On August 15, Jason Stephens (Unlimited), Shad Coulson, Mallory Lynch and Joe Gerner (Advanced) took the long journey to Issoudin, France for the 2022 World Glider Aerobatic Championships. The first couple of days were spent acclimating to the new time zone and enjoying some of the rich history and cuisine that France has to offer. They spent the next couple of days in practice. The first official day was August 18.
Jason flew 7th out of 17 Unlimited competitors in an MDM-1 Fox. The Free Known program was flown in the morning and when the category finished he landed in 11th place. Joe picked a short straw for his Advanced Free Known and ended up flying second out of 29 Advanced competitors. Mallory drew 21st and Shad drew 24th position. Joe finished the Advanced Free Known in 13th place and Shad finished at 23rd. (No score was posted for Mallory, so we assume he did not fly.)
In the first Free Unknown, Jason flew 10th. He has some problems with figures 3 and 5, which put him at the back of the pack in 15th position. Coming out of figure 2 (a Hammerhead) inverted set up Figure 3 as an inverted half loop up with a positive half snap on top followed by a full roll. Tricky for gliders, even when you get to practice it. Six out of eight judges recorded PZ's. Figure 5 had only three out eight judges assign a PZ to the inverted exit and entry with a half roll followed by a negative half snap.
Meanwhile, in the Advanced category, Joe flew 12th and Shad flew 26th in the first Free Unknown. Joe struggled on the first figure of the sequence, an inverted entry with a half roll to a downward 5/8 loop followed by a 2x4 on the 45 up to an inverted cap off. Both he and Shad had a bit of trouble with figure 5, which was a inverted entry into a laid-down Humpty, first 45 had a 2x4 and the second 45 had a half roll to an upright cap off. Joe and Shad finished the first Free Unknown in 20th and 24th place respectively.
More news and photos can be found here: www.iac.org/2022-us-unlimited-and-advanced-glider-teams
You can find all of the scores at the links below:
| August 18 to 27 | The 24th FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships, Issoudun, France | ||
| August 18 to 27 | The 12th FAI World Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships, Issoudun, France |
