Team Canada F3A 2013: Day #4 Worlds

Shower, check email, check blog for grammar and spelling:-), breakfast and away we go for day 4 of competition.

Colin is up early on line 1 so both he and Ethan skipped breakfast and went to Henley field to practice. Michi and Will followed them after a speedy breakfast and we ambled along after ours.

At Henley field the guys were just packing up when we arrived. I paid the landing fee for everyone and off we went to site 1 for the morning session.

Colin and son Ethan are next up in the ready box.

Colin was third up so things happened quickly once we arrived. Bib's on the crew and away he went on his last round of P-13. A good blow out pushed Colin but he held the distance pretty well. A few early center maneuvers and a soft spin entry. Colin scored a 369.20 on the "hard" panel. We posed for a group picture after Colin finished up his round.

Colin and the rest of the team after his last flight.

It's almost "Go Time" for Michi!

Michi was next to fly for Canada and also worked hard in the winds. His spin entry was also soft and he struggled slightly. Still a good flight under the conditions. Michi scored 379.60. Another team picture with Michi this time. This has become a tradition now!

Michi and the rest of the team after his last flight.

Ethan was the last Canadian in the morning session and he flew pretty well under the circumstances. Spin entry in the strong blow out was his nemesis but still an "ok" flight. Ethan scored a 363.20. Yet another photo for his family back home.

Ethan's turn to pose with the team after his last sortie.

We got the morning scores when we stopped for the midday lunch break at the main site. I also confirmed the location and time for the Manager's meeting later tonight at 18:30 upstairs at the main site. Lunch was good and we were on our way back to flight line #1 for Chad's last P round.

Chad puts the new plane through wind tunnel testing:-)

Winds were about 5 to 7 MPS (meters per second) crosswind with a slight left to right flow. The guys got ready and Chad once again followed the US Junior pilot Joseph. The US guys all came out to support him just like our team for Chad.

Chad had a pretty solid flight with the winds still kicking up and managed to score a 400 from this panel of judges. We watched a couple other flights along with CPLR's final P round. Pretty solid with minor tracking errors and centering.

Chad's turn with the team members.

We headed over to the #2 flying site to see some of the other guys finish the afternoon rounds. Shulman, Hatta, and Andrew Jesky all flew in the gusty winds & they all worked hard to maintain the distance.

Tim Jesky (sitting) with Darin Pierce and Will Gross

We had to get gas for the car so we headed back towards Henley and the guest house. We had a good debrief and after a little clean up, I dropped some of the team off at the Henley Arms for dinner. I had to attend the meeting at the main site to choose flight orders for the semi's and to get briefed on the start times etc.

Turns out the meeting time was incorrect (see a trend here?) and had been changed to 6 pm so I arrived just in time for them to assign demo flights to various pilots that did not quite make the cut. They had apparently announced after the P rounds, that the meeting time had changed... sadly I was the only manager not present for the announcement therefore I must have been at fault. Finally! My chance to get fired off the team :-)

Due to my failure to appear, a jury member selected Chad's spot on the roster and the meeting was pretty much over when I walked in. This turned out to be a bonus because I headed back to the Arms and caught dinner with the rest of the team. Chad is last up on Flight Line #2 on Friday morning....unless they change it. They should rotate the order somewhat for the afternoon but... well I missed that part:-)

Back home we chatted about the days events and had a nice carrot cake desert the folks at the Village had sent over to us.... how very nice.

Practice for Chad, feeding lions & giraffes for Michi, Will, Colin and Ethan, shopping for Kelly and Agnes and I am sleeping in... ya right.