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| The entire crowd at Site #1 |
On site #1 the pilots flew the first round of F-11 in front of a panel of three judges. The judging pool has been so depleted with folks going home that the organizers canvassed the pilots for the best options. A three judge panel was the best choice under the circumstances.
This years finals is truly international as British F3A Team member Richard Christopher along with Canadian Chad Northeast vie for the podium in Muncie. Marcelo Colombo of Argentina narrowly missed the cut when Pete Collinson edged him out of 8th place by 81/100th of a point.
The winds were light out of the south west and the skies hazy with some broken cloud. These were very nice conditions although a bit muggy...so what else is new! LOL
Pretty solid flights all around with a few soft spots in some flights. The real challenge will come in the Unknowns as callers and pilots fly these cold i.e. no actual plane practice....only stick plane.
Chad’s flight was solid with the exception of the 1-1/2 snap in the Cuban Eight... slight over rotation was evident. Ac Glenn had a nice round as well and was treated to a rousing applause from the Canadian contingent. He had requested it :-)
The F round was completed by 09:30 and the Unknowns got underway. Mark was asked by Line Coordinator Tim Jesky to call the maneuvers for the judges so we can now add the label “FAI Unknowns #1 Judge’s Caller” to his every growing RC resume.
Matthew Hoyland accepted the honor of the demo flight for the Unknowns.... the Brits come through as everyone else had left or declined.
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| Matt preps before the demo. |
Here we go.....
Richard is up first with winds left to right. It's 10:02 local.
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| Chip calls for Mike. |
The Unknowns #1 are now over and there is a short break before the next F-11 rounds start. Hard to say who handled the flights the best as they all looked good. There was a few soft areas and some geometry issues in each flight but it's up to the judges now. The loop with the full roll has been key I think along with hitting the snaps.
The first F scores will hopefully be posted but there is nothing as of yet. Some F raw scores are coming in...looks like Dave Lockhart set the bar high (I didn't see the flight) and Chad is 100 points behind him. Not sure how the others did at this point... still no normalized scores for Round #1 at this point.
The F flights are midway through now and Chad had a great flight. Hit every snap! Great geometry so we will see how things play out....
I am afraid I have to stop updating as we head to Indy for our flight home. I'll try and update from the airport and/or YYZ.
UPDATE!!!
Just read RCU and got a text from Chad. Dave Lockhart was declared the US Nationals FAI Champion for 2011. Chad was in the second spot. I am unsure of the third place pilot at this time but that will be on RCU or NSRCA shortly. I'll update when I hear the placement of the other finalists when I get to Toronto.
It was a real marathon for Chad and we are all proud of his accomplishments. Congratulations to all those who participated.
