CD's Report
When I said to Steve Green just before the prize-giving what a tough meeting
I thought this had been, he said "Well ... at these events it should be so
you really do have to get out there and win it, normal standards don't
apply" - and certainly at Conington this year how right he was. By starting
earlier on the Friday we hoped to fit in four sequences at each level, but
sadly after the last sun-bleached affair at Compton Abbas the weather let us
down with a bump. Low cloud and intermittent rain dominated the two days, on
Saturday in particular brooding CB's and black skies adding a dramatic
back-cloth to our hard-won flying time.
 From
the top-notch entry only a few failed to show, the 32 contestants looking
forward to 128 flights to identify the national champions at two levels.
Four monoplanes took on 11 bipes at Standard, while the Intermediate figures
had a rather more modern ratio of 6 to 5. In consequence of the
aforementioned dubious weather we had to delay the first briefing in
accordance with our new 'Late Arrivals' rules, and subsequently managed just
8 flights in a frantic mid-morning burst before skulking in to an early
lunch... it did gently improve however, and before close of play we'd got
both of the 'Knowns' in the bag. At this stage the key players had already
made their mark, Chris Burkett and Charlie Kimbell charging off ahead to Al
Coutts and the rest at Standard whilst Stephen Madle, Luke Goddard and Top
Totty Tomlinson had a tight grip on the Intermediate crew. A good start, but
already the four-sequence targets were looking hard to reach.
The Saturday briefing room bristled with
fine intentions, with CAVOK over a dewy aerodrome ... leading almost
inexorably to tumbling low clag by the time the first flight was fired up
(well second really, Mark
 Stewart's
Extra-200 having shown it's contempt for an outside overnight berth), so it
was back inside to ponder the if's and but's. In the end it almost caught us
out, the military met.forecast pessimism being unexpectedly blown away by an
arriving Ea300 who reported 2700ft and more. The lightning flashed, huge
black CB's loaded with waterfalls came and went, David Shutters' Pitts gave
us all a fiery start-up demonstration, MAXG offered it's many drivers a tech
worry that was overcome, and a bunch of gliders gave a startled David
Jenkins some temporary company in the box, but from then on the cloud
dodging did diminish and a good run through to late-afternoon saw the
Standard 1st unknown and Intermediate Free tucked away. With minor
exceptions however it was the same old same old at the front of the queue,
the hard flying followers seemingly unable to do much about the order. By
now the remaining time was too tight for a full 32-flight finale, so the
top-placed 7 competitors in each class went forward for an unknown sequence
shoot-out. Nerves now showed all around, whilst to the south a wall of black
menacing CB's made it clear we had to Go like Shell. The rain fell almost
exactly as the last score was scribbled down, so at least we got the timing
dead right!
Who held their nerve? Well - Ed Harding
managed just that bit extra at Standard whilst the interim Inters all held
their slots, so this year it was Chris Burkett and Stephen Madle who emerged
firmly in charge of the
 two
big prizes, in both cases by almost the same very healthy margin. A hard
fought competition, and two worthy champions.
Alan Cassidy - freshly returned from his
well reported Polish experiences - ran the judging line, Jen-B twinkled the
keyboard, the Peterborough Conington staff were as good as ever, and I just
enjoyed myself. Another high-quality memorable affair, safely flown and much
appreciated by all. See you in a couple of weeks at Fenland?
