It was held over three weekdays. It was at a previously untried venue. It was sponsored by a local company. There was no trophy. And it incorporated instruction where the instructees were instructors. Apart from that Wellesbourne was just another typical contest, where only the weather remained constant – foggy

On Track Aviation is a professional advanced training unit founded by Alan Newton and Mark Young in 1997 to provide specialist training to flying instructors, including aerobatics. As such On Track became corporate members of BAeA and thereby proposed an aerobatics instructor training seminar on their premises. It was open to all, but many of the attendees were On Track personnel, including its exuberant and tireless Alan Newton.

The primary seminar was given by Alan Cassidy from 1900 to 2200 on the Wednesday. Although neither an instructor nor a current aerobatic pilot, I attended wondering how the speaker was going to stimulate a very knowledgeable (and possibly sceptical) audience for 3 hours … and I was absolutely captivated for every minute: it was like watching a good film, spellbinding throughout.

Beginners learn fast, especially when devising excuses for missing the mandatory 0800 briefing next morning, Thursday. Happily all turned up, as did the fog. Fortuitously so did the previous nights speaker, aerobatics guru and BAeA Chairman Alan Cassidy, who used the morning to continue imparting his experience. At the risk of sounding sycophantic, the man’s knowledge of our sport is quite astounding; I considered it a privilege to listen to him, and I trust those present appreciated it too. After a couple of hours on numerous very technical analyses of various aspects of competition aerobatics (with only one modest plug for his definitive book “Better Aerobatics”) Alan himself (facing the open door) noticed the vis was improving sufficiently to fly. Trainee instructors were paired with rated instructors and appropriate aircraft and a running order established; the combo then set off in turns into the murk to play away for ten minutes, then returned to the box for a judged assessment. Six trainees participated, and although it was not really a “contest”, On Track had provided some medals which Mrs Jill Newton presented to the top three. The event continued with a £5 barbeque, (including FREE beer and wine: bet they won’t do THAT again!) a remarkable display by several spectacular model aircraft, and a very tight 7-ship formation fly-by by local pilots.

Friday’s Beginners experienced again the tribulations of an early briefing and all arrived on time. … so too did the fog. As it slowly cleared a field of Advanced pilots also appeared, so at 1200 an Advanced briefing was held. The obvious order by then was Advanced Known, Beginners, Advanced Unknown: according to my log, the first Advanced Known took off at 1307 and the last Advanced Unknown landed at 1730, with the 5 Beginners running for about an hour from 1430.

As CD it was my privilege to thank all, which for this event was more than usual:
    •  ON TRACK and its principal Alan Newton and all his personnel.
    • Wellesbourne Mountford airfield and its principal Mick Littler and all his personnel.
    •  BAeA and its principal Alan Cassidy and all his personnel, specifically Chief Judge Steve Green with
    •  Graham Hill and Phil Atley and scorer Lyn Westnage.
    •  And finally all the pilots, without whom an aerobatic contest would never be complete!

Mrs On-Track again presented the awards: notable was the fine margin (0.21 percentage points) between first and second at Beginners, compared to the clear margin between first and second at Advanced (5.2 percentage points).

The main purpose of the event was to convey to flying instructors ~ whom BAeA considers a valuable conduit in recruiting members ~ what contest aerobatics is about: that we are primarily sensible, disciplined competent pilots and not the ostentatious rich kid stunt pilots we are sometimes perceived to be. Speaking to some of the “converts” later I am confident that we did convey that message.
from Eric Marsh