Practice Day

We met up with Nell, Dez, Nedim & Chad in the morning as we grabbed a quick snack downstairs. They were set to depart for the practice site so we headed back up to the room to assemble Mark’s planes.  Everything was in good order as the plane boxes were emptied and everything inspected for possible damage. Mark elected to assemble only his #1 airframe for today's practice session and after getting it all put together, we loaded up the van and were on our way.

A quick stop at Subway (for our lunch) and we arrived at the field in short order. Several teams were also actively using the site and I had a chance to meet the Irish Team Manager Paul Houlihan and his pilots Angus Balfour, John Martin and Shane Robinson. I had met Shane in Argentina in 07 with his helper/caller and wife Sinead and she was also here doing those duties. It was good to renew acquaintances with them.

The team from Lichtenstein was practicing as well and we were introduced to Wolfgang Matt, Stefan and Rob Kaiser and I believe the other team member/manager was Gunther Matt. 

Practice time.

Mark spent the first flight checking trims and putting in a few elements to see what the performance was like from our relatively colder climate and sea level elevation. With some tweaking to improve roll rates, the plane looked good and Mark was happy. Dez also put in numerous rounds as we watched. Nedim was calling and with some suggestions, had Dez starting to lock in his plane. Some throttle issues remain and with some addition tweaking we should have this resolved for tomorrows practice. Chad had solid rounds and worked hard in the winds and heat. His Xigris Evolution performed flawlessly and he seemed pleased with his flights. What more can a guy ask for.

Dez readies for another flight.

The teams took turns flying and with the heat sucking the energy out of everyone, the flying stopped around 1500 local. Did I mention there is a heat wave that is breaking records? Hottest in a decade they say!

There were some very nice flights put in with various flying styles observed. Larger & faster flights along with slower, more methodical styles contrasted the P-11 schedules flown.

We headed back to Muncie and after a nice swim to cool down we all headed to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. It was very good. Tomorrow we will see the arrival of Xavier Mouraux to the onsite team.  No updates today from the Hughson’s or Clark’s so I am unsure of their travel status at the time of posting this blog.