Posted on 06/21/2005 8:04:46 AM PDT by Dashing Dasher
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a little known international sporting competition.
The US Aerobatic Team takes on the world at Burgos, Spain. I would like to share my interest in this sport with my FReeper FRiends. I hope you find this interesting.
I am getting updates from three of the team members on a regular basis - plus there is a website that will have scores, updates, pictures, etc. keeping all of us FANS involved in the day to day competition going on in Spain.
This competition is held somewhere in the world every other year. Last time (2003), it was in Lakeland, Florida, USA. Trophies are given out for individuals and for teams. In 2003, the Russians placed 1, 2, 3, with the highest ranking USA Pilot, Robert Armstrong, coming in fourth place. The team results were Russia, France, USA.
These are the best (competition) aerobatic pilots in the world. The United States has a team of ten - six men and four women - who will be representing us.
Other countries we know will be bringing teams include Russia, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, plus - who knows who else will show up... There is word we will see pilots - but maybe not whole teams from Finland, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, and Czech Republic. A minimum of three pilots is necessary to form an actual team.
The US Team will be flying several different airplanes. The American Made Zivko Edge 540 will be flown by Vicki Cruse, Janet Fitzke, and Kirby Chambliss. Also American Made is the Panzl S-330 which will be flown by Allyson Parker Lauck. Debby Rihn-Harvey has competed in the Worlds three times and David Martin, another WAC Veteran, will be flying the French made CAP-232. Robert Armstrong will be flying a CAP-231. Hubie Tolson, Michael Racy and Zach Heffley (our youngest team member at 24) will be flying the Russian Sukhoi 26.
Each competition starts with a Known also known as a Compulsory or Q program. Each pilot will fly the same sequence of maneuvers and will be judged by an international panel. The next program is the Freestyle. This allows each pilot to put together a sequence of maneuvers of their own creation.
Once the first two programs are flown, the first of the two Unknowns begin. These are a set of flight sequences designed by committee and given to the competitors 24 hours before they need to fly them. This is very difficult and is really separates the wheat from the shaft, if you know what I mean.
I will continue to update this thread to keep everyone up to date on what is happening in Spain. Please feel free to visit these websites for additional information or if you have specific questions let me know. Ill try to answer them for you.
http://www.usaerobaticteam.com/htmlfile/index.php
http://events.fai.org/aerobatics/calendar.asp
Your plane thread was very cool BTW. I wish I had more time to enjoy it! :o)
Which one..?
I'll just say thank you.
;-)
Dasher
This one.
Ok.
Thanks.
I'm good friends with several of the key players and thought it was a good way to share this sport with my FReeper FRiends.
Thanks Dash, That's pretty cool! It's interesting to see how a performace is mapped out.
I'm glad you enjoyed my sequence walk through. I've never written it down before. I just hoped it made sense.
More today - when the flying gets back underway.
