NIAA Aerobatics Competition Ballymoney & NWMAC Rounds

The 2nd round of the Northern Ireland Area Aerobatic Championships took place at New buildings on a slightly 'moist' 14th of September. This didn't dampen the spirits of the 13 competitors who turned out for the Clubman and Intermediate competitions.

In Clubman there were 10 pilots, the competition was very tight at the top between Richard McMaster the reigning BMFA National F3A Clubman Champion and past NIAA Area Champion a number of times Robert Graham. There wasn't much in it, Richard had problems with his spin and Robert's solid rounds just pipped Richard into 1st place. Gordon McCrea improved vastly from last year, his new electric yak profile has brought him on leaps and bounds and he deserved his 3rd place. Seamus O'Donnell travelled up from Letterkenny with a troop of young flyers out to try their hand at some aerobatics! Andrew, John, Shane and Christopher flew very well with some very basic and old equipment, a credit to them and the Letterkenny club as they have a very strong youth scene! I think we were just glad it was a fixed wing competition & not heli's as Shane and Christopher would have shown us all up, ones to watch in the future! Dick had a an unfortunate end to his 1st round flight, a combination of a slight glitch and very little altitude meant Dick didn't have time to recover, sad to see as his Superair is now a veteran of the area aerobatics and has always flown well. Not to be out done he gave the 2nd round a go with his bug, 10 out of 10 for enthusiasm and effort, Dick has supported this event for many years and maybe next year with a new model he will have better luck! Aidan and Robert shared Robert's Giles and put in solid flights, Aidan exited his Cuban 8 wrongly and flew the rest of the sequence backward, which accounted for his low score, but he still had a smile on his face and room for a burger or two at lunchtime!

In intermediate we had 3 pilots, a bit down on the round at Ballymoney in June but with the poor weather and other factors meant the numbers were down. That said the standard was high, Andrew, Stu and myself, had a good battle and I was lucky enough to come out on top flying my Extra 300 electric! It's a great wee model and the Flightpower 5s packs and Spektrum DX7 guidance make for a model with tremendous vertical performance and silky smooth control response due to the DSM link. It also 3d's great I got to wring it out after the competition and really enjoyed it! Stu flew very well and his F3A experience showed through, he flew a big controlled box which presented very well from a spectators and judges' point of view. We thank Stu for his support of this event, he nearly 300 mile to compete and this is greatly appreciated by us all. Andrew's Zenith whizzed through the air, this tradationtal pattern ship with Retracts is a real blast from the past, it still works well and Andrew fly's it beautifully!

The Northwest club treated us well and provided a good BBQ lunch cooked by Aidan. They had supplied some nice trophy/medals as prizes; these wee touches just make the event a bit better! We managed to get two rounds in despite the showers and this was mainly down to all the pilots being very quick to the flight line between flights. All in all I think everyone enjoyed the day, a big thanks to the Pilots, judges, spectators and the Dave's Model Shop which took the time to setup a well stocked stall.

The new format for the NIAA aerobatics competition seems to have worked very well and everyone has enjoyed the new Schedules and increased standard.
Overall results for the NWMAC Round and overall Area competition are below. You can also download the individual scores for each pilot.

Clubman Results for NWMAC Round 2

Intermediate Results for NWMAC Round 2

NIAA Aerobatics Overall Scores 2008

INTERMEDIATE PILOT BALLYMONEY ROUND NWMAC ROUND COMBINED

Report by Matthew Poots