Reports

 

NAME	Model	Static	Flight 1	Flight 2	Flight 3	Ave Best 2	Total
Koos Pretorius	Harvard	2805.9	2313.5	2056.5	2186.0	2249.75	5055.65
Humphrey le Grice	FW190	2794.2	2070.0	2095.5	2062.0	2082.75	4876.95
Johan Ehlers	Druine Turbulent	2379.9	1983.0	2137.5	2071.5	2104.5	4484.4

NAME	Model	Flight 1	Flight 2	Flight 3	Ave Best 2	Total
Ian Edwards	Extra 300SX	2456.0	2404.0	2299.5	2430.0	2430.0

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- Koos Pretorius

 

The 2009 Combined National Championships for Scale, Large Scale Aerobatics and Pylon Racing was held at RMAC during the Easter weekend.  A pilots briefing was held on the evening of the 8^th of April, where pilots received their goody bags.  Snacks were provided by Rodney’s wife Freda & daughters.

 This year there was a good entry in Scale with 4 entries in F4C, 4 in SOS and 11 in Sport Scale.  Unfortunately there was one withdrawal from F4C and 3 from Sport Scale.  Scale started early morning on Friday the 10^th of April with static judging of the Stand off Scale aircraft.  We had a no-show in SOS, resulting in the judges having  3 SOS and 3 F4C aircraft to scrutinise.  The flying started on Friday afternoon, commencing  with Round 1 of  Sport Scale.  Chris Allsopp was the  first off and unfortunately his Stuka appeared to have stalled on final approach and was badly damaged.  Chris said he would rebuild the Stuka.  Rodney Donaldson was up next and put in his highest scoring flight of his competition with his Eurofighter  Martin Erasmus from Polokwane struggled a bit with his Edge 540 and did not have a good round at all.  Martin van Tonder also from Polokwane flew a DH Tiger Moth, and it unfortunately became clear that without regular participation in competitions the standard of flying in Polokwane or anywhere else for that matter will not improve.  Ian Edwards flew a very good flight as per his usual high standard.  Michael Crause also had a good flight the third highest for the round in Sport Scale.  Bradley Crause was a bit nervous but had a good flight.  Noël Booysen flew a good looking Spitfire and with an undercarriage that caused it to nose over at the end of the landing run.

 In Stand off Scale Jeff Crause flew a good round with his Piper J3 Cub and had the highest score for the first round. Noël flew his Cessna 150 Aerobat to the second highest score of the round but unfortunately he did not fly the subsequent rounds because of a dead on board glo battery.  Humphrey's flying skill with the Midget Mustang gave him the lead in the round.

 I was first off with my Harvard in F4C.  From take off I was not happy with the engine’s performance.  When I pulled up for the lazy eight the Harvard was flying to slow and when the rudder was fed in it snapped.  I quickly released all controls, the Harvard straightened out and we managed to recover lower and much wiser for it.  Johan had an uneventful and reliable flight with the Turbulent.  Third up was Noël Booysen with his Tiger Moth and he flew his best round for the competition. 

 The second round started off early on Saturday morning with Bradley Crause in Sport Scale and the young man managed to improve his score thus setting himself up for a strong finish.  Michael Crause was up next and had a very good flight and the second highest score for the round.  Ian Edwards had an excellent flight and the highest score for the round with his Extra.  Noël improved his score considerably although the Spitfire managed to nose over yet again.  Jeff managed another good flight with his Cub and the highest score for the round followed by Humphrey with his Midget Mustang. 

After the first round 'oops' with the Harvard I adjusted the motor and it performed perfectly during the second and third round.   Johan had another good round followed by Noël with the Tiger Moth.  Rodney then flew his Eurofighter and this being the only jet in the competition ensured that he impressed  the spectators and judges alike to improve his score.  Martin Erasmus managed to improve his score considerably with his Edge 540.  Martin van Tonder flew his Tiger Moth and had a slightly lower score than his first round. 

 I got the 3^rd round underway on Sunday afternoon followed by Johan and Noël in F4C.  Rodney started the 3^rd round for Sport  Scale with a solid flight with his Eurofighter.  Martin van Tonder flying his Tiger Moth had another lower scoring flight.  Martin Erasmus had a reasonable flight with his Edge but did not take advantage of the conditions.  Bradley Crause had his best round so far flying his Yak 54.  His brother Michael had a fantastic flight score of 2496.  Ian Edwards had an even better score of 2517 showing that he was up to Michael's challenge.  Noël had his best flight of the competition with his Spitfire but it nosed over again. 

The 4^th round was a Sport  Scale only affair with a slightly later Monday morning start.  Rodney was to be up first but a blown glow plug put paid to his starting attempts.  Martin Erasmus had already left for home in Polokwane and did not fly round 4.  Martin van Tonder had his best round for competition with his Tiger Moth.  Bradlee Crause flew his best flight of the week-end and this placed him in a creditable 4^th position.  Michael Crause placed himself firmly in 2^nd position with another good flight.  Ian Edwards again flew a good flight to consolidate his first position.  Noël Booysen had another so-so flight complete with nose over.  Rodney was allowed to fly after replacing the  glow plug in his turbine since the fault was beyond his control.  He took full advantage of this and placed 3^rd overall. 

