South Australian Pattern Association

2011 Pattern year about to get started . .

2011-02-16T04:05:00.000-08:00

2010 was a quiet year for this reporter. Unfortunately a house building project became all consuming.

The 2011 year is about to get underway and we all should see more regular updates posted here . .

STAY TUNED ! !

2009 South Australian State Championship

2009-12-07T02:42:00.000-08:00

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The SA Champs were run over the weekend of 21-22 November at the awesome Constellation Club field.

We had a final total of 16 Pilots competing in Sportsman, Advanced, Expert and F3A, with a good contingent from Victoria making the trip to Adelaide for the competition.

Rob Clarke arrived with a new Inspec, and typical of OXAI planes. It looked fantastic. This one was powered by the less expensive Hacker ACRO (not Competition) and hauled it around very nicely ( . . but it WAS cool weather ;o).
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Rob Clarke with GlennO's Aries EP
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Unfortunately, I didn’t get a pic of it . . but you can see them on the OXAI web site :o) I can say that it looks to fly really nice, and I am a little surprised we have not heard a LOT more of this plane.

Saturday started with showers on and off, however with quite calm conditions, we erected a ‘quick-shade’ cover for the judges and a couple of umbrellas were organized for the competitors, and commenced on time.

Tonksy shielding Henry from the elements

The flying was of a good standard, with quite a few putting in noticeably good flights.

In F3A, GlennO , Tonksy and Neil were flying well. As I was calling for Neil, I thought his flights were some of the best I had seen him fly . . technically VERY good with only minor flaws. SA’s John Tonks put in some awesome flights. His first round was a blinder only

GlennO preparing the Aries EP

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marred by a questionable stall into the spin. Victoria’s GlennO by his own admission had not flown much, and was disappointed in his first round, although it looked OK. His second and third rounds certainly had the cobwebs blown out. Victoria’s young James Nugent was also flying consistently well. I had had engine problems leading up to this comp, and the flame-out in the first round was almost expected . . great start. But thinking it was a long two days, I wasn’t too bothered. It is always good to see Rob Lauder over here from Geelong flying with us. He mentioned that he had not flown much recently, but his flights still looked quite tidy.

In Expert, SA’s Adam Talbot decided to come back to Pattern after a break (he flies 40%’ers in IMAC Unlimited class . . some break ;o). He flew the Sebart Angel 50 very well with nice precision. Victoria’s Rob Clarke flew the Inspec and flew better Adam Talbot with Mike and his 40% EXTRA

than I had seen him fly for some time. Rob had been flying Biplanes for a while, and the Inspec monoplane seemed to suit him better (in my opinion).

SA’s Peter Ukhoff has been improving all the time with his Integral and is flying well, while Victoria’s Henry Hutchinson was also putting in some good flights with one of his trusty Cyclones.

Advanced class had the Victorians of Darren Williams, David Nugent, and Graham Prestige (ex. South Ozzie!!) flying against the lone SA pilot of Jeremy Reynolds. Darren looked to be flying well, although Dave seemed to be putting it together too. Graham was having a ball !

Darren Williams returns from a flight

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He just always seems to have so much fun, no matter what happens ;o) . . and SA’s Jeremy was flying tidy with his Angel 50.

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Sportsman class saw SA’s Chris Watson as the lone competitor. . and flew well scoring well.

During the day, Mike Briggs (the father/caller/mechanic of Frazer Briggs, 2004 Tucson Shootout winner) turned up, all the way from New Zealand. He was over here on holidays, and managed to stumble across the Model flying field (haha). It was nice of him to come out, and it was great to meet him . . he is a great guy.
Me with Mike Briggs :o)
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The Saturday night Dinner was held at the Mawson Lakes Hotel. Good meals, a few drinks, and pleasant company was the order of the evening before retiring to contemplate the forecast of strong winds for Sunday ! Sunday dawned with predictions correct. Strong winds greeted us at the field with no indication (or forecast) of it easing up. A general meeting was held, followed by a P-11 technical forum before some decided it was too windy to fly. Anyway . . that was officially the end of the competition.

Advanced and Expert managed to fit in four rounds on the Saturday, while F3A only had three flights meaning they ALL had to count. Yes . . I was reasonably disappointed, having only two scoring rounds available. I guess that’s the luck . .

Presentations were made and the Interstaters managed to get an early start on their trip home. In general, some good flying and great company as always. The results are posted below, and generally, were as expected I guess . .

The happy gathering

So now we look forward to 2010 with new schedules and some new planes in the works, so I expect we will all be looking forward to that.

Early January we have a flying and judging clinic with a BBQ coming up at Mildren’s Flying Field . . stay tuned for more news !

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a great New Year . .

Jeff Boyd

2009 FAI-F3A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

2009-08-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

This event, held in Portugal, has been run and won.

Multiple World Champion, Christophe Paysant LeRoux, has added the 2009 F3A Crown to his impressive list.

Congratulations from all here at SAPA.

Final results here: http://www.fpam.pt/WCF3A09/Classifications/finale4.php

Benoit and Christophe - 2nd and 1st at the World Championship (Pic from French Champs)
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A young Christophe in early competition
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Great pictures from the event:
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"How can we beat CPLR" - Bryan Hebert and Bret Wickizer
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The long walk . .
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Recognise this guy ????? . . (6th place for JAS ! )
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Gerhard Mayr, Austria - 5th

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Quique Somenzini (right) with JAS caller
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Aussies at the World Champs - Portugal 2009

2009-08-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

We all have the chance to follow the efforts and Ozzies view at the World Champs in Portugal through Meredith Coram's posts on her blog . .

