Monday evening - Armilla Air Base, Granada
The Q Programme started today - the draw was made last night at the
opening ceremony. Mark drew the earliest flight number - 4th. Richard
11, Kester 14, Gerald 18, Tom 22 and Nick 49 out of 51 - so mostly early
numbers in the order.
The first briefing was at 0915, but logistical issues
led to only two flights being completed before the mid-afternoon lunch
break from 1500 to 1700. In the afternoon the official wind was 270°, so
the main axis was 90° degrees to the runway at about 7m/second.
Mark, Richard and Kester flew in the afternoon - all flew good
sequences. Mark put in an accurate well positioned flight, with possibly
one out (they are using line judges at the contest). Richard also flew
well - a very good debut flight at the WAC. Kester had his snaps
complemented by Coco (the French trainer). So a good series of flights
for the first day.
The last pilot to fly was David Martin (17), which
means that Gerald will be first to fly in the morning - when at least it
will be a little cooler - this afternoon it must have been close to 35
degrees. Tom should also fly in the morning, with Nick possibly flying
late evening or perhaps on Wednesday.
I have not seen any interim results yet, but there is
a rumour that of the 8 pilots results that have been posted so far,
Castor Fantoba (Spain) is first and Mark is second. I will let you know
more tomorrow when I have a chance to get a copy of the results.
Eric is briefing all of the pilots before each flight,
with special emphasis on positioning in the box - the pilots have really
appreciated his support, it helps to offset some of the competition
nerves. But they're under tremendous psychological pressure and
Mark, Richard and Kester have done extremely well to maintain their
flying form in the cauldron of the WAC.
We are looking forward to seeing Gerald and Tom fly
tomorrow.
Steve |
