2011 Pattern year about to get started . .

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

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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

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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

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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

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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 !

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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

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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

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

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 !

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SCORES:

Official FINAL results here:

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

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Official Pre-Final results are here:

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

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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

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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

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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).

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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.

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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

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

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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 . .

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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

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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

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

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

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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

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A good indication of the weather

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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 . .

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

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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.

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Ummm . . which plane is mine ??

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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 . .

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

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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,

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Some of the 50+ planes entered at the Masters

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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)

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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

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The Saturday Night Dinner, Auction, and AGM

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

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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.

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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

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

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can.

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

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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.

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

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

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