This event will be held over August 21 - 29.

We look forward to the Meredith Coram's postings and pics . . [click on the link below]
http://aussiemodelflyers.blogspot.com/

THE PLR BROTHERS 1st and 2nd at the WORLD CHAMPS !

SCORES:

Official FINAL results here:

http://www.fpam.pt/WCF3A09/Classifications/Finale4.php

Official Pre-Final results are here:

http://www.fpam.pt/WCF3A09/Classifications/semiFinals.php

Official Preliminary Results here:

http://www.fpam.pt/WCF3A09/Classifications/preliminares.php

Progressive Preliminary Scores can be found here: http://www.fpam.pt/WCF3A09/Classifications/scores.php

BLOGS AND WEB SITES:
The official Site for the FAI-F3A World Champs 2009 is here . .
http://www.fpam.pt/WCF3A09/Informations/informations.php

The USA Team blog on Flying Giants . .
http://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/fg3/45589-2009-team-usa-portugal-updates.html

Cindy Wickizer's blog (mother of USA Team member Brett Wickizer). Expect some 'up close and personal' info and pics here . .
http://2009worldsportugal.shutterfly.com/

Ola Fremming - Norwegian Team member's Web Site . .
http://www.ofremmi.info/F3A/Events/2009-Season/WC/world_championships_f3a_2009.htm

Chad Northeast - Canadian Team Member's Blog . .
http://chadnortheast.blogspot.com/

Nice video of the Spanish Team and also Silvestri flying his new "Wind S Pro" :o)
http://vimeo.com/6174124

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SAPA Competition at Monarto - June 21, 2009

2009-07-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

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Sunday June 21 started out fantastic . . calm and sunny, and remained that way with only a gentle breeze developing during the afternoon. PERFECT weather . .

The morning was very cold, and Neil had his "LiPo Warmer" plugged into the generator to bring his packs up to about 30deg C. Yes . . this is the latest MUST HAVE accessory for high performance LiPo users. Just about all EP F3A pilots are adding a WAECO 12V food warmer to their equipment for cold weather flying. The pre-warming of packs significantly improves the performance particularly through the first 2 or 3 manouevres.

John Tonks brought HIS LiPo warmer up with him . . it's worth around $2000 but it will carry you and your plane to the field as well . . made by FORD I think ;o)

Flying got under way with everybody enjoying the "kind" air. I was particularly enjoying it as all recent contests and practice have been in wind, and sometimes very strong wind, so this was a welcome change, and a breath of fresh air (pun intended). With all the flying and contests, the F3A guys were well rehearsed, and flying well. I personally felt I was flying the best I ever had, and the scores ended up proving that correct. John Tonks and Neil Martin were also flying very well, so although tough, I was happy with the result. Third in F3A, but much closer . . AND . . achieved my last promo point in F3A, so now officially ranked as a F3A Masters pilot . . and a pretty damn proud one too ;o).

The lone Expert pilot, Peter Ukhoff was also enjoying the calmer conditions. After lunch, he was trying a slightly different style following some discussions during lunch, and his schedule was looking much more solid with nice proportion.
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The competition between Jeremy Angel, Chris Watson and Jeremy Reynolds in the Sportsman class is hotting up a little more. After some engine woes in the first flight, Jeremy Angels' Impact came 'on song' for the remainder of the contest and was starting to look tidy.

Chris Watson flew a solid event and finished 2nd, while Jeremy Reynolds and his Angel 50E topped the class with a fine performance gaining his last promotion point for the effort . . welcome to Advanced class, Jeremy :o) Jeremy Reynolds also brought out his neat Trex 600 heli for a "thrash" and has got a good grip on this discipline too . . starting to become a very accomplished alround pilot, Jeremy.

At the end of the day . . we had a great contest in the best conditions for some time.

The next contest is at Constellation Model Flying Club's field on July 26th 2009.

Full results below . .

Cheers, Jeff Boyd

2009 SA vs VIC CHALLENGE

2009-06-21T05:18:00.000-07:00

Some of Adelaide’s Pattern Pilots ventured up to Mildura on the 6th – 8th of June for the Annual South Australia versus Victoria Challenge.

This is always a great weekend and one of the highlights of the year for us Pattern Flyers. The site is great with awesome facilities these days thanks to a lot of hard work from the Sunraysia club members. The facilities would rank as good as anywhere in Australia I’d say.

The Mildura Club Facilities
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Jeremy and I travelled up on the Friday and got there in time to have a couple of flights, and catch up with a few of our old mates including Chris Swain our honorary South Australian who travelled from Canberra for the event. Conditions were superb with no wind and a fine sunny afternoon. We were assured by a couple of knowledgeable local full size pilots that this was all about to change, with the weather shaping up to be windy and wet !

Friday night we caught up at the local Tavern for dinner and a chat . . always an enjoyable part of the events.

Saturday was a little windy and cold. . . but only

The "Ducks Guts" of Chris Swain's Berryl EP

the occasional shower and nothing to really hold up the proceedings, although I think it rained fairly hard during the night. The quality of flying was generally very good, with many showing that they had been practicing. Young James Nugent was in fine form flying VERY well in Expert class and appeared to look very much in control of that class. He only needed one more promo point to be flying in F3A . . and he was out to get it ! ! Sportsman pilot Wally Grembecki from Mildura was a notable improver, and looked to be flying in contention with young Robbie Simmons also flying well. In Advanced. Bob Hurst was looking the solid performer with Dave Nugent, Brian Green and Darren Williams keeping him honest. F3A had the usual TOP GUNS of GlennO, Marlo, Adam Crossman and Chris Swain (Aust F3A WC Team Member) . . should that be CrossO and SwainO ?? Those guys are REAL good, and their flying was looking the job. Neil Martin, myself, Fernando and Rob were trying very hard just to keep them in sight.