A word of thanks to judges Andrew Hirst, Kenny Morey, Eric Schmulian, William Pieterse, Johan Ehlers (Snr) and Ian Edwards as well as scorer Annemarié Ehlers. RMAC once again hosted a very successful national championship which was blessed  with good weather and everyone enjoyed meeting old friends again.  It is however clear that more competition is needed if we are to improve standard of flying in other regions.

 

F4C Results

Pos	Name	Aircraft	Static	Flight1	Flight2	Flight3	Average of best 2 flights	Total
1	Koos Pretorius	Harvard  MK2	2786	2189	2395	2390	2392	5178
2	Johan Ehlers	Druine Turbulent	2564	2180	2220	2135	2200	4764
3	Noel Booysen	Tiger Moth	2126	2128	2049	2082	2105	4231

 

Stand off Scale Results

Pos	Name	Aircraft	Static	Flight1	Flight2	Flight3	Average of best 2 flights	Total
1	Humphrey le Grice	Midget Mustang	1286	2229	2133	2367	2298	3584
2	Jeff Crause	Piper J3 Cub	1134	2309	2222	2363	2336	3470
3	Noel Booysen	Cessna 150 Aerobat	1147	2237	0	0	1118	2265

 

Sport Scale Results

 

Pos	Name	Aircraft	Flight1	Flight2	Flight3	Flight4	Average of best 3 flights	Total
1	Ian Edwards	Extra 300SX	2414	2394	2517	2506	2479	2479
2	Michael Crause	Extra 260	2202	2313	2496	2414	2408	2408
3	Rodney Donaldson	Eurofighter	2306	2240	2261	2259	2275	2275
4	Bradley Crause	Yak 54	2013	2138	2141	2174	2151	2121
5	Martin v Tonder	Tiger Moth	2082	2058	2016	2161	2100	2100
6	Noel Booysen	Spitfire	1655	1968	2189	2040	2066	2066
7	Martin Erasmus	Edge 540	1892	2179	2094	-	2055	2055
8	Chris Allsopp	Ju87 Stuka	1757	-	-	-	586	586

 

  

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SCALE MASTERS 2009 HELD AT VICTORY FLYING FIELD, 7 March 2009

 by Koos Pretorius

Due to very limited interest from the rest of the country, only Gauteng managed to field 4 qualifying pilots.  For this reason it was decided to make it a one instead of a two day competition. There were three entries in F4C and two in Sport Scale. Static judging for F4C started at about 09:00 inside the main building.  I was up first to be judged with Johan second and Humphrey third.  

As soon as the static judging was completed and after a short break for the judges, Sport Scale flying started with Ian Edwards  flying his Extra 300 S .  During one of his manoeuvres the aircraft suddenly deviated from an half inside loop into a vertical down pitch. It recovered after a split second which of course resulted in a down grade by the judges.  Johan flew a new aircraft, a slightly modified Hangar 9 ARF Fokker D 7 which actually flew very well for the amount of time he had to get used to the aircraft.

During the short break after static judging Johan discovered that his Druine Turbulent’s LH aileron was not centering properly and not moving the amount of travel that it should, this resulted in him withdrawing from the F4C side of the event.  I flew my Harvard first and although there was a slight bit of a cross wind I managed to have a reasonable flight.  Humphrey had a good flight with his FW 190 and after the 1^st round the static scores were released and it became evident that it would be a close competition in both classes. 

A lunch break organised by Annemarie Ehlers resulted in everybody enjoying a couple of very nice hot dogs, which were appreciated by all present. 

At the start of the 2^nd round I pointed out to Ian Edwards that his Extra's LH elevator was not moving the same as the RH one, this was checked and dismissed as maybe my imagination.  During his flight Ian noticed the extra was struggling to hold its pitch position.  Johan again had a good flight with his ARF Fokker, the little plane really performing well. 

I had another reasonable flight although the take-off caught me out with a bump in the runway resulting in a “bounce-off” and not a take-off.  Humphrey had another good flight with the FW 190 and took the lead.

After a break for the judges the final round was under way.  During the break Ian discovered that the elevators were loose in the stabilisers, but after some remedial work decided to continue with the 3^rd round.  The aircraft flew much better and more stable than in the first 2 rounds.  Johan had a good flight but what I thought was going to be a good landing, turned into an "oops" nose over landing with luckily no damage to the aircraft. 

 I had an uneventful flight with a good landing to round off my final round.  Humphrey again put in a solid flight and with that because the winner of F4C for the 2009 Scale Masters. Ian Edwards remained the Sport Scale Master as well.

The prize giving was held during the braai at the lapa on the Victory flying site. I would like to thank the following people Mr. Boom Lindeboom for his flight line preparation and Victory Hobbies for always being willing to accommodate us at their field; Annemarie