Nick Buckenham
Contest Director |
Junior Nationals : Peterborough Conington : 18-19 August
--------------------------------------------------------
The Flyer Trophy for Standard National Champion
Order Pilot Aircraft type Reg'n Known #1 Unkwn #1 Unkwn #2 All Grps O/all %
==========================================================================================
1 Chris Burkett Pitts S-1C G-BHSS 1069.5 1035.1 946.9 3051.4 78.241
2 Charlie Kimbell Pitts S-2A G-WREN 1041.1 931.9 948.9 2921.9 74.920
3 Ed Harding Pitts S-1 G-MAXG 933.3 1007.3 939.0 2879.6 73.836
4 Stephen Hipwell Pitts S-1S* G-ITTI 1016.2 920.8 908.8 2845.8 72.969
5 Oliver Elmer Pitts S-1SE G-MAGG 1006.7 878.3 945.4 2830.4 72.574
6 Al Coutts Pitts S-2A G-PITZ 1020.9 898.3 906.9 2826.1 72.464
7 John Wicks CAP-10C G-CPXC 1011.6 918.4 866.5 2796.5 71.705
8 David Slater Pitts S-1T G-BKPZ 949.8 887.7 - 1837.5 68.308
9 Chris Waddington Pitts S-1SE G-BOXV 936.7 896.1 - 1832.8 68.133
10 Adrian Willis Extra-200 G-EEEK 896.6 908.1 - 1804.7 67.090
11 Simon Hampton Pitts S-1 G-MAXG 905.0 874.1 - 1779.1 66.139
12 Randal Hockey Pitts S-1 G-MAXG 859.3 911.3 - 1770.6 65.823
13 Jack Willis Extra-200 G-EEEK 926.7 834.5 - 1761.2 65.472
14 Andrew Barlow Acrosport 2 G-VCIO 841.6 868.1 - 1709.7 63.557
15 Mark Stewart Extra-200 G-MRKI 965.8 727.3 - 1693.0 62.939
16 Luke Czepiela Pitts S-2A G-WREN 963.1 725.4 - 1688.4 62.767
17 Elise Mason Decathlon G-ZZAP 948.9 692.0 - 1640.9 61.000
18 David Shutter Pitts S-1D G-LOOP 684.1 631.5 - 1315.6 48.907
Notes:
1. * Stephen Hipwell flew Decathlon G-ZZAP in the final sequence.
2. The 'greyed' percentages shown for 8th place and below are for TWO sequences only.
BAeA Plate for Intermediate National Champion
Order Pilot Aircraft type Reg'n Known #1 Prog-1 Unkwn #1 All Grps O/all %
==========================================================================================
1 Stephen Madle Laser G-CBHR 1507.5 1435.1 1443.2 4385.9 78.179
2 Luke Goddard Pitts S-1 G-MAXG 1450.8 1388.9 1329.9 4169.6 74.324
3 Paul Tomlinson Pitts S-1T G-OSIT 1449.2 1350.2 1110.7 3910.1 69.698
4 Brian McCartney Pitts S-2C G-IICI 1390.4 1292.8 1200.4 3883.6 69.227
5 David Cowden Pitts S-2C G-IICI 1388.5 1268.4 1205.5 3862.4 68.849
6 David Jenkins Laser Z-200 G-LAZA 1364.0 1346.5 813.2 3523.7 62.811
7 Mark Davies Pitts S-2A G-BTUL 1373.1 1349.1 432.4 3154.5 56.230
8 Neil Bigrigg Pitts S-2A G-BTUL 1422.9 1208.2 - 2631.1 70.919
9 James Brown Extra-230 G-CBUA 1389.2 1234.7 - 2623.9 70.725
10 John Vize Pitts S-1T G-IIIL 1396.9 1156.2 - 2553.2 68.819
11 Andrew Holman-West Yak-50 G-YKSO 1203.5 1212.0 - 2415.6 65.109
12 Alan Wood Extra-230 G-XTRA 1337.3 1076.9 - 2414.2 65.073
13 Simon Janvrin Pitts S-2C G-IICI 1208.8 1203.6 - 2412.3 65.022
14 Sam Whatmough Yak-52 G-CBRL 1197.1 1106.0 - 2303.1 62.079
Judges: Alan Cassidy, Eric Marsh, Steve Green, Peter Macintosh, Julie Wood,
Corinne Dennis, Lynn Westnage, Phil Atley, Graham Hill, Ian Scott
British Aerobatic Association
Results after TBLP at 90% confidence with 1.20 threshold
Sequence & Group two-pass processing at 18:04:24 on 20-08-2006
BAeA Scoring System - software Ver 6:3 Apr-05
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