The wind died right off at the end of the day . . so GlennO got his Sebart Pitts Python out for some 3D “Hucking” . . great performance too. That thing looks to fly SWEET.

Saturday night we all met up at our usual Pizza Restaurant for dinner . . great time and atmosphere. Poor Fernando was struggling to find anything to his ‘vegetarian’ GlennO tying his Bipe in knots

liking, and almost ate the paper napkins by the end of the night.

Sunday dawned looking a little brighter on the weather front, with only a light shower early in the morning. The flying continued where it left off with all flying quite well. The apparent strong performers kept their form up throughout the day, with the long serving Sportsman pilot of Will Crossman starting to stamp what appeared to be some authority on the class . . although Wally was ‘giving it to him’ . .

Sunday night we went to the Nugents for a BBQ and night of fun . . and it was a fantastic night. Many thanks to the Nugent’s for entertaining us with some very athletic table

ZEQUE of Adam Crossman

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tennis . . and young Chris Nugent taking requests for YouTube videos . . then James Nugent flying his Shock Flyer in the street under torchlight and managing to find the only letterbox in 100 Metres . . don’t worry James, the Shock Flyer wasn’t F3A legal anyway . . it was OVER 5kg !

Thank you to the Nugent’s . . it was all much appreciated by the SA boys ;o).

Monday only had the last round to get through . . and on warm up, my Engine decided to spit the front half of the crank with prop and spinner across the pits! . .GREAT start. Jeremy Angel was quick to the rescue with his spare, and we swapped it over and managed to

"LUNCHED" - remains of Jeff Boyd's 160 . .

make the flight line for my last flight. Thanks Jeremy . . awesome . . I really appreciate it.

In the end Will Crossman (Vic) came out on top in Sportsman . . Bob Hurst (Vic) won Advanced . . James Nugent (Vic) BELTED Expert, and got his promo point (welcome to F3A) . . and GlennO (Vic) was awesome in F3A with a super performance.

As there were more Vics than SA pilots, the TEAM YS170 CDI fitted to "YS Willy's" Merlin

event was organized by picking a corresponding level pilot from a “hat” to fly against the South Ozzies. In F3A Masters, Marlo (Vic) flew against Neil Martin (SA) with Marlo just edging Neil out. F3A had Fernando (Vic) flying against me (Jeff Boyd -SA) with me taking the victory for SA. Sportsman had Will Crossman (Vic) flying against Jeremy Angel (SA) with Will taking the points . . so in the end, Victory to Victoria. NEXT TIME SA ! ! We must get more SA guys there for 2010 . . it’s a great event and an awesome weekend away.

Well done to Sparksy and crew on a great contest . . the event ran 'smooth as silk' from where I stood ;o)

MARK IT DOWN FOR NEXT YEAR ! . . DON'T MISS IT !

The 2009 Australian F3A Masters - with Jason Shulman

2009-05-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

Well the SA guys of Jeremy Angel, Chris Watson, Jeff Boyd, Neil Martin, John Tonks and Matt Cosier went down to Shepparton for a few days to compete at the Model Flight, JR , Spectrum sponsored 2009 Australian F3A Masters.

Not only is this a great event, but also we all

LR: Jeremy A, Neil M, Jeff B, Jason S, John T, Chris W

got the chance to spend some time with one of the legends of the hobby, Jason Shulman from USA.

Jason is a 2 x USA National F3A Champion, 6 x World Champs USA Team Member, and currently World F3A #4 (World Champs - Argentina). This guy can fly OK !

Many may have seen Jason Shulman fly his Giant Scale 3D Freestyle routines that can be found on the various video-hosting sites (like this for examle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lMFcEpE-Ys ). Jason was a very approachable guy, and very generous with his time answering all the questions over the weekend. . must have been hundreds.

We decided to leave Adelaide on Thursday, and practice at the Shepparton field on Friday, however with a

A good indication of the weather

break in the weather, I put my plane together and proceeded to watch it rain for a few hours :o( , so we adjourned to Gloria Jeans Coffee Shoppe for lunch before calling it quits for the day. Great start, and the forecast for the weekend didn't get any better with rain and 35kmh winds for Saturday . . and HAIL, rain and 45kmh winds with 55 to 60 kmh gusts for Sunday . . Hmmmmmmmmm

SA's Matt Cosier arranged a dinner at the Goulburn Valley Hotel where we met Jason Shulman for the first time. Apparently he was practicing on the Thursday, and didn't bother on Friday due to the weather.

We had a private function room, with a White Board . .

LR: Matt C, Marlo (Vic), Jason Shulman, GlennO (Mildura)

so Jason took questions and requests for manoeuvre descriptions which he drew with detail on the White Board (just hope the judges were attentive ;o) Great night with some good laughs, retiring as early as possible as Saturday

and Sunday were going to be early starts with 50+ entries flying on two flight lines, so plenty to get through.

We arrived at the field about 7:00am as first flights were scheduled for 8:00am. The weather was bad. Windy, showery with VERY low cloud and poor visibility (read 'gloomy').

The first flights started on time, however planes were immediately disappearing into clouds at the top of manoeuvres.

Ummm . . which plane is mine ??

