Day #3 Worlds

Off for day 3 action...

Chad is up at  10:12 at flight line 2 so both he and Agnes headed to Henley feild after breakfast for some practice flights. Windy today with a 25k wind with higher gusts. Blowing out.

The rest of the team followed and after a quick stop at Henley field we went to Site 1 to see Jason Shulman of the USA and Hajime Hatta of Japan fly. We hoped to also see Andrew Jesky but time issues made this difficult. Will, Michi and the Chariady clan stayed behind to watch. They reported a solid flight.

Daniel, Jason Shulman, Mark Atwood, Dave Stodart and Daniel's friend? :-) 

Michi had a chance for a photo op with Hatta San and some of the Japanese team. I think it made his day!

We headed over to flight line 2 and Chad had his planes all together. Winds were about 6 meters per second and a blow out for right to left flying today. The US team also showed up to support their junior pilot Joseph Szczur who flies just ahead of Chad.

Joseph Szczur, "Origami Style"

The rest of the team arrived and Chad took off.  He had his best flight of the P rounds so far with a solid effort. Very few errors and the distance was well controlled  Centers also nice. 

Agnes and Kelly guard the planes!

Watching Joseph's flight.... Chad is up next.

We had a very short debrief and he felt good about the flight. I was very pleased and really felt he had put in his best round so far in the competition.  We will see what the judges say:-)

Seba's highly modified Hera

The other pilots headed to Henley field for practice as they all fly in the afternoon session today.  The gals went for some shopping and we checked Chad's scores. He scored a 432.2

We watched several flights on line 1 (as well as CPLR's flight) then headed to Henley field to check on the other team members practice session.  There were several other teams on site including Sebastiano Silvestri with his Hera. Low and behold they were just finishing up when we arrived so.... you guessed it..back we went to the main site.  :-)

Colin was the first team member up after lunch and had a pretty good flight. Some centering and radius issues along with a varied baseline conspired to reduce his score from his usual standard. He scored a 368.00.

Michi was up next for Canada and had a faster paced flight than normal. Consistent radius-es, although a bit tight, helped him with his score. Some other minor issue but otherwise "ok" as Michi would say. Score was 412.00

Mitch loves to smile for pictures... just not mine :-)

Next was our junior member Ethan Chariandy and he had a very nice round. A couple areas to work on include a smoother reverse top-hat and more speed in his rolling elements i.e. 1/2-Full roll-1/2 rolls. All in all a good performance and he received a score of 408.40.

Back to Henley field as Chad wanted to work on some elements. We watched the Japanese team go through both P & F rounds and then finished up early... still a long day for everyone.

Team Japan packs up after practice.

Back at the Village Manor House we enjoyed a cool beverage before walking over to the adjacent building to the dinning lounge of the Village Guest House. We had arranged for dinner here tonight with the chef Adele. It was fantastic and I think we all gained a few pounds since she started feeding us.

Dinner time!

Following dinner we retired back to our Manor House and had a great discussion on the finer points of judging and the difference between getting 6 & 7's versus 8 & 9's at the Worlds. This discussion left us dazed and confused so... aside from being a well known flyer we need a way for the judges to notice us. The team "Skunk Works" was tasked with coming up with ideas for plane designs this evening that we could incorporate into a "Super Bi-Bipe" for the 2015 Worlds. Why you ask?  Because we are determined to one day crack the elusive 8 & 9 club. Simple as that.

Our design will incorporate numerous features that have already been introduced into the precision aerobatic world... only we are taking it one step further!

The plane will feature four wings with the three top ones being anhedral and the bottom one straight. This will allow retracts as an option.... if you can find them of course. The plane will be powered by the new Plett motor with dual counter rotating blades that we affectionately call the "Ginsue".

Aerodynamic changes are also incorporated... A forward Canard wing with dual stabs will add incredible stability for both hot and high operations as well as cold and snowy conditions making this plane suitable for any schedule they may come up with in pretty much any location.

A split tail with crow in the ailerons coupled with the "Ginsue" prop system will allow this plane to virtually stop on the down-lines. Details are still in the works but a few photos below prove that we are serious!

Off to bed :-) Final day of preliminaries tomorrow.