| Well - what a brilliant day to start the 2002
power-aerobatic contest season. With a revised / more comprehensive
make-up to this year's Icicle to provide a 'known' and an 'un-known' at
both levels, twenty-eight hopeful pilots had assembled by the 09:00
briefing time to promise a good day's aerobatic flying. Having given
Leicester a miss in 2001 as a result of the seemingly inevitable noise
complaints from the previous year, this time the 'box' was positioned
directly overhead the aerodrome to avoid subjecting the north-side to
assault from propeller-borne noise..... thereby banishing the judges to a
meadow next to a delightful little church just to the south of the
perimeter track.
Although the viz towards the horizon wasn't too good,
for the whole day we basked under a faultless blue sky - in a 20-30kt wind
of unbelievably bitter character. Wind-chill, phoaw!! The first
intermediate pilot was up into the box promptly at 10:00 and - apart from
a short (essential!!) thaw-break for the judiciary at about 13:30 - all
was efficiently despatched by 18:00. Of the indeterminates, Phil Soper
showed a clean pair of CAP heels to all except Pete Shaw.... but then Pete
blew it all in the second sequence, allowing Paulson.J to put Charlie
Macaw into second slot with colleague Stuart Statham a tad behind and Paul
Ambrose just out of the money in G-BLAG. In the Open (to advanced and
unlimited) class BAeA-VC Tom Cassells conducted his CAP-232 rather better
in the first sequence than the second, but even so Mark Jefferies couldn't
quite close the gap although he did manage to keep Kester Scrope's
strenuous efforts in STUA well behind. Gerald Cooper's new S1-T wasn't far
away in 4th though, whilst Eddie Goggins hung on to 5th by the skin of his
teeth (joke - OK?).
A tremendous start to the new season, adding yet further
legend to the "Icicle" title. Brrrrr!!! Eric Marsh was CD, Steve
Green drove a judging line-up comprising Graham Hill, Nick Buckenham, Ian
Scott, Gareth Roberts, Ben Ellis and Steve Todd, Jen B flew the computer,
and Leicester Aero Club were wonderful. Roll-on the
next one at Sherburn.
Nick Buckenham |