Chris Swain performed an integrated roll at the top of the two loops, I THINK . . because nobody could see it, including him, followed by a spin. Could NOT see the spin entry OR the spin, with some of us scanning the horizon for his exit from

the clouds . . which came (phew!). So the contest was held up waiting for the cloud base to lift.

Eventually, when we did finally get going on a more consistent basis, the morning began with the F3A and Sportsman classes . .

The two Wind 110E's of SA's John Tonks

GREAT ! Can't say me Tonksy or Neil Martin were looking forward to it much . . far from ideal conditions. Tonksy seemed to fly well, and Neil put in a couple of good ones too . . and I had a couple of shockers. Damn ! particularly with visibility causing orientation issues in two or three manoeuvres. Chris Watson and Matt Cosier had fun in the wind and flew quite well from what I saw from my wind break ;o).

Jason Shulman, Alf Pye, Bill Bloodworth, Chris Swain, Steve Coram and a few of the other top guys flew really well in the conditions,

Some of the 50+ planes entered at the Masters

as expected. Their skills are something to witness. At the end of the cold and long, windy and wet day, how were we doing ? . . WHO CARES ! We just wanted to get out of there ;o)

The Official Dinner / APA AGM was held on Saturday night at the "Wool Shed" which has become the standard venue for this event. Great ambience for friendly banter. The traditional Auction was

held with many great items supplied by our good friends at Model Flight, Surfcrew, and the APA. Proceeds going to help

The Saturday Night Dinner, Auction, and AGM

support the Australian F3A Team as they head to Portugal for the 2009 World Championships.

Sunday ?? Well it wasn't raining just yet, but the winds were working well ! Dark clouds were visible in the gloom of 6:00am and we were hoping for NO hail ! Not a good look on composite wings ;o) After watching the weather for a while, we got under way with the F3A Team Trials completing their 3rd round for the weekend. The wind had really picked up now, with many making noises of withdrawing. It was fantastic to watch our top guys working with the wind. Incredible angles and lines flown to produce very good Patterns in the conditions.

John Tonks flew well as usual, and Neil put in a couple of flights that I thought deserved a little better score, especially his first flight on Sunday . . it was great. In Expert and the Sportsman classes Matt Cosier and Chris Watson battled the wind gallantly . . 10/10 for their efforts :o)

Chris Watson did the best of the SA guys taking out 2nd in Sportsman, Matt C finished 9th (out of 14) in Expert, while in F3A, Tonksy finished in 9th, Neil Martin 10th and I finished 13th (out of 22). Here's hoping for even better results from the South Ozzies next year, and I think we

Chris Watson (SA) collecting his 2nd place Sportsman Trophy

can.

Jason Shulman flew a glow powered Cyclone on Saturday and switched to GlennO's Hacker C50-14XL powered electric Aries on Sunday.

In the end, Jason Shulman won F3A with borrowed planes and virtually no stick time on either of them, followed by Alf Pye and Bill Bloodworth. The NEW Australian Team for the World F3A Champs is Alf Pye - NSW, Bill Bloodworth - Vic and Chris Swain - ACT, with Paul Dart - Vic first reserve. . . Good luck to the guys in Portugal.

More information and pictures can be found here :-
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http://glennsf3a.blogspot.com/ AND

http://www.vicpattern.org.au/ (has full results posted on this page)

The NEXT pattern contest is in June at Mildura (the SA v's Vic Challenge). Report and pics to follow.

Competition at Skyhawks Field - March 2009

2009-04-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

The competition on Sunday March 8th was a little low key. We got a late start due to the extremely strong wind blowing from the East. Later in the morning John Tonks decided to test out his aptly named Wind 110E in the conditions, and Johns' ability made it look easy. He flew a very impressive and tight F3A schedule with his plane flying at 45degrees through all the up and down lines even though the actual line was absolutley vertical (NO exaggeration). At the end of the flight he was doing continuous Snap Rolls in front of himself at a height of about 6M (20') with no forward movement . . impressive.

Anyway, after that, we decided to get on with the comp. and fly the mandatory 3 rounds to qualify as a competition.

John Tonks, Neil Martin and Jeff Boyd lined up for F3A. John's excellent handling of the windy conditions had him edge out a closely following Neil Martin, with Jeff Boyd 3rd.
Matt Cosier and Peter Ukhoff flew in Expert and flew well, with Matt Cosier really starting to come to grips with the Pinnacle and putting in some good flights in the conditions. Matt took the win from Peter.
Sportsman class is becoming very competitive with Jeremy R and Chris flying very well with Jeremy R taking the win from Chris. Unfortunately, Jeremy Angel had another bout of engine troubles, however he will soon have his Comp-ARF Impact running and this will see Jeremy A quickly move through to the Advanced class.

John Tonks picked up his third Masters Promo point and is once again an Australian F3A Masters ranked pilot. Neil Martin also earned a F3A Masters retainer point, while Jeremy Reynolds flew well and gained his second promo point leading to the "Advanced" class . . well done to all, especially considering the conditions.

Thanks to the Skyhawks club for allowing us to use the field and for the great BBQ lunch. Due to the strong windy conditions, I am sure we didn't inconvenience anyone.

The next SA Pattern Competition is not until May due to the Australian Masters in April and a number of SA pilots heading there.

*** NEWS FLASH ***

Some of you may have heard of JASON SHULMAN from the USA. Jason is a 2 times USA F3A Champion, 6 times World Champs USA Team Member, and currently World No. 4 (World Champs - Argentina 2007).

