CD's Report
The second BAeA Special Beginners’ competition of the season saw us return to a remarkably sunny Sleap.  With a miserable forecast, and only 4 entries, I was a little apprehensive of what the day would bring and, with one entry calling to withdraw at the last minute due to weather concerns, it didn’t bode well. However, on arrival at the airfield the weather looked good and the imminent arrival of rain appeared to have been delayed.

As with other Beginners’ days the pilots have the opportunity to fly twice and, given the small number of entries, we took the opportunity to get the most training value from the day. This started with a short briefing on the judging criteria for each of the figures at the start of the day to ensure all competitors knew what was expected. 

We commenced flying shortly after the briefing, in an attempt to beat the weather. After the first sequence, Phil Chapell was leading by a healthy margin, but it’s only the second flight that counts. Each pilot had an individual de-brief from each of the judges to understand why they got the score they did, and how they could improve for their second flight. We took an early lunch, and during this break we had a session on pre-flight preparation, including why to do a "walk through", what to include, and other tips to think about to help with flying a sequence to the best of your ability.

Our eager competitors again took to the skies, trying hard to remember all that they had been told. All of them managed to improve on their first scores, with the lowest score on the second sequence (the only one that counts) being an impressive score of 75%. The overall result had Steve Blakey, our Pitts pilot, winning the headstone, very closely followed by the two chaps in the Slingsby, Phil and John. It’s a shame there weren’t more competitors as it really was a good day out at a very friendly airfield.

After the competition had officially closed, a few of the Sleap based Standard pilots used the remaining (and unexpected) weather, and judges time, to get some critique in advance of the Gunpowder Trophy in only a few weeks time.

Many thanks to all the helpers and the very warm welcome we received at Sleap. In particular, to Nathan, Bob, and Tony (in the tower) for warding off unwelcome visitors to our box. I’m sure we will return, if you’ll have us.