IAC Chapter 88 and Contest Director Brian Roodvoets hosted the Michigan Aerobatic Open in Jackson, Michigan on the weekend before the Fourth of July. They flew sixteen competitors in four categories, Primary through Advanced Power.
Find Jackson, Michigan at the bottom of the Michigan "Mitt," the lower peninsula, north of the border with Ohio. It's thirty or forty miles West of much maligned Detroit, the same distance East of world famous Kellogg's Battle Creek. Snap, Crackle, and Pop were unable to attend. The Great Lake Erie is East. The Great Lake Michigan is West.
Two competitors faced off in Primary. Tom O'Neil won the first flight, then held on as Giles Henderson won the next two flights. Giles had to scratch the second two figures when flying the first time. There's likely a story there if you ask them. The two were otherwise very evenly matched.
Tom records a Meyers Cassutt as his aerobatic machine. Giles a Cassutt Racer. Curious about the differences. There's a picture of the Cassutt Racer at the online forum for the planes, http://www.cassutt-racer.com, and several in the Cassutt Special Wikipedia entry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassutt_Special. Tom's Cassutt N26EC is a Cassutt model IIIM, according to the FAA N-number registry. The same source reports Giles' Cassutt N429PM as a Pete Meyers Special model PM-2. Possibly these two airplanes have similar provenance, and stories of their own that could be shared by their owners.
Sportsman was the largest category with seven competitors. IAC Open East 2014 Sportsman Champion, Larry Ernewein from Ontario, won the first flight flying his Bucker Jungman. He held on with second place to Matthew Wild on the next two flights. It was so very very close. Larry was ahead forty-five and one half points after the first flight, barely more than three percent. Matthew gained about seven points with his lead on the second flight. The third flight Matthew won by a single point. Matthew flies a Super-D.
Four contended in Intermediate. Mitchell Wild started in fourth place in the Known. Wayne Buescher was the winner of that flight. Mitchell's first place showing on the Free gave him the overall title. Mitchell flies a Pitts S2B. Wayne a Staudacher S600F.
Andy Ernewein, flying a Pitts S1S, won both the Known and Free flights in Advanced for overall Advanced bragging rights. He won over fellow competitors Klaus Mueller, second in a Yak 55M; and Michael Wild, third in a Pitts S2B.
Perhaps you have noticed some repetition of last names. The Michigan event is something of a family affair. Larry Ernewein is Andy Ernewein's father. Both are from Ontario, Canada. Michael, Mitch, and Matt are the Wild bunch. Michael runs IAC 124 out of Kokomo, Indiana. Mitch & Matt are his sons. Mitch has been competing for 3-4 years and does very well. He cleaned up at Oshkosh last year in Sportsman. A bunch of Sportsman pilots are glad he moved up. Matt is a new competitor this year. Welcome, Matt!
Sheri Davis, Donald MacDonald, Giles Henderson, and Klaus Mueller judged all four categories. Sandy Langworthy served as Chief Judge. Yes, we also wonder how Giles Henderson judged himself in Primary. We think this is likely a computer room anomaly, that Giles did not view himself from outside his body while flying.
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
- Primary, Tom O'Neil
- Sportsman, Larry Ernewein
- Intermediate, Mitchell Wild
- Advanced, Andy Ernewein
Find full results and details posted at https://iaccdb.iac.org/contests/434
Coming up on the IAC Contest Calendar: The Great Green Mountain Aerobatic Contest (GMAC) at Springfield, Vermont. Chapter 35 President Farrell Woods reports forty-one pre-registered and great weather in the forecast. 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.