Category: Unlimited |
Rank | Country | Pilot | Free | pp % | |
1 | USA | Debby RIHN-HARVEY | 3770.2907 | 78.55 | |
2 | GBR | Tom CASSELS | 3626.8183 | 75.56 | |
3 | ITA | Elena CORTE | 3465.4825 | 72.20 | |
4 | USA | Janet FITZKE | 3379.5519 | 70.41 | |
5 | FRA | Nicolas IVANOFF | 3377.4003 | 70.36 | |
6 | ITA | Renzo VOCERI | 3353.6129 | 69.87 | |
7 | SUI | Pierre MARMY | 3274.8952 | 68.23 | |
8 | RUS | Vladimir POPOV | 3233.5571 | 67.37 | |
9 | ESP | Juan VELARDE | 3229.8449 | 67.29 | |
10 | ESP | Alex MC LEAN | 3118.9681 | 64.98 | |
11 | GER | Klaus LENHART | 3111.3550 | 64.82 | |
12 | FRA | Kathel BOULANGER | 2940.5488 | 61.26 | |
13 | USA | Allyson PARKER-LAUCK | 2852.0034 | 59.42 | |
14 | GER | Klaus SCHRODT | 2827.0520 | 58.90 | |
15 | ESP | Juan SOCIAS | 2789.5384 | 58.12 | |
16 | ITA | Daniele LOCATELLI | 2681.7781 | 55.87 | |
17 | ITA | Paolo ZOPPI | 2554.2307 | 53.21 | |
18 | ITA | Guido GIRAUDO | 2483.1422 | 51.73 | |
19 | SUI | Hans-Peter ROHNER | 2450.1440 | 51.04 | |
20 | GBR | Nick ONN | 2441.3637 | 50.86 | |
21 | ITA | Sergio DALLAN | 2345.6468 | 48.87 | |
22 | GBR | Val RAHMANI | 2253.0741 | 46.94 | |
23 | ITA | Irene PASINI | 1837.0976 | 38.27 | |
24 | USA | Michael RACY | 1543.7472 | 32.16 |
Aerobatic Contest Managing System - Publisher - V2005.1.1 (C) by Michel DUPONT (2000 - 2005) | 06/28/2005 04:26:23 PM |
On boy. I went "stunt flying" once with a guy that flew in the Cleveland airshow. I thought the scariest part was going to be the 5 second instruction I received on how to use the parachute ("jump out, cross your legs, pull the cord"). I was fine with the roll, the loop was actually cool. Then he did what I think he said was an Immelman (climbed real fast, stalled one wing and then kind of tumbled towards the ground). That was it for me. I apparently was shaking so hard he could feel it through the controls.
Thanks for all the updates, this is interesting stuff (that I am glad I am experiencing from the ground).
"On boy" = "Oh boy". My typing skills leave much to be desired.
WOW, a big thanks for all the info and links.... !!! Please keep this going.
More news from Burgos....
One other point of interest...
Zach Heffley lost a bet.
When told that he would have to fly today, he didn't believe it since things have been a bit slow paced around here.
He said, "If I fly tonight, I'll wear a dress to dinner".
Well... Zach lived up to his word and wore a dress to dinner.
Sorry, I'm too tired to post pictures now, but I'll get them on tomorrow.
Dasher will post when available!
You lose a bet - you wear a dress.
We've got to have rules!
In Competition Aerobatics, the final test of skill is the Unknown. At the World Level - there are two Unknown Sequences.
The Unknown is a Sequence of maneuvers that are put together at the contest - usually by pilots suggesting figures and the Judges' pulling them together into a sequence.
While the Competitors get to practice the Known or Compulsory and their Freestyle (which was flown yesterday), they do not get to practice the Unknown and must fly it from the Sequence Card - (see Post #80).
Many times, you will see competitors (aka World Famous Stunt Pilots ;->) doing what we call The Dance or hand flying their sequence.
See an unnamed competitor doing his dance for the crowds.
I'll try to get a copy of the First Unknown and post it.
Some GREAT pictures from the Red Bull Air Race in Rotterdam.
http://www.airshowaction.com/redbull2005nl/page1.html
and the Paris Airshow
http://www.airshowactionphotography.com/paris05/page1.html
At that point, pull the knife and cut your risers.
Do you always start conversations in the middle?
yes.
Sure?
