The Loop Beginners Event #2 at Leicester - 2008

CD's Report
Sometimes the plan really comes together, and for the lucky thirteen Loop entrants at Leicester at the second of our planned Loop Beginners Days in 2008 the dice definitely rolled a double-six. With the awful Breighton weather of just two weeks ago still fresh in our minds and Leicester airfield's house-building shenanigans in the background there was potential for another missed opportunity, but this time the sun shone, the cloud-base stayed out of reach and in a packed performance a full bakers' dozen of big grins proved what we all know - flying competition style aerobatics is huge fun and rather more difficult to get right than is immediately apparent.

After the usual detailed Loop style briefing from yours truly and Chief Judge Steve Todd, it quickly became apparent that the logistics of the day would drive us into a rather longer morning session than we had anticipated. The usual format is for each pilot to spend 15-20 minutes away from the airfield with their instructor getting some one-to-one training in the intricacies of the five-figure sequence, and for many finding out just how to fly a high performance aeroplane with some real ability - the fleet this time included four 'private' aeroplanes and a venerable Cessna-152 driven by singleton pilots, a Citabria shared by a couple of chaps from Shoreham and then John Dixon's incredibly hard working Extra-300L which was poled around by no less than six hopeful drivers. They of course had the added joy of finding out at first hand that when you move an Extra-300's stick and rudder to some place other than central .... the aeroplane generally jumps quite smartly and does exactly what it's told. That is what we need for the job so for us it's no surprise, but the size of the grins after each sortie said it all. The Extra trade was shared between John and co-instructor Chris Penistone, Simon Abbott mentored the Citabria pilots, and John Wicks provided gems from his considerable store of CAP-10 experience for last years Little Gransden winner Neil Thorburn. You just couldn't buy it, as they say, but it is what these events are all about.

Having kicked-off the 1st round of flying at about 10:30 it became all too apparent that some dove-tailing of the flight roster was needed to get the second session with fully judged and marked sequences done by the targeted 17:00 hrs conclusion, so after fettling the distant group of judges hiding down at the threshold of Rwy-28 a rather more free-for-all afternoon managed to get us to the all-done stage just before 6pm. During the day the monitored but unmarked judging paperwork had slowly filtered back to each pilot, and finally the real marks were quickly computed into results and we could see just how close it had all been. Only Andy Crowe had managed to find the edge of the Extra's performance envelope, the too-rapid onset of G into his loop and the ensuing stall-buffet leading to an abandoned figure and the sole Hard Zero of the day. But hey - with nearly 60% made up from the rest of his sequence, a very fine flight to prop up the rankings. Local man Simon Barnard was caught a touch unprepared from some pre-sequence practice that drifted further from 'home' than he had thought, Chris Sill's Cessna put in a very tidy performance that must have been a nostalgic sight for some, the CAPs went well ... as CAPs tend to do, the Citabria's graceful style looked good to us but somehow not quite so good to the judges, and it was four of the Extra jockeys who headed the queue - a delighted Dave Ridley skating to the victors spot, with just 2% covering the first three places. In our long experience, it doesn't come much closer than that.

It's a real pleasure for us to be able to welcome so many new faces to the delights of our sport in one day, and these Loop Beginners affairs have now established themselves as a fine platform to introduce pilots to the art of aerobatic competition flying. Anyone can do it "so-so" on a Sunday afternoon with no-one watching, but this sport is all about finesse and accuracy when it matters ... with nowhere to go when the grey matter fails to provide the necessary translation from intention to reality. And we'd have to say Leicester is a great place for such an escapade, so with luck we will be back next year - please!

Nick Buckenham
BAeA Contest Director