ronschreck
Well Known Member
I just got back from the IAC East Coast Aerobatic Contest, held at Warrenton (KHWY), VA. IAC chapter 11 put on a great contest that was unfortunately cut short due to rain and low ceilings on Saturday. The Sun came out long enough on Sunday to get in two flights in primary and sportsman but intermediate and advanced only got one flight in all weekend. All five primary contestants were first-time competitors and they all did quite well with Cody Zorn taking first in his dad?s One Design. Cody?s overall score was 87.25%. That?s impressive!
David Taylor of chapter 11 took first place in sportsman in a Studacher S600.
I was in third after the first round but did well enough with my free program in the second round and ended up in second place. My 84.8% score for the free program got me a Grass Roots Achievement medal for highest score in a plane with 180 or less horsepower. I was surprised that my free program got such nice scores as I designed the program to be challenging, not to score well. I put an avalanche (loop with a snap roll at the apex) in the program just to prove to myself and the skeptics that the RV can indeed do snap rolls. I got scores of 7.5, 8.5 and 8.5 from the three judges for the avalanche.
Pete Muntean took home third place with his Super Decathlon. This was the most diverse field I have ever seen in the sportsman category. Usually you see lots of Decathlons, a few Pitts and a sprinkling of Extras or Giles. This field of eight included my RV-8, two Decathlons, two Extra 300L?s, a Bucker Jungmann fitted with a Lycoming IO-360 and a highly modified open cockpit Dehavilland DHC-1 Super Chipmunk!
The Super Chipmunk is really a unique airplane. It started life in 1951 as a trainer in Australia and was converted to a crop duster with an open cockpit behind the hopper. It made its way to the States and went through several owners until Mark Meredith got hold of it and did a complete restoration, maintaining the dual open cockpits and mounting a Lycoming IO-540 engine. It is a work of art!
During the down time on Saturday I poked around all the airplanes and talked shop with fellow pilots as we watched clouds and rain go by. I noticed that some of the low wing airplanes like the One Design have sighting devices that are mounted well below the eye level of the pilot and discovered that being at eye level is not necessarily necessary. Who knew? So I have decided to try and fashion a sighting device for the RV-8. I?ll let you know how that turns out. I have also decided to try taping the aileron gap and see if that will increase the RV roll rate. I?ll report back on that as well.
I?ll be at the Blue Ridge Hammerfest in Morganton (KMRN), NC during the first weekend in October. Hope to see another RV or two there.
David Taylor of chapter 11 took first place in sportsman in a Studacher S600.
I was in third after the first round but did well enough with my free program in the second round and ended up in second place. My 84.8% score for the free program got me a Grass Roots Achievement medal for highest score in a plane with 180 or less horsepower. I was surprised that my free program got such nice scores as I designed the program to be challenging, not to score well. I put an avalanche (loop with a snap roll at the apex) in the program just to prove to myself and the skeptics that the RV can indeed do snap rolls. I got scores of 7.5, 8.5 and 8.5 from the three judges for the avalanche.
Pete Muntean took home third place with his Super Decathlon. This was the most diverse field I have ever seen in the sportsman category. Usually you see lots of Decathlons, a few Pitts and a sprinkling of Extras or Giles. This field of eight included my RV-8, two Decathlons, two Extra 300L?s, a Bucker Jungmann fitted with a Lycoming IO-360 and a highly modified open cockpit Dehavilland DHC-1 Super Chipmunk!
The Super Chipmunk is really a unique airplane. It started life in 1951 as a trainer in Australia and was converted to a crop duster with an open cockpit behind the hopper. It made its way to the States and went through several owners until Mark Meredith got hold of it and did a complete restoration, maintaining the dual open cockpits and mounting a Lycoming IO-540 engine. It is a work of art!
During the down time on Saturday I poked around all the airplanes and talked shop with fellow pilots as we watched clouds and rain go by. I noticed that some of the low wing airplanes like the One Design have sighting devices that are mounted well below the eye level of the pilot and discovered that being at eye level is not necessarily necessary. Who knew? So I have decided to try and fashion a sighting device for the RV-8. I?ll let you know how that turns out. I have also decided to try taping the aileron gap and see if that will increase the RV roll rate. I?ll report back on that as well.
I?ll be at the Blue Ridge Hammerfest in Morganton (KMRN), NC during the first weekend in October. Hope to see another RV or two there.