Sports & Intermediate British National Championships, 2016 results

It was with some trepidation that I found myself arriving at Peterborough Conington on Thursday evening to confirm the final preparations for the Sports & Intermediate British National Championships of 2016 as not only was this the first Nationals event I had attempted in the role of Contest Director it was also my first event as CD full stop.

Upon arrival I discovered that Brian McCartney in his role as Chief Judge had already arrived and laid out the necessary box markers that give the competitors a sporting chance of staying inside the ethereal and often elusive performance zone notably referred to as 'the box'. Similarly Scoring Director Jen B had already done several trips to fetch and carry all the necessary equipment required to operate a BAeA event. So it appeared, even before my arrival we were already in fine fettle and as a result my fears were quickly allayed. With all these things the perception is always much worse than the reality and before long I was far too busy cajoling the next combatant into their cockpit to worry about any initial misgivings.

The leisurely briefing time on Friday allowed for the usual influx of competitors and aside from one pre-notified abstention at the roll call we were all front and centre for the 10:00 start. The initial briefing included the mandatory run through of all safety, airfield logistics and weather updates after which we all scurried off to prepare for the competition proper. Although the weather was both warm and dry unfortunately the start of competition flying was delayed due to low cloud in the box but thankfully not for too long. We had a cloud base check at 11:30 courtesy of Captain Willis after which we got the first Sports class competitor in David Heard away to the box at 12:00.

Before long the first gremlin scurried into the scoring office and we realised there was a requirement to reprint a large portion of the paperwork Jen had spent a not insignificant amount of time producing in advance. In just under 2 hours the Sports Known sequences were complete and at 14:10 launched Jan Nijhof and thus started the intermediate free known sequences. This was followed by all the remaining intermediate competitors while the Sports class started to chicken dance their way through the first unknown sequence which subsequently commenced at 16:00.

The next gremlin decided to pop up and give us a nip by deciding that Chief scoring director Jen’s laptop need to perform a major update which stopped all remaining scores being added until it had been resolved. Aside from a couple of closer than comfortable glider flyby’s we had limited interruptions to the flying and thus managed to finish the first Sports unknown flights at exactly 18:00 in line with the agreed airfield operating times. Well done to all pilots!

The usual Friday evening meal at Spice Land was swapped for some rather nice pub grub at the Premier Inn which conveniently happened to be housing most of the competitors and hence the booking. Thankfully we were ushered into a separate section as approx. 35 competitors, officials and supporting staff descended on the restaurant and proceeded to live up to our usual excitable reputation. Knowing I had a 45 min drive ahead of me and it was heading toward 22:30 I departed leaving the resident pilots to finish at the bar and considered how the opening day had gone during the drive home.

The published brief time for the second day was an eye watering 08:00 but with only 2 days to run through almost 100 flights we needed to get a good start on it. With a quick run through of the brief complete, all pilots and supporting crew headed to the cafe bar to have a butty and warm caffeine injection.

Following the ritual chicken dances from the first few pilots, the Intermediate squad started their first unknown sequence with Jan surging in the box at bang on 09:00 producing a mid-seventies score which would ultimately set the bar for the others. A small foray into some light cloud courtesy of Jack Willis provided light entertainment and he decided to land and have another attempt later on. A small technical issue in ROMP meant it dropped to the back of the flying order but even with those interruptions we were pushing into the first of the Sports 2nd unknown by 10:40.

At some point during Saturday morning I actually realised there had been a GEEEK rebrand activity on Friday evening which confirmed I clearly hadn’t cleaned my eyeballs and I bet you’re all glad now I wasn’t on the judging line.

The 2nd unknown for the Intermediate class started just after 13:00 and very soon the likelihood of running 3 sequences at that class in one day started to diminish. The challenge of the competition, heat, and likely not enough liquid refreshment was starting to show in the pilot scores. In previous years I have myself been confident to fly 3 sequences in a single day and know first-hand how challenging it can be.

By 15:00 the Sports class started their 3rd and last unknown sequence and all eyes were on the competition unfolding between team RAFFCA and the Extra 200 flyers all hovering in the top few places. Having made the decision to remove the final unknown from the Intermediate class the time pressure was relieved somewhat and final flight finished just after 17:00. The high standard of flying from the top placed competitors in both Jan and Kris gives the competition something to aim for. Only a single score from Kris dipped below the 80% mark and demonstrates the potential we have to expect in the future.

Within the BAeA rules there are certain entries that don’t get regularly exercised but this weekend saw one in action. In this instance only a resident pilot is able to win the trophy for top place so we saw the BAeA plate (proudly sponsored by the Cavendish Hotel and courtesy of Eric (nice plug!)) pass to the Stephen Hipwell while the Nigel Arthur Cup was claimed by Kris Liesmons.