Jason is coming to Australia. He will be in Melbourne for practice and testing from the 17th April, then at Cootamundra, NSW for the Australian F3A Champs on the 20/21 April, before flying at the Australian Masters in Shepparton on April 23 to 26 and I am sure his flying will be super impressive and awe-inspiring. The South Australian F3A Team of John Tonks, Neil Martin, and Jeff Boyd will be competing with Jason in the F3A class at "The Masters". SA Expert class flyer, Matt Cosier and Sportsman class flyers Chris Watson and Jeremy Angel are also travelling over to compete in the event, so it should be a great weekend in Shepparton for the SA Guys.

Report and pics to follow :o)

IMAC . . for something different

2009-03-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

IMAC at Monarto Field - March 7th 2009

Yes . . some of the Pattern guys flew IMAC for a rest?

L to R: John Tonks, Jeff Boyd, Neil Martin

Neil Martin, Chris Watson and myself flew at the IMAC "come and try" day and had a ball. We were also joined by "Mr. Competition" Tonksy who road his racer up to give us moral support. John has a Comp-ARF EXTRA on the work bench for these events, but has been concentrating on Pattern recently to good effect.

Pundi - doing what he does best . . not an IMAC schedule

It was a good turn-out with some 16 entries !

I flew a Pattern plane at this event, and felt like a Choir Boy at a Harley Convention ;o) My 35% EXTRA 260 is close although not close enough .. but it was great fun, particularly enjoying the "unknowns". That segment is a LOT of fun.

Comp-ARF Super Extra of Scotty Bradley

Neil Martin flew his Laser with a DL50 for power and was competitive immediately with very little practice, while Chris Watson flew his 'Majestic' 50 size Pattern Plane.

Pundi STILL doing what he does best ;o)

It was a long day, starting at about 8:40am and finishing around 5:30pm . . I was beginning to wonder whether I would be "clear headed" enough to fly Pattern the next day ! Turned out I wasn't . . flying the worst I have in a little while :o(

EXTRA 260 of Simon Butterworth

Anyway, enjoy the pics courtesy of Simon Butterworth.

SAPA Competition at Connie - Feb. 22, 2009

2009-02-19T03:46:00.000-08:00

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A great day for for the first competition of 2009 ! Just a bit of a crosswind blowing out in the morning, with the mild wind shifting westerly, blowing straight down the strip right to left. Warm to hot at 34deg C, but the see breeze in the afternoon made it quite pleasant.

A reasonable turn-out for the first event too with three in F3A, two in Expert, two in Sportsman and two coming out for the “Sports Aerobatics” class.

It was great to see David and Steve Marriner out early to check things out and have a fly, and they had a great time and have promised to continue with the sport. They both flew well, and learned a few things on the day too, I think. Steve flew solidly with an early 'modified' Virginia Slim, and David (Steve’s son) flew his colourful racer and showed some definite talent and skill in the short time he has been flying. We welcome them into “the fold” and look forward to many enjoyable competitions with them and watch them progress in the sport.

The “main event” showed the potential this year has in South Australia. Dr. Chris Watson flew his second (and first full) competition showing some skill and form WELL beyond his early flying experience. Why is that? . . he is flying John Tonks nicely trimmed CPLR designed “Majestic” . . AND . . he has the skills of John coaching him ! ! . . HE CAN’T GO WRONG ! He will gain his first promotion point VERY soon. Chris won Sportsman from Jeremy Angel, however to be fair, Jeremy suffered and engine problem in the first round finishing him for the day.

Expert class had Matthew Cosier with the tried and true Pinnacle/YS160 and put in some great flights, while Peter Ukhoff managed to eclipse Matt to win the class with his ever improving Integral/OS140RX.

F3A saw John Tonks fly his new Sebart Wind 110E Electric plane in competition for the first time . . and WOW ! . . awesome ! That thing flies VERY WELL, however John’s steering would make a Boomerang Trainer look like a piece of precision equipment. Having said that, JT kindly offered me a fly at the end of the day, and YES! . . it is a truly GREAT flying plane, and very competitive.
Neil Martin also flew his electric powered Integral in competition for the first time. Now that is a “machine”! Very smooth, very powerful, very clean, very precise, . . . and I flew my (aging by comparison) Integral again.
John Tonks won F3A by a slim margin over Neil Martin with Jeff Boyd (me) sitting back watching the fun ;o)

Promotion Points for the competition? Neil Martin earned a Masters retainer, while John Tonks and myself both gained our second Masters promo point. Peter Ukhoff is not far off gaining his first F3A promo point if his flying continues to progress from the good form on Sunday.

All done, we all had a great day. Thanks again to the Constellation Model Flying Club for their generosity in giving up the field for us on such a glorious flying day. We really appreciate it.

The next competition is on March 8th at Skyawks field on Bentley Road, at Craigmore. Competition kicking off at 9:00am so see you all there a bit before that.

The South Australian Pattern Championships, November 1 and 2, 2008.

2008-11-29T04:49:00.000-08:00

The South Australian Pattern Championships were held at the Constellation field on November 1 and 2, 2008.

18 Pilots from South Australia and Victoria originally entered this event, with only two late scratchings reducing the final numbers to 16.

Sunday's weather forecast was not looking favourable, so all pilots flew four rounds on Saturday in case the weather caused a premature end to the contest. Strong winds Saturday blew from the north east, however most pilot still managed to put together some nice flights. SA's John Tonks returned to F3A after quite a number of years out, his experience and skill certainly showed in the conditions performing some tidy flights for impressive scores with his electric powered Sebart Angel (boy, those Angels are an impressive plane).

