CD's Report
Two things marked out this years Tiger Trophy, hosted once again by
Sherburn Aero Club. Firstly, there were no competitors flying at Unlimited,
partly due to the CAP aircraft grounding. Secondly, new warehouse
development on the north of the fields necessitated moving the box to the
east side, parallel to Runway 01/19, with the judges looking eastward. It is
probably fair to say that this new box position caused a few orientation
problems, especially with a brisk off-judge wind, so that the overall scores
are perhaps a little lower than more recently. Of course, others might
suggest that the judges are just getting meaner and meaner, but I couldn't
possibly comment.Friday as fine
weather with a northerly wind and a ceiling at about 2,700 feet. This
actually suited the new box position quite well. Four beginners flew after a
1.15pm briefing, with a complement of five judges under Steve Green's
leadership. Oliver Elmer gained most judge approval, flying the Pitts
registered G-MAGG after Maggie, the wife of its original owner Richard
Pickin.
Friday evening saw a flood of arrivals in
travelling weather, followed by an extremely pleasant soiree at the home of
John and Jenny Whicher, proud owners of a newly refurbished Bucker Jungmann
and faces to look out for on the competition circuit in 2006 methinks.
The weather on Saturday happily
co-operated throughout, except that the wind gradually backed further and
further towards the west, causing an gradually increasing off-judge
component that kept many at the back of the box or beyond.
 The Tiger itself saw 17 Standard pilots,
10 Intermediates and 9 Advanced. The three programmes were completed in
approximately 5 hours from a 9 o'clock start, with only very short breaks
for judges' relief! The co-ordinated unknowns caused numerous problems at
all levels, not least in turns and spins, where orientation with the single
small runway was most difficult. Advanced pilots generally did well, despite
two rolling turns to negotiate, with three of the top four places overall. I
hope this augurs well for next year's AWAC. However, the best flight of the
competition, in percentage terms, was by Standard competitor Simon Janvrin,
who this time last year made his debut at Beginners.
Simon proved a very popular, if somewhat
surprised, winner of the big Esso-inspired trophy, and I hope it will give
encouragement for him to continue competing for many years to come.
After the judges' had lunched further flying was possible, but not for everyone due
to time constraints. I made an arbitrary cut in Standard and Intermediate
which, together with early leavers and other early drinkers (!) enabled
flying to be completed by 6pm. Standard and Intermediate pilots had a chance
to get to grips with the 2006 Known sequences, while five Advanced pilots
and a mystery competitor took part in an entertaining, if at times baffling,
Masters contest postponed from Sywell the previous weekend. True Master on
the day was John Dixon, who most successfully negotiated the treacherous
path through a minefield of flat spins, inside and outside barrel rolls and
other oddities (although it seems no-one these days can produce a convincing Krysta Loop!!).
All these results are listed
separately here....
Thanks to Jill in the Sherburn canteen for
working the longest day, and to Adrian White and the rest of the Sherburn
Aero Club residents for their hospitality. Let's look forward to even better
things in 2006.
Alan Cassidy |
