The Loop Sherburn Beginners Event - 2008

CD's Report
It was not a summer’s day, it was the summer’s day: fluffy white clouds in a blue sky and hot (-ish) sunshine. In my introduction to eight LOOP Beginners in Sherburn’s smart club lounge I emphasized that the event would be exactly the same as any other BAeA event, except the weather would be better!

Beginners can enter at any of several contests during the season which incorporates a Beginners event. However a few times each year LOOP sponsors an event wholly dedicated to Beginner level pilots. On these weekends pilots are given the opportunity to fly with an instructor, initially practicing away from the airfield then performing the sequence in the box whilst being critiqued by a team of judges, later to discuss their performances with said judges. In the next session they fly the same sequence, again accompanied and again judged. The scores are computed in the usual way and the scorer of the highest percentage is given a token memento. Strictly speaking it is not a contest, merely an assessment, but it is important for all to know how they fared compared to each other, hence the scoring and award.

Notwithstanding the fine weather (or perhaps because of recent poor weather) the entry of eight was atypically low, thereby facilitating a leisurely and thorough event. As CD, yours truly briefed to the format dictated by the BAeA rules, but in much greater detail and with a few hints on how pilots might conduct themselves. CJ Graham Hill did the same, with emphasis on what the judges would be looking for.

Multi-use of a few aircraft caused predictably slow progress, but there were no weather interruptions, so the event had ended by 1600, when the CD and CJ provided a comprehensive de-brief.

Results are as listed below, but highest score was achieved by CHRIS SILLS, who was presented with a token trophy by scorer Jen Buckenham. He had flown John Dixon’s unlimited level Extra 300, but I understand that Chris had learned in a Cessna Aerobat: significant, for as any such pilot knows, if you start in an Aerobat, all the others are easy. (I recall a Decathlon beat 23 exotic aircraft at a contest earlier this year!)

Thanks are due to Sherburn Aero Club and its personnel, and all the BAeA crew who contributed to the organisation and execution of another successful LOOP event.

Eric Marsh
BAeA Contest Director