Mark it on your calendars—September 19 – 26, 2015. Those are the dates of the IAC’s premier event, The U.S. National Aerobatic Championships, held at the North Texas Regional Airport (KGYI).
This year the Advanced category takes center stage with as many as 20 pilots fighting for a coveted spot on the U.S. Team, which will compete at the WAAC in Radom, Poland next year.
A lot of information has already been posted on the new Nationals website www.IAC.org/nationals. (a HUGE thanks to D.J. Molny, our webmaster, for re-organizing the site). Each month I will attempt to highlight our progress in this “Countdown to the Nationals” column.
In this first report I will highlight some new additions you will be happy to see. First is our IAC Welcome Trailer, it is an air-conditioned modular unit in which pilots, volunteers and sponsors can come in out of the hot Texas sun, sit on a comfy couch, grab a cold drink out of the fridge and just relax, or hook up to our Wifi to check email. There will also be a dedicated office in which our Contest Jury can do their work.
Next, we are purchasing a complete west-side judges set-up and will have mobile trailers in which to store both east and west side set-ups. The UND team, along with the Air Force cadets, have volunteered to set up these areas at the appropriate times so there will be no more long waits between categories when we change sides in the afternoons.
Also new for us will be an “Opening Ceremony” which is being created for us by the lovely Miss Ellyn Robinson, who is also our Volunteer Coordinator (as she is every year). Our National Anthem will be sung and we’ll have a few words from the Mayors of both Denison and Sherman, along with our President Mr. Mike Heuer, before we begin our official briefing by long-time Chief Judge Charlie Harrison.
It takes a bunch of cash to run the show and a lot of it comes from sponsorships. Each morning I’ll be doing a little gig called “And now a word from our sponsors,” in which I will give a nice little “shout-out” for our sponsors – depending on the day and what they are sponsoring.
Speaking of Sponsors – many of you have sent money to help fund items like the IAC trailer, morning coffee and donuts, daily volunteer lunches, etc. Thank you so much for your generosity!! We still need more so keep those checks coming!! We won’t turn any amount down!!
Please open up your computer and log in to our Nationals Website for more current information. Sometime this month we will be adding an on-line registration section.