Real Aero club de Espana |
23 th World Aerobatic Championships - Burgos - Spain - Category: Unlimited |
Jury President: Mike HEUER | Chief Judge: John GAILLARD | Contest Director: Antonio QUINTANA |
Rank | Country | Pilot | Total | pp % | ||||||||
1 | RUS | Sergei RAKHMANIN | 7872.5998 | 82.61 | ||||||||
2 | FRA | Renaud ECALLE | 7773.7815 | 81.57 | ||||||||
3 | RUS | Oleg SHPOLYANSKI | 7758.6659 | 81.41 | ||||||||
4 | RUS | Svetlana KAPANINA | 7621.2407 | 79.97 | ||||||||
5 | USA | Kirby CHAMBLISS | 7440.4638 | 78.07 | ||||||||
6 | RUS | Mikhail MAMISTOV | 7340.8776 | 77.03 | ||||||||
7 | RUS | Andrey BESPALOV | 7267.8314 | 76.26 | ||||||||
8 | ESP | Castor FANTOBA | 7266.7174 | 76.25 | ||||||||
9 | FRA | Jean-Michel DELORME | 7263.0326 | 76.21 | ||||||||
10 | RUS | Victor CHMAL | 7162.8712 | 75.16 | ||||||||
11 | USA | Robert ARMSTRONG | 7100.1885 | 74.50 | ||||||||
12 | FRA | Pascale ALAJOUANINE | 7080.8875 | 74.30 | ||||||||
13 | RUS | Elena KLIMOVICH | 7073.0292 | 74.22 | ||||||||
14 | FRA | Francois LEVOT | 7071.0018 | 74.20 | ||||||||
15 | USA | Debby RIHN-HARVEY | 6947.7069 | 72.90 | ||||||||
16 | RUS | Svetlana FEDORENKO | 6899.4998 | 72.40 | ||||||||
17 | GBR | Tom CASSELS | 6877.3973 | 72.17 | ||||||||
18 | FRA | Laurent NARJOUX | 6792.6566 | 71.28 | ||||||||
19 | USA | Zach HEFLEY | 6703.8818 | 70.35 | ||||||||
20 | GBR | Gerald COOPER | 6598.4036 | 69.24 | ||||||||
21 | RUS | Larisa RADOSTEVA | 6590.8960 | 69.16 | ||||||||
22 | ITA | Maurizio COSTA | 6586.4611 | 69.11 | ||||||||
23 | USA | Hubert TOLSON | 6552.5770 | 68.76 | ||||||||
24 | FRA | Nicolas IVANOFF | 6542.3943 | 68.65 | ||||||||
25 | FRA | Matthieu ROULET | 6433.8593 | 67.51 | ||||||||
26 | ITA | Elena CORTE | 6300.9746 | 66.12 | ||||||||
27 | RUS | Vladimir POPOV | 6245.2835 | 65.53 | ||||||||
28 | ESP | Juan VELARDE | 6207.5500 | 65.14 | ||||||||
29 | GER | Klaus SCHRODT | 6123.5887 | 64.26 | ||||||||
30 | SUI | Pierre MARMY | 5902.7716 | 61.94 | ||||||||
31 | ITA | Renzo VOCERI | 5828.1126 | 61.16 | ||||||||
32 | USA | Vicki CRUSE | 5812.1708 | 60.99 | ||||||||
33 | USA | David MARTIN | 5746.9496 | 60.30 | ||||||||
34 | FRA | Kathel BOULANGER | 5692.1946 | 59.73 | ||||||||
35 | GER | Klaus LENHART | 5657.1459 | 59.36 | ||||||||
36 | USA | Allyson PARKER-LAUCK | 5517.1284 | 57.89 | ||||||||
37 | ITA | Paolo ZOPPI | 5516.5742 | 57.89 | ||||||||
38 | USA | Janet FITZKE | 5463.4716 | 57.33 | ||||||||
39 | GBR | Nick ONN | 5161.6863 | 54.16 | ||||||||
40 | ITA | Sergio DALLAN | 5066.8372 | 53.17 | ||||||||
41 | ITA | Guido GIRAUDO | 5066.3936 | 53.16 | ||||||||
42 | ESP | Juan SOCIAS | 4868.4395 | 51.09 | ||||||||
43 | SUI | Hans-Peter ROHNER | 4817.8966 | 50.56 | ||||||||
44 | USA | Michael RACY | 4664.9558 | 48.95 | ||||||||
45 | ITA | Daniele LOCATELLI | 4579.2085 | 48.05 | ||||||||
46 | GBR | Val RAHMANI | 4415.1446 | 46.33 | ||||||||
47 | ESP | Alex MC LEAN | 3138.9655 | 32.94 | ||||||||
48 | ITA | Irene PASINI | 2125.2501 | 22.30 |
Aerobatic Contest Managing System - Publisher - V2005.1.1 (C) by Michel DUPONT (2000 - 2005) | 06/30/2005 02:40:35 PM |
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.