Contest Report

Once again the delightful little aerodrome at Little Gransden operated by Mark Jefferies was the venue for British Aerobatics' Open Club event, this year with just eight aspiring competitors of whom most were making their debut in the aerobatic contest arena. On this occasion we needed just two dual-seat training aeroplanes - one monoplane and one biplane - to provide the necessary hardware, the hard-working Extra-200 G-EEEK from just down the road at Fowlmere and venerable Pitts S-2A G-BTTR from White Waltham, with instructors Aidan Grimley driving the mono plus David Kean and David Hall for the Pitts. Despite occasional reluctance to fire-up from the Extra the flights proceeded at a regular pace, while the weather remained pretty good throughout, an early solid but high overcast swiftly giving way to comfortably over 3,000ft though from time to time some of the Cu looked quite dark but didn't turn to rain.

Two training areas away from the airfield were quickly arranged so that all eight pilots could spend a while getting to grips with BAeA's 2022 Club Sequence, followed by a brief spell in the performance zone to provide evidence of their skills before landing back for the next competitor to take their turn. This year we operated with just one judge, the Association's very experienced Rod Hervé ably assisted his son Thibault as scribe. Rod also made an audio recording with his phone of the comments made during each overhead performance so that each competitor was able to listen to them during the lunch break.

When everyone had listened to Rod's pearly words and lunch was consumed the serious business of the day started. With four pilots per aeroplane split evenly between the mono and biplane equipment the eight fully scored flights were quickly made. It was clear to everyone on the ground that many pilots were well past their early learning times, with extremely well-flown figures and impressive positioning during most flights. With the marks in the computer and a results sheet produced the quality became even clearer, Jacob Hinson leading the numbers with a remarkable 89.31 percent ahead of the chasing pack. In fact five of the eight performances scored over 80%, a very good omen for future aerobatic competition forays.

Overall this was a really fine day, good company and great weather combining to put everyone in excellent spirits. Many thanks to our three hard-working instructors, the sole judge and his scribe, and of course to JB for all the paperwork prep and computer input. I really enjoyed it too, days like this bode well for the future of British Aerobatics.

Nick Buckenham
Contest Director