA-discussion <
>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:
>>
>>> That is 26.84 mph.
>>>
>>> On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 9:02 AM Peter Vogel <vogel.peter at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> 12 meters/second sustained for 60 seconds pauses the contest
>>>>
>>>> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> *From:* NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org> on
>>>> behalf of Jeff Worsham via NSRCA-discussion <
>>>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>>>> *Sent:* Friday, November 10, 2017 7:00:45 AM
>>>> *To:* Jon Bruml; General pattern discussion; Vicente Bortone; George
>>>> Kennie
>>>>
>>>> *Subject:* Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>>>>
>>>> Australian Facebook post 1hr ago shows Anemometer reading 13.8 m/sec.
>>>> That’s 30.87 mph. Absolutely insane!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From: *NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org> on
>>>> behalf of Jon Bruml via NSRCA-discussion <
>>>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>>>> *Reply-To: *Jon Bruml <jon at techstyles.com>, General pattern discussion
>>>> <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>>>> *Date: *Friday, November 10, 2017 at 7:29 AM
>>>> *To: *Vicente Bortone <vincebrc at gmail.com>, General pattern discussion
>>>> <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>, George Kennie <geobet4evr at gmail.com
>>>> >
>>>> *Subject: *Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Go Team USA
>>>>
>>>> thanks Mark !
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Jonathan Bruml
>>>>
>>>> Techstyles
>>>>
>>>> www.techstyles.com
>>>>
>>>> _____________________________
>>>> From: Vicente Bortone via NSRCA-discussion <
>>>> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>>>> Sent: Friday, November 10, 2017 4:47 AM
>>>> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Latest update from the WC
>>>> To: General pattern discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>,
>>>> George Kennie <geobet4evr at gmail.com>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> HAPPY BIRTHDAY Derek Emmett!!!!!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> - Thursday – Round 4   FINALLY
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Previously on How the WC’s turn:  Kevin got cake, Joseph flew well,
>>>> CPLR got high scores, wind blue, rain fell, dogs barked.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Tonights Episode: Team USA flying strong!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We have Blue Sky!!! I even have a photo to prove it!   I think the
>>>> organizers are finally learning what the weather is like here in
>>>> Argentina.  From 5am – 9am it’s beautiful!  Then it turns to ... well, it
>>>> turns bad.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We started earlier than normal in an effort to finish up the final
>>>> round of the preliminaries and still leave time for some practice prior to
>>>> the Semi-Finals.   First flights were at 7:45 with Demo flights starting at
>>>> 7:15.   It was a pretty sky with puffy clouds.  But don’t get too attached
>>>> to any cloud in particular because if you blinked, it was GONE.  Winds
>>>> aloft were ripping, and the winds on the ground were doing their best to
>>>> keep up.  Winds were from the WSW which is a new direction for us, left to
>>>> right pushing in.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> AC and Andrew are both fans of the early morning practice flight, which
>>>> with an early start to the contest means a über early trip to go practice.
>>>> AC and Chuck were on the road at 5:30am and Andrew not long after.  Minor
>>>> issue though, if you recall from yesterday, we had major rain storms and
>>>> the practice site was a mud bath.  One of the vans got stuck and thankfully
>>>> there are enough other knuckleheads that get up early to practice to help
>>>> push them out.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> AC, Andrew and Jason all still needed to fly their final prelim round
>>>> and like you’ve heard me say over and over…they all put up great flights.
>>>> Scores though were sort of meh, and as I mentioned yesterday, CPLR scored a
>>>> 505 on his flight, so all but a few people dropped this final round as a
>>>> throw away.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We finished up round 4 by 11:50, but scores weren’t going to be posted
>>>> until 3pm, so it was off to the practice field once again for a few rounds
>>>> of F-17.  By now the winds were quite strong,  ranging between 10-14m/s
>>>> (approx. 20-28mph) pretty much straight down the runway.  It’s survival
>>>> flying.  There was definite concern that flying in these high winds could
>>>> end the contest for someone. On the rough and muddy grass field, anything
>>>> shy of a good landing could mean ripping out gear or worse. The practice
>>>> site was packed (see the photo of the vans…) as a lot of people “on the
>>>> bubble” were anxiously putting up F flights in hopes of making the finals
>>>> cut.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> By now most of you have seen the results, but if not, check out the
>>>> main WC home page for the preliminary results. The USA has ALL FOUR… let me
>>>> repeat that,  ALL FOUR of our pilots currently in the top 10.  Jason – 4th,
>>>> Andrew – 5th, Joseph – 9th, AC – 10th.  More over, with no other Junior
>>>> making the cut for the Semi-Finals, Joseph has secured a repeat title of
>>>> Jr. World Champion.  We’re all extremely proud of him, especially Don.  But
>>>> he’s staying focused on the job ahead which is making the cut for the
>>>> finals.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I’ve been watching all of these guys fly for many many years, and have
>>>> the fun and honor to get to fly with them and compete with them on many
>>>> occasions.  I’m always impressed by their precision, consistency, and most
>>>> of all, their ability to handle the wind.  Today though I sat with the team
>>>> from the UK, and several others groups, all of whom are here competing at
>>>> this world championship level, and watching them marvel at our team’s
>>>> ability to not only fly in this wind, but execute precision geometry,
>>>> maintain pace and rhythm, hold their line and center maneuvers in Extreme
>>>> wind.  It’s a pretty neat thing to be part of.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> After returning from practice, I attended the Team Manager meeting at
>>>> 6pm to find out the standings and draw the flight order for the Semi’s.
>>>> The process is simple, 30 pilots (representing 15 countries) will fly 2
>>>> rounds of F-17.  They put all the names in a hat and had each country (in
>>>> alphabetical order) draw a name for each subsequent position.  Argentina
>>>> went first and pulled Stephan Kaiser to lead things off and we went on from
>>>> the
>>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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-- 
Vicente "Vince" Bortone
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