So as the weekend draws to a close and all the sun blushed faces return to their far flung corners of Britain and indeed Europe I am proud of the effort applied by all pilots in their respective classes. Everything has run more or less to plan and we shall all return to fly again another day, hopefully I shall see some, or all of you before the aerobatic season is out. It only remains for me to thank all competing pilots for making this event enjoyable and to all the other support team members for providing me with their unwavering support.

Fly safe out there!

Chris Sills, Contest Director

Contest Results: Nigel Arthur Cup 2016

Rank Team Pilot Aeroplane Registration Known Unk 1 Unk 2 Unk 3 Totals O/all %
1 Kris Liesmons Extra 200 G-TWOO 1112.93 1335.78 1361.46 1346.37 5156.54 81.334
2 Sam Kempsey Extra 200 G-EEEK 937.73 1285.88 1361.48 1416.25 5001.34 78.885
3 David Hall Pitts S-2A G-BTTR 962.32 1169.63 1149.00 1350.26 4631.21 73.047
4 David Heard Extra 200 G-TWOO 951.63 1196.33 1043.34 1397.63 4588.93 72.381
5 Paul Morrison Slingsby T67M G-CIKS 898.77 1145.84 1232.94 1284.07 4561.62 71.950
6 Dave Garrison Christen Eagle G-RIFY 970.26 1134.97 1137.67 1226.70 4469.59 70.498
7 Aaron Croucher Extra 200 G-EEEK 943.26 1204.77 1086.83 1231.62 4466.48 70.449
8 Mark Barber Pitts S-2A G-CUPP 1017.41 1098.60 1263.39 874.14 4253.53 67.090
9 Anthony Walsh Extra 200 G-OLUD 879.20 1015.52 1146.03 1194.77 4235.51 66.806
10 Ian Turner Pitts S-2E G-PIIT 939.25 940.02 403.05 1281.96 3564.28 56.219
11 Martin Luton RV-8 G-DAZZ 893.21 1094.83 924.77 2912.81 45.943
H/C Francesco Fullin Extra 200 G-EEEK 863.64 1096.75 1169.51 939.87 4069.77 64.192
H/C Graham Kehily Extra 200 G-EEEK 830.12 912.95 913.70 896.27 3553.04 56.042

Contest Director: Chris Sills, Contest Chief Judge: Brian McCartney, Scoring Director: Jen Buckenham

Judges: Brian McCartney, Ian Scott, Steve Todd, Phil Burgess, John Royce, Eric Marsh, Karin Riedl,

Judges Assistants: Julie Lawley, Julie Wood, Adrian Cornwall, Peter Rounce, Renuka Perera, Sander von Ulice, Bob, John Royce, Sam Hewitt

FairPlay SystemACRO Version 4.1 Build: 23/07/16

Contest Results: Intermdiate BAeA Plate 2016

Rank Team Pilot Aeroplane Registration Fr/Known Unkwn #1 Unkwn #2 Totals O/all %
1 Jan Nijhof Pitts S-1T N-196JR 1780.37 1854.10 1975.01 5609.47 76.947
2 Stephen Hipwell Extra-230 G-ROMP 1756.28 1663.20 1962.04 5381.51 73.821
3 Alex Cartwright Pitts S-2E G-KITI 1611.64 1878.24 1735.26 5225.14 71.675
4 David Slater Pitts S-1T G-BKPZ 1562.06 1802.70 1470.96 4835.72 66.334
5 Martijn Kersten Extra 300S D-EXML 1670.97 1132.30 1889.47 4692.74 64.372
6 David Cowden Extra 230 G-ROMP 1460.44 1438.67 1663.77 4562.87 62.591
7 Stephen Evans Laser 200 G-CBHR 1681.64 1404.05 1442.92 4528.61 62.121
8 Dave Farley Pitts S-2A G-BTTR 1495.54 1478.10 1439.34 4412.98 60.535
9 Jack Willis Extra 200 G-EEEK 1508.72 1237.63 1425.08 4171.43 57.221

Contest Director: Chris Sills, Contest Chief Judge: Brian McCartney, Scoring Director: Jen Buckenham

Judges: Brian McCartney, Ian Scott, Steve Todd, Phil Burgess, John Royce, Eric Marsh, Peter Rounce,

Judges Assistants: Julie Lawley, Julie Wood, Adrian Cornwall, Karin Riedl, Renuka Perera, Sander von Ulice, Bob, John Royce, Sam Hewitt

FairPlay SystemACRO Version 4.1 Build: 23/07/16