CD's Report
Sherburn Aero Club hosted the latest in the increasingly successful series of Beginners events in co-operation with Loop magazine. The formula was as before - pilots were assigned aerobatic instructors in 3 aircraft and took turns to fly off to the local training area, then present themselves in the box just to the east of the airfield to enable the team of waiting judges to record some critique of their efforts with this year's Beginners sequence. By judicious timing, the progress of flights through the box was very well ordered and most pilots had the opportunity to get verbal feedback as well as their judging sheets. The marks on these, however weren't recorded for this first round, which finished at around 1230. Fifteen pilots participated, flying in the best weather your scribe can remember at this venue and brought back memories of the marvellous conditions we enjoyed at the beginning of the season. We had originally set a limit of 12 pilots on these events, but it seems a pity to introduce a cap if we can fit more in, which we were able to do.

Following a short respite break for the judges and instructors, the pilots flew the Beginners sequence once more, but this time climbing straight into the box in more rigorous 'competition' conditions. Their scores were recorded and crunched through the computer, and the day was rounded off by a short presentation ceremony in the sunshine outside the clubhouse.

Ian Scott, the Chief Judge, commented to the assembly that he felt that the standard of flying had been very high and the pilots ought to be well able to move on to Standard level.  I'm sure we'll see most of these names again next season at Standard level.

I want to make special mention here of the 3 instructors who not only gave up their Saturday but also flew up to 10 aerobatic sorties each - Tom Cassells, Simon Janvrin and Cas Smith.

Thanks to Chris Stringer, Jo and the team at Sherburn for allowing us the use of their overhead and keeping all of the other traffic out of the way. Thanks also to the judging team who spent the day camped out in rape stubble.

Ben Ellis, Contest Director