CD's
Report
The first Loop Day of the year hosted by Breighton Airfield looked
seriously marginal as the cloud base only just managed to lift to 1500 feet
– the bottom of the competition box for the beginner’s sequence. The 17kt
gusting 28kt wind made its presence known by keeping the low cloud moving
swiftly, albeit in the direction of the runway. Tom Cassells in his Slingsly
T67M, John Dixon in his Extra 300L and John Calverley in his Decathlon had
very kindly brought their aircraft and were available for beginners sequence
instruction. Eight pilots, all of whom were eager to gain some more
aerobatic knowledge awaited an improvement in the weather conditions. An
hour after the 9:30 briefing, John Dixon launched in the Extra to check the
cloud base and to demonstrate a “low level version” of the sequence. To be
fair, he only came down to 800 feet at the lowest point, nowhere near the
limit of his ability but far beyond the acceptable safety height for the
beginners sequence. The only option was to send each of the entrants with
their appointed instructor away from the airfield to try and find a hole in
the cloud large enough to be able to perform the manoeuvres and receive some
useful instruction. The judges stood down and stood around whilst the
weather persisted. All of the pilots flew and returned for lunch.
Tantalisingly, some holes appeared in the lowest level of cloud in the
overhead and a forecast for the wind to reduce by late afternoon was issued.
However, the cloud stubbornly refused to lift above the bottom of the box.
It became obvious that we were not going to be able to get any aerobatic
action over the airfield. We re-briefed and more flights away from the
airfield were made, the final one being made above the continuous cloud.
Standing around at an airfield awaiting weather improvements is a dull entry
to the world of competition aerobatics but perhaps it is one that is best
learned early on. As most of the entrants were also entered for the
Beginners competition the following day, we called a halt after a final
briefing.Even with the lack of any
box experience on the day, the general feeling was that flying with the
instructors had been useful and enjoyable. I would like to thank our
instructors, judges, scribes, scorer, the airfield staff, the kitchen staff
and of course our patient yet frustrated contestants to be ….
Paul Tomlinson
Contest Director |
