The 7th 8th & 9th April saw the running of the second training Camp for the British Unlimited Aerobatic Team at Wickenby, thanks to the support of the British Aerobatic Foundation. The mood was different from the first Training Camp run at the end of March, more thoughtful but equally enthusiastic and committed. Tom Cassells and Gerald Cooper managed the three full days, Mark the Saturday, but Kester Scrope could not get time off over Easter. We were only able to critique Tom and Gerald.

I noticed less light-hearted banter than during the March camp, and both Tom and Gerald seem to be very in-tune to the inputs from Eric Vazeille. An unknown, a freestyle and another unknown kept Tom and Gerald on the go. No wonder that by evening both were feeling the knackered!

Compared to the first camp most noticeable was improved smoothness overall and greater precision in the snaps, There was only one manoeuvre that Dave Cowden and I might have zeroed if it had been a competition. Pretty good for this early in the season ... looks like the training is beginning to bite!

   A very cold Eric Vazeille talks to Gerald
   during the final evening flight.

I said in my last report that we would explain the process that Eric is using. He concentrates on the key elements of all the manoeuvres, flicks, getting the position of hesitation stops in the right position (not as easy as you might think), positioning of the first and subsequent manoeuvres, slipping to re position, how to roll in loops and still keep the radius going, speeds, and much more. As unlimited aerobatic pilots they are aware of all these issues, but Eric’s skill is passing on the tips he learnt in becoming an Unlimited World Champion.

It was agreed that the Judging team would come initially for only one day to each camp and we are not yet scoring each manoeuvre. Dave Cowden and I concentrated on making notes of the errors small and large for each pilot and each sequence. We discussed these with Eric and he filters the comments to avoid information overload, and confusion. Our job is to critique not to train. If Eric can use our nit picking to improve eventual scores by 0.5 or so, we will have done a useful job for the team.

At the third Camp from the 4th to 7th of May at Little Gransden we will start to put scores down using a full three man judging team, which will be good practice for us before the season really get underway!

On talking to Gerald Cooper and Tom Cassells at the end of the second camp, I asked them how they felt the training camps were going. Gerald said: "The greatest difference that I have noticed this year is in the support from others and a general sense of being 'part of a team'. This feeling is being brought on by the majority of the team training as a unit under the guidance of a single trainer, whilst being watched by an experienced judging team. By combining these training techniques (as is common practice with most of the successful nations) you cater to both the flamboyant element of the sport in terms of style and aggression, whilst still bringing you down to earth with mundane tasks such as accuracy and radius. Pledges of assistance have really helped to boost the general sense of it all being worthwhile and has resulted in us feeling like we are part of a well organised team. With a four day training camp under Eric's supervision scheduled for each month between now and the Worlds in June, we should all be well prepared for the event".

Tom agreed with this and added:  "Having been involved with 'The Team' for over ten years, I can say that this year, the feeling is very up beat. The support from the BAeF, Steve Green, Graham Hill and David Cowden is brilliant. As a team member it does make a tremendous difference to the pilots and does spur us all on to do well. The fact that other people care about how we do, and are actively helping to improve the British Team's chances in world rankings will, I am sure, be very effective.  When I first started, I was inspired by watching unlimited aerobatics being flown. If you fancy some inspiration, you might find it useful to visit Little Gransden in May. The fact that Eric gives up great chunks of his spare time to train the Brits is a unique situation that needs to be looked after. As Graham has observed, he misses absolutely nothing!".

We look forward to reporting to you again following the Gransden camp.
Graham Hill