Rob Clarke flew his impressive electric powered Wolfgang Matt designed Oxai "Amethyst" Biplane . . Very nice looking plane with a most amazing build quality.
Sunday, after early morning rain, the wind direction shifted to the west and the rain cleared, so the remaining flights were competed and the event concluded at around 2.00pm.

In the end, Glenn Orchard from Mildura won F3A pushed all the way by SA's John Tonks. Expert saw Melbourne's Ron Schultz pilot his Extreme Composite Proline to victory ahead of young James Nugent from Mildura (who borrowed a plane on the Saturday). Advanced had Mildura's Jason Sparks taking the event, and Sportsman saw Mildura's Dave Nugent win from SA's Jeremy Reynolds (with another of those great Sebart Angel's).

The SAPA Perpetual Cup sponsored by Bolly Products was won back this year by Neil Martin. It was a close local contest with the margin over the year being around 20 points or so over Jeff Boyd.

Thanks again to the Constellation Club for allowing us to hold the Championship at their magnificent field, and provide us with a great BBQ. Thanks also to Jeremy Angel for another well run competition aided by Verna Martin and Bev and Henry Hutchinson.

CAOCC 2008 - Taiwan. "From the Pilots' Eye" (Bill Bloodworth)

2008-11-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

CAOCC 2008 – Taiwan

As viewed from Down Under!

G’day, a few weeks ago I was asked to write an article about the Combined Asian Oceanic Continental Championships (CAOCC) for the K-Factor magazine in the USA. Given most of you wouldn’t know anything about me and not much more about precision aerobatics in Australia I thought I’d start with a short intro.

My name is Bill Bloodworth, I’m 30 years of age and I’ve been flying RC and aerobatics since I was 14. I have competed at 3 World Championships and 4 CAOCC’s. Like many modellers my age I was introduced, trained, financed and supported through the sport by my father who continues to compete in F3A here in Australia. Precision Aerobatics in Australia is quite a small community spread across great distances. I’m located in Melbourne which is in the south east corner of Australia. There are approximately 250 active pilots and about 30 of those fly the international F3A Class.

The Combined Asian Oceanic Continental Championships is a relatively young competition with the recent event in Taiwan being just the 7th Championship. The first event was held in Australia in 1996 and since then the number of participants, competition standard and the status of the event have grown significantly.

This year’s event was hosted by the CTAMA and supported by the Thunder Tiger Corporation. The food and accommodation were superb (5 Star to be exact) the competition site and practice fields were first class and the atmosphere amongst the judge’s jury and competitors was warm and friendly. As expected the friendliness was measured with a good dose of competition…

I was lucky enough to travel to Taiwan with a good friend and first time international competitor Glenn Orchard (aka GlennO). GlennO has been flying F3A for about 5 years and over the past 2 years has been knocking on the door of Australian team selection.

Given this was the first time GlennO had placed his “pride and joy” in a tin can and entrusted it to the baggage workers of the world he was very apprehensive about receiving a box of balsa at the other end rather than an F3A model… Of course I hadn’t helped to ease GlennO’s mind recalling all the horror stories I could think of on the 15 hour trip.

We arrived in Taipei a couple of days prior to official practice with an added bonus of 2 complete and undamaged models. The next challenge was to organise all the basic requirements (van, fuel, directions, WATER) so we can get some much needed practice in the local conditions. One of the issues for us F3A pilots from Australia is that every time we go to an international event it’s in our off season. Glenn and I had been practicing 2 days prior to leaving in high winds 25+mph and temperatures of 16-19C (don’t know what that translates to in F). So when we arrived in Taiwan we were very pleased to hear that the long range weather forecast was for light winds and warm temperatures 30-35C.

After fluffing around organising all our basic requirements it was time to make the leap of faith you all take for granted and drive on the WRONG side of the road….. To clarify, Wrong = the Right hand side.

Glenn and I had been arguing about who would brave the driving in Taiwan with 11 million scooters and a similar number of vehicles all darting around like combat models. Luckily for us our third and most experienced team member Steve Coram (from the wrong side of Australia = Perth Western WA) arrived. Given Steve was last to arrive and the most experienced (Australian F3A team member on 25+ occasions) was quickly out voted 2 to 1 and became our team driver.

After a Twenty minute journey though the centre of Tai Chung City the GPS unit told us we had arrived at the practice field. The only problem was we were still in the city and parked on the edge of a levy bank that looked like the water had only just subsided in the past week. As Steve and I started looking for possible flying sites near by on the GPS, we were rudely interrupted by the thud of GlennO’s jaw hitting the floor followed by the muttered words “I’m not flying there”.

On closer inspection, a small concrete strip set inside the levy bank could be seen and here was the Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand F3A teams preparing for a day of practice.

After the normal greetings and catch up, we assembled our models, convinced Glenn the site was fine and joined the end of the practice list. An hour later it was my turn to kick things off for the Aussie team.

I clipped the glow driver up hit it with the starter and the O.S. (OS 200 FI) fired first shot. After a short take off, I commenced a procedure turn past the apartment blocks, straightened up along the sports stadium and established a good line right over the town hall.

After what I thought was a solid flight Steve wanders over and asks why I was laying every vertical 5 degrees off to the right when there is absolutely no wind. I had no good answer other than I haven’t flown in the calm for so long I forgot what vertical actually looked like. After some minor adjustments using Steve’s keen eye we managed to get a little closer maybe 4.5 degrees.

Time to land, so I descended down past another apartment block over the water in the levy bank, a quick blip of throttle to clear the cars parked at the end of the strip and down onto the runway. Flight one down….just another flight at an everyday local club field.

