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
