Contest Results
New England Aerobatic Contest - May 16-18, 2003

Orange Massachusetts - IAC Chapter 35
Contest Director: Steve Pennypacker

Primary | Sportsman | Intermediate | Advanced

* = flew for patch only.

We held the New England Aerobatic Contest (can't say Championships) last weekend, for something like the 12th straight year at Orange. Lots of flying, no safety problems, and everyone seemed to go away happy. As a CD I can't ask for much more than that, though sometimes I do anyway.

There were some real differences that made this year different from any other year I've been out there. some of the highlights (and lowlights):

What started out as a joke turned out to be probably the best thing we've ever done. Ann Salcedo offered to fly up from Florida to be our VC, and her impact was incredible and noticed by everyone (despite her incomprehensible accent :-). We've always felt we've been pretty good at getting a lot of flights efficiently through the box, but 10 minute judging line changes all weekend had us in awe, and her great sense of humor kept even the grizzled judges smiling as she kicked 'em back out to the line for another round. THANK YOU ANN!!!

Danny was back out from Aviat to keep 'em flying. One pilot busted an entire brake assembly in a taxiing incident early on Thursday and thought he was done for the weekend. As much as I tried to convince him he'd be flying before the contest started, he was pretty sure he was done. It took some time for the parts to arrive, but of course he was back in action before his first contest flight, ultimately placing second in his category. Of course there were plenty of other smaller stories as well. If there's anyone else in the acro community called Danny and whose last name isn't Adams, they're going to have to change their name 'cause there's only one Danny, just as there's only one Leo or Patty. The goodwill that Stu Horn and Aviat have built up by sponsoring this program is immeasurable.

We unleashed Steve Till's unending creative talents on the local community this year as our public relations guy. The results were awesome, which has become a trend whenever Steve takes on a job. I won't steal his thunder because he's going to write up something separately, but let's just say that the best way to find Steve was usually to look for the red cap at the center of the crowd that continually surrounded him like bees around the queen.

We've found the secret to good weather... it improved to blue sky right after Dave Watson hung a noose around my neck. Fortunately Dave realized that sacrificing me meant that he would have to take over as CD, so I got to live another day but the gods obviously bought into the whole sacrifice thing as we ended up with clear skies to the end of the contest. I bet they'll be pretty upset with Dave next year.

Only one pilot ended up at or above 78%. Winter in the northeast wasn't kind to pilots this year, and most of us are pretty rusty. Maybe we'll rename the contest to the Cobweb Classic. Interestingly, the one pilot over 80% just returned to the U.S. and hadn't flown for 9 months prior to the contest, although he's an experienced pilot who bumped himself down a category this year. Nice job, Greg.

First Law of Aerobatics, borrowing from Bill Clinton: "It's the pilot, stupid". And the hours of practice. In every category, pilots with lower performance airplanes but more flight time beat out the highest performance planes. If anyone still thinks a mortgage on a big mono can buy you a plaque at the level most of us fly, forget about it.

In the 8 or so years I've been coming to Orange, I think this is the first time Craig Lesinski hasn't been there. Craig isn't flying right now while a health issue gets cleaned up, and acro is part of his blood, so I'm sure not flying was difficult, but we also missed a great volunteer and judge who's always working any time he's not flying. Hopefully next year. We're all pulling to see Ron Burns back out there by next year, too.

Pitts pilot Neville Hogan came sans airplane, so when we needed another Primary pilot to have a category, he volunteered to fly if someone would spot him an airplane. Sheldon Apsell bravely volunteered his Extra 300 and services as safety pilot. I'm not sure which one Sheldon regretted more, but I've never heard an entire judges line burst out laughing before, as Neville whip-stalled his way all the way around his first loop ever in a high performance mono. Of course all eyes were on his second flight, but fortunately or unfortunately (depending on whether your name is Neville or not) it wasn't nearly as entertaining. He's obviously a quick study, as he flew a really nice second flight less than 7 points off the leader.

We've had more contests without Unlimited than with it the last few years, but this may be about to change. A combination of long time Unlimited pilots and some that I expect will be moving up over the next one to three years (not all of whom made it to the contest this year) should get us solidly back to 5 categories.

Our awesome staff of volunteers has gotten better and better each year, to the point where even the CD got a chance to relax and enjoy the weekend. Thank you everyone!

Grass Roots: Greg Dinning, Super Decathlon

American Champion Award: Greg Dinning, Super Decathlon

Pitts Trophy: Bruce Green (Eagle)

Team trophy: Chapter 35 team of Greg Dinning, Wes Hebert, and Dave Watson.