After 2 days of practice in the levy bank the Australian team was starting to acclimatise to the warm and calm local conditions, the added bonus was getting comfortable flying past buildings on the baseline.

The competition site was fantastic, a decommissioned military base only 15 minutes drive from the hotel. There were large marques set up with each nation allocated enough space for their models and two work benches for any last minute adjustments or repairs.

Official practice was the first opportunity to assess all the competition and see who was flying what and more importantly get a close up look at what the Japanese team were using.

To the best of my knowledge there were no major issues with model processing which was no surprise given the number of Oxai, Extreme composite and other commercially available aircraft.

The plane of choice at this CAOCC appeared to be the Altair 200 from Extreme Composites very closely followed by the Oxai Aries. However the plane that stimulated the most interest was Michael Rammels Oxalys with counter rotating propellers. Michael developed the gearbox and other technical bits for this power plant and it is the same system Silvestri used at the European Champs with great success. Another neat bit of engineering on Michael’s plane was his retractactable undercarriage. For those who haven’t seen the counter rotating setup it is very impressive in the air with amazing constant speed and great downhill braking.

As always the Japanese models were immaculately presented with Onda and Suzuki using the same aircraft they used at the World Championships in Argentina. Onda flew the Aries in the preliminaries and the Narlar Bipe in the finals and Unknown schedules. Both Onda’s aircraft were powered by the YS170DZ (not CDI).

Suzuki’s Midrex was powered by the OS200FI and was clearly the quietest aircraft at the event.

Masato the third Japanese team member was flying his own designed Voyage, powered by a Hacker, again the plane was flawlessly presented but had its own distinct style. For electric enthusiasts this design had the best battery and motor access I have ever seen.

With official practice flights underway and the gallery making notes on the normal flight characteristics of how deep, how big, how slow, etc etc, it occurred to me that the competition had just begun!

That said, when GlennO had some issues with his motor at official practice there were people coming from everywhere to offer assistance, spares and advice. In the end Glenn’s motor started for his practice flight but was not all that happy. Returning to our team garage we were approached by Onda and Naruke, they asked if they could have a look at the motor and offer some assistance. Obviously GlennO was very happy for them to tinker. After 15 minutes the Masters and Apprentice had the motor running perfectly and GlennO had learned something he would never have picked up back in Australia. This is what these competitions are about, learning, making new friends and seeing new places.

The Japanese were the team to beat, Onda and Suzuki had a very close battle right through the semi finals. They appear to take this event seriously with all team members preparing 2 models for each flight leaving nothing to chance. Their team totalled 11 people with a number of supporters and helpers attending. The professionalism and the attention to detail leaves an impression and the flying from all 3 team members would have placed them in the top 10 at any world champs I have been to. From the other nations Alex Lau (Hong Kong) continues to improve and only missed the finals by 4 normalised points, Lin Tzu Chun from Taiwan was very impressive in the F schedules and Jun Kai Low from Singapore was also strong. After a hard fought battle 5 pilots progressed to the finals and the joy of flying Unknown schedules. Onda, Suzuki, Masato, Bloodworth, Coram.

One of the more enjoyable parts of making a final at an F3A event is the Team Managers meeting where in turn each pilot selects a manoeuvre for the 2 unknown schedules. After finalising the flight order it was Mr Suzuki that selected the first manoeuvre and to give everyone a chance to settle in he selected a vertical humpty bump on centre. This selection set the tone for the first few manoeuvres, medium difficulty no brain benders!! Then we get to Onda’s last pick for the first rotation, a cheeky smile comes across his face, he laughs and selects a rolling something downwind etc etc, well I let out a bronx cheer and the room erupts into laughter….. Round two, 4 play nice, Onda lets rip again! This pattern continued with the bronx cheers right through the selection process. As we were leaving Onda came across tapped me on the shoulder and with a slight grin wished me luck…….

In the end Onda had the last laugh with some very impressive unknown and F schedules. That said, Suzuki was very close and in my opinion appears to have closed the gap from the last world Championships. Masato was a clear third with some great flying but with a few more obvious errors and Steve and I flew well to stay in touch.

Again the overall standard of pilots at this years contest has improved significantly with a number of new faces making the Semi Finals. There were 5 nations represented in the semi final group of 9 pilots.

Pilot Final Score Airframe Motor Radio Prop

Onda 2000.00 Aries, Narlar– YS170DZ, Futaba 18x12.2
Suzuki 1979.79 Midrex OS200Fi, Futaba 18.1x12
Masato 1913.00 Voyage Hacker, JR12X Prototype
ME!!! 1747.67 Aries Oxai OS200Fi JR12X 18.1x11
Steve 1692.65 Zeque Oxai OS200Fi Futaba 16x14

The closing banquet was held at the competition site compliments of Thunder Tiger with 500 guests in attendance. There was a range of entertainment including singing acts, belly dancers and 3D heli flying in the dark. It was a fitting end to an enjoyable event.

On a different subject, with the recent crash of the Australian dollar versus the US dollar it’s a very cheap time for some of you guys to come and visit us here in Australia. The Australian Masters (April 25 2009) is our biggest event and caters for all flying standards. There is a standing invitation for international guests, so if you’re interested, send me an email and I will point you in the right direction.

Regards Bill Bloodworth

arrestix@hotmail.com

SAPA Two Day Pattern Competition August 16th and 17th at Skyhawks

2008-11-03T22:26:00.000-08:00

Well we have been familiar with the grey skies, wind and rain in recent weeks, and Saturday dawned much the same . . no surprises there. That's how the day started, and basically remained all day, with periodic showers bidding a hasty retreat to shelter.

