Radom, Sunday the somethingth of August 2006 after morning briefing.
Yesterday managed only 30 Q flights due cloud, wind and various small inefficiencies. Results so far can be seen at http://civaweb.mwebservices.net/ ... then click on the online results for Radom. Weather this morning is bad again and forecast really does not make me think we will fly at all before tomorrow. There will be another briefing after lunch at 1400 local and a possible small improvement after 1600, but the TAF still can broken at 2000 feet at best.

Richard 'Space' Buchan arrived yesterday to act as interpreter and bag man. He has a number of friends within the organisation here, so is able to get things done quicker than most. I hope this will be of use as the contest draws to a frenetic close later in the week. Sorry there is not much more news, but that is the way it is.

Radom, 07/08/06, 1730 Local
That's the Q finished then, after just the 4 days of stop/start and so on. I was somewhat disappointed with 73% as I was aiming at least 2% higher, but that's the way it goes. Nothing particularly amiss, in fact a lot of people said it was very good. However, they were watching from a somewhat different place from the judges.

Four days without flying at all is also a bit of a hurdle at this level. The conditions this morning were quite acceptable but nowehere near as good  as last evening. Only 1 of 12 flying today (Korchagin) made the top 10. However, flying has already started for the Frees. With a bit more luck we will get through the whole of one unknown and the Q will fade into insignificance. As I've been drawn 60 out of 64 to fly the Free, my flights will be well spaced from now on. This is the up side of a late draw in the Q.

The beauty of AWAC is that there are so many more countries than at a WAC these days. Its a bit of a shame that the Russians are dominating the top places at present, but we hope we will be able to make an impact on them from now on.

I've attached the nominated figures for the first unknown (briefing finished a short while ago, in case anyone wants to take a break from Sudoku or whatever, and try to fit the puzzle together.

Enjoy

Wednesday 9th 0900 local
Well what a change...

Looks like today will be a complete non-flying day. We have this slack low system with cloud and TS all around. Not even the CD could raise much optimism this morning. Space was good enough to go to the 0800 meeting so I could laze around at the hotel, telling war stories with the Irish and South Africans over a late breakfast.

Apparently there will be another meeting at 1030, but unless they get a minor miracle, the main topic of conversation is likely to be about finding the best restaurant in South East Poland for dinner tonight. Somewhere that cooks meat without some unidentifiable gunge around it, does something other than boil the potatoes and has never heard of cabbage. No, this is not a complaint about airfield food which I am sure is perfectly wholesome and nourishing and probably tastes delightful if you have lived in Radom all your life.

Anyway... The day before yesterday we had been discussing how beautiful was the cloud development over a huge storm cell about 60 miles south of us. Huge anvil cloud in the late evening light and all the other associated bits.

Yesterday at about 6pm we found out, once again, what it is like to be underneath it! By 7.20 the sky over the box was sort of clear-ish once more and two brave souls ventured aloft to fly their frees. I thought this a bit unwise, as there was still a big CB (and no horizon) to the north, with the added excuse of light rain falling on the airfield. These flights were by Joachim Grepe and Don Peterson and they deserve much credit for trying to keep the show moving. However, the next (Russian) pilot declined the conditions because of the rain and so the judges were spared any further effort for the day.

Thus we have exactly half of the Free Programmes complete with at best 3 days flying remaining. There will certainly be no second unknown. We will need a major change of air-mass even to complete the first. It is just possible, therefore, that this may be the first CIVA contest where the Q is added to the Free to get a Champion.

Thanks again to all for their kind support, from near or far.
Alan

Radom, Saturday 12/08/06, 1220 local

Richard was right. The weather cleared up and I got to fly the Free at last. Was just a very few clouds above the height I needed so no weather problems. Needless to say, all I saw was small errors here and there, but we'll have to see how the judges saw it. There is a bit of wind today, so I am hoping that will affect those with 45 degree lines in their sequences!! Waiting for the scores as I write.

More anon I'm sure.
Alan

1316 local...
The scores are all available now at http://civaweb.mwebservices.net/

I came 8th in the Free with about 78.5%, consequent upon some small errors in the spin and one humpty apparently. Overall 11th. Not sure what to think of this yet. Seems a bit disappointing just now, and probably won't get better.

In the Team stakes, the Russia is first, USA second and the unofficial British and Irish Isles team third. If only... The French have it in reality, just ahead of the Czechs.

Now for the lovely ceremonies.
Alan

Maidenhead, 14/8/06 1145 local:
Now I am home and can afford some reflections on what has just happened.

This was a contest full of potential and yet it failed to satisfy in the end because of matters completely beyond the control of the organisers. Bored descriptions of the food aside, I must say that the Poles did their utmost to run a first class contest. The facilities were as good as you can reasonably expect anywhere for this kind of low-budget event and the free run of a military training airfield provided an excellent box, runway, hangar etc.

Particularly noticeable this year were the improved strength of the Russians and the USA Team. Kurylev, this years Champion came from a relatively lowly result in 2004, where he had a particularly bad time in the Unknowns, to outshine his team-mates in both programmes flown.

It is clear that the Russians work very hard at the Q programme. They got 5 of the top ten places in this flight. Thus it is particularly galling that we did not get onto the Unknowns where many others, myself included, put most of our training effort. The Free saw 6 different countries in the top 10.

Rob Holland was the best US pilot, as he was two years ago, flying the same Ultimate 10-300 as in Sweden. It says something for the design of this biplane that it is obviously still able to show well up there with the Su-29 and the Extras, in the hands of a very skilful pilot.

For the French and Czechs, this will have been a low point. Clearly they are short of training in aircraft types that are still relatively new to them. I expect they will get stronger again over the next two years.

Although this event was frustrated by the unusual weather, it remains a great sporting event and is within the grasp of most BAeA pilots with the desire and determination to represent their country. Dave Bruton of Ireland was in the top 10 of the Q and Michael Golan from Israel was in the top 10 of the Free. These were not well-known names before this contest. In Finland next year and wherever AWAC resides in 2006, there is definitely room at the top for more BAeA pilots as well.

Hope to see a lot of you at Peterborough next weekend...
Alan