 CD's Report
By the middle of the week before event day, the common goals of the team
organising the 2009 Leicester Loop Beginners were simply to find enough
check pilots and aircraft to let all the entrants have a chance of getting
airborne. A record late surge brought a field of 19 aspiring aeros novices,
causing much clucking amongst the BAeA hierarchy and consternation that we
might suffer egg on face for being too successful.
They reckoned without chief check pilot
‘Captain Dicko’. BMI Johnny was off mounting his own personal Berlin airlift
in the lead-up to the event, but still found time to rustle up a pair of
Walter Extra’s German
 Wundermaschinen and a CAP10C, with Cas Smith riding
shotgun to help out local Pitts heroes. Richard Rogers' welcome late entry
to the fray with his S2C completed the line up of 6 ‘Safeties’ – another new
record for Loop.
Leicestershire Aero Club is without doubt
one of the most welcoming venues on our calendar and a fabulous place to
aviate. Saturday morning found local liaison David Shutter scuttling from
Tower to Breakfast bar to ensure that everyone was briefed and ready for the
day. Aircraft and pilots multiplied by the minute until the Lecture Room was
saturated, with a commendable 17 of the original 19 out to play. Amongst
these an aeros virgin and a 15 year old glider ace, ensuring that the bar
was set high for our instructors.
The event format is a training flight in
the morning away from base, with an afternoon flight ‘in the box’ with a
full judging panel. Chief Judge Lynne Westnage led the scores on the doors team and
delivered a series of excellent briefings in the morning, as pilots waited
for their turn to fly. She was ably assisted by Steve Green and ‘Space’
Buchan,
 who was last seen in the car park waving his arms and making loud
aeroplane noises, as he gallantly demonstrated the art of walking the
sequence to the tyro pilots. Watch out for that glider in the box, Rich !
The weather gods were kind and a borrowed
trick from WW2 had the pilots assigned to one of three Waves, catapulted out
into the Leicester local area to learn the Beginners’ sequence. Despite the
intensity of the flying, we managed to attract one solitary noise complaint,
from a PPL no less. Shame on you, sir. Practice completed in time for lunch,
we were then treated to the Ferriman/Carver aerial ballet as Gary and Steve
went for a Romp around the box in tight formation with smoke. The venerable
Barry Tempest duly pronounced his pleasure at their display abilities and
signed them off to be let loose on the Game Fairs of Middle England.
Highlight was a pair of perfectly timed synchro stall turns, nicely
delivered to challenge the imagination of our soon to be blooded
competitors.
The exceptional discipline which had
allowed the morning plan to run so smoothly was nearly derailed when a
hapless individual managed to convert the local S2A to a cabriolet.
Fortunately the aircraft was stationary at the time and equally fortunately
the engineering skills of Tempest Junior were on hand to reverse the damage.
Thank you, John.
First into the box was The Dukk, with
Martin Bromley setting a fine standard at 73% raw score. Others sought to
match his performance and several succeeded, such that by half way the
judges were unsure whether they were scoring Beginners or trying to rank
competitors at the Nationals. I may be proven incorrect, but I don’t recall
a single HZ and every competitor placed their flight in front of the judges,
despite a decent off judge
 wind. Exceptional flying!
The final flight was completed on the dot
of the planned schedule, and the computer duly concluded that S2C driver David
Nichols from WW finished top of the pile and collected the award, complete
with Light Aero Spares zip lock bag for ease of transport. Nice touch, Mr
Marsh. Our gliding novice left clutching a copy of the Chairman’s ‘Better
Aerobatics’, not because he needs it, but so he can edit the next revision.
One to watch is young Will. The day’s flying concluded with an extremely
polished rendition of this year’s Standard Known by Marco Kalweit, again in
the S2C. Definitely a Nationals contender and a strong repost to those who
mocked the genuine achievement of gaining your PPL on a Pitts.
And so we retired to the bar to reflect on
a plan well executed. It goes without saying that all who contributed with
their ‘individual interests and opinions’ must take the credit for the
success of this event, but it would be remiss not to place the fabulous
staff and volunteers at Leicestershire Aero Club at the top of the pile. Oh,
and the hard working check pilots, too. Thank you all.
Steve Todd - BAeA Contest Director
Contest Check-Pilots:
John Dixon, Chris Penistone, Paul Rowbotham, Cas Smith, Phil O’Donoghue,
Richard Rogers. |