We had a better roll-up to this comp than we have had all year, aided by the Mildura contingent who travelled to fly with us at this meeting. The group consisted of Glenn Orchard flying the F3A Class (Glenn is also a Australian Team member travelling to Taiwan in October competing in the COACC Asia Pacific event), Dave Nugent and his young son James (flying in Sportsman and Expert classes respectively) and Jason Sparks in Advanced (who is also a commercial pilot flying for Qantas).

It is great that they travel to fly with us, as we really enjoy their company and have all become very good friends with them. Two day events are always popular with interstate pilots as the extra flying it makes it worth the trip.

The competition day started with Jeff Boyd maidening his new Composite-ARF Integral (NOT what you are supposed to do with Pattern planes at competitions ;-). Unfortunately he had Pump problems so resorted to his trusty Impact for the first day of the competition. He was that happy with it's initial flight he vowed to forgo the social dinner on Saturday night and replace the pump ready for Sunday.

The competition flights got underway, with some flying well and others showing a lack of 'stick time' due to recent weather conditions. Generally, the standard was pretty good. Young James (I think he is 10 now ! ! ) flew VERY well in the Expert class showing skill and precision beyond his years . . how good is James? Apparently he has been offered sponsorship from a very well known overseas Pattern Aircraft manufacturer. Stay tuned to the news on this kid, as from what we have seen, there is potentially BIG things coming for James internationally.

The rain kept coming with some pilots landing under heavy rain, and only because the judges score sheets were so wet, the pens wouldn't write on them . .

On the Saturday we got to witness a couple of pilots in Harold and Andrew fly the new "club class" Sports Aerobatics. This is a new club based class that has a good spread of introductory style manoeuvres mainly for fun. They both flew really well for their first attempts, taking to it like "ducks to water" (almost literally :-). They both mentioned that they are keen to have another go.

After the day was done, the Pattern crew met up at the Brahma Lodge Hotel for dinner, some ales and a tale or two as is customary with two day competitions, before retiring to refresh for another crack at it all on Sunday.

GlennO showed why he is considered one of the TOP Pattern pilots in Australia with his demonstration of tremendous skill and precision consistent through all his rounds. Eventually a clear winner of the F3A class on the weekend.

Neil Martin had minor engine issues to contend with but flew very well to finish in second. As promised, Jeff fitted a new pump to his Integral overnight, and after a little tuning, took off and flew the F3A schedule in practice without issue. He was very happy with the result, and although not finely trimmed for competition flying was more than happy to compete with it, finishing 3rd.

Expert class had Matthew Cosier and James Nugent battling for the class win with James flying superbly edging out the spirited flying of Matt for the win. We have heard that Matt is taking delivery of a Oxai Pinnacle with YS160 power. It's an awesome combination, and in Matt's hands is sure to get some great results.

In Advanced class there was Mildura's Jason Sparks flying against Graham Prestidge. The battle raged, and no-one was really sure who was doing better, however in the end Graham was the clear winner of this class.

Sportsman saw Mildura's Dave Nugent flying against Jeremy Angel. Dave is flying better every time we see him, and Jeremy is improving all the time too, but Daves smoothness and consistency gave him the ascendancy in this class.

At the end of the day, everybody was a winner, as these events are always great fun and the company of like minded individuals is always enjoyable. Special thanks to Greg Mildren for coming out to judge, Verna Martin for assisting with the score collating over the two days, and Jeremy Angel for his great organization.

The next event is at the Strathalbyn club field on Sunday September the 14th. Any one who is interested in coming out to try "Sports Aerobatics" simply turn up some time during the day and we will fit you in for a fly and help in any way we can . . look forward to seeing you there.

FINAL RESULTS
Skyhawks August - 2 Day Competition Held 16/08/2008
Competitor Flight 1 Flight 2 Flight 3 Flight 4 Flight 5 Flight 6 Total
Advanced
1 Graham Prestidge 1000.0 1000.0 758.76 1000.0 916.05 0.00 3916.0
301.50 296.00 195.00 262.50 245.50 0.00
2 Jason Sparks 849.09 898.65 1000.0 948.57 1000.0 0.00 3847.2
256.00 266.00 257.00 249.00 268.00 0.00
Expert
1 James Nugent 1000.0 1000.0 1000.0 1000.0 1000.0 0.00 4000.0
356.50 357.00 335.50 400.00 409.50 0.00
2 Matthew Cosier 769.99 756.30 669.15 843.75 777.78 0.00 3147.8
274.50 270.00 224.50 337.50 318.50 0.00
F3A
1 Glenn Orchard 1000.0 1000.0 1000.0 1000.0 995.42 0.00 4000.0
454.00 457.50 465.50 468.50 435.00 0.00
2 Neil Martin 832.60 869.95 784.10 930.63 1000.0 0.00 3633.1
378.00 398.00 365.00 436.00 437.00 0.00
3 Jeff Boyd 850.22 761.75 839.96 831.38 903.89 0.00 3425.4
386.00 348.50 391.00 389.50 395.00 0.00
Sportsman
1 David Nugent 1000.0 1000.0 1000.0 1000.0 1000.0 0.00 4000.0
192.50 189.50 177.50 195.00 213.50 0.00
2 Jeremy Angel 945.46 920.84 926.76 979.49 971.90 0.00 3823.6
182.00 174.50 164.50 191.00 207.50 0.00