You can take Amtrak to Ephrata, Washington. You can walk to the airport from the station. But, better to land with your aerobatic airplane and participate in the Apple Cup.
Ephrata is in central Washington State, across the coastal mountains to the East of Seattle, on the Northwest edge of the agricultural portion of the state, which is otherwise mountainous. Spokane, pronounced Spoke-Ann, is about a hundred miles East-Northeast of Ephrata. Mount Ranier is about a hundred miles West-Southwest. Mount Baker and Snoqualmie National Forest are about a hundred miles West-Northwest.
Zoom in on the Ephrata airport with Google Maps, and you can see a clearly marked aerobatic box, site of last week's contest hosted by IAC Chapter 67, with co-CD's Jerry Riedinger and Larry James.
Primary was a three competitor category won by Jodi Rueger flying a Super-D. Jodi won the first and third flights. Peter Gelinas won the second flight with his Pitts S1E.
Sportsman had seven competitors. Terry Middaugh flies a Boeing Stearman PT-17 in Sportsman at Apple Cup, and you might have seen him do the same at the Nationals. Terry won the second and third flights, but not by sufficient margin to overcome the performance of Pat Lavielle, who won the first flight and the overall Sportsman first place flying a Christen Eagle.
Congratulate Jim Bourke with a win over a field of five Intermediate. Jim won the Free and Unknown flights to make a comeback ever Christopher Branson, who won the Known. Jim flies a Super-D. Christopher flies a two place Pitts.
Someday maybe we'll do a study on winning the known, how many go on to win the contest. Being first after the Known is a tough spot. All of a sudden it's not, "Hey, I'll do my best at this contest." It's "Hey, I'm a contender. I could win this thing." Adds pressure. And, like playing King of the mountain, everyone else in the category knows you're the one to pull down.
IAC President Doug Sowder, flying in his home turf with his home chapter, won Advanced. He held on after winning the Known, won the Free, and picked off second in the Unknown to Guido Lepore. Guido flies a Pitts S1 with Canadian registration. Doug flies an Extra 300L. There were five competitors at the Apple Cup in Advanced.
Look out for Malcolm Pond, West Coast Ace in Unlimited. He has won again. Malcolm took first Unlimited flying his Edge 540. After placing third on the Known, he won the Free and Unknown. Malcolm made up about an eighty point deficit on Lewis Shattuck. Lewis won the Known flight in a Giles 200 that he himself built.
Judges at the Apple cup were Robert Harris, Terry Burch, Cheryl Bloom, Malcolm Pond, Jim Bourke, Jeff Hirschaur, and Jerry Riedinger. Robert Harris and Terry Burch judged all five categories and did not fly. Cheryl Bloom judged three categories, and assisted Terry Burch on the other two. Doug Sowder and Peggy Riedinger served as Chief Judges.
Some have noticed the stars to the left side of some of the names in the contest results. The star signifies that the competitor had a stars qualifying contest performance. Stars is part of the IAC Achievement awards program. You can read more about the program at https://www.iac.org/legacy/achievement-awards. A stars performance at a contest means, basically, no grades below five-- no zeros --from more than one judge on any figure. You can read the detailed criteria in Appendix 5 of the IAC Contest rule book.
Winner recap at Apple Cup:
- Primary, Jodi Rueger
- Sportsman, Pat Lavielle
- Intermediate, Jim Bourke
- Advanced, Doug Sowder
- Unlimited, Malcolm Pond
Find full results and details posted at https://iaccdb.iac.org/contests/433
Coming up on the IAC Contest Calendar: The Great Green Mountain Aerobatic Contest (GMAC) at Springfield, Vermont. If you are within a few hops of Springfield Hartness Airport (KVSF), hop over. It's a beautiful setting. IAC Chapter 35 puts on a well organized, friendly, competitive event. Bring a good cigar, if you can, for CD Bill Gordon. He's working hard on making GMAC one of the finest aerobatics events you'll attend this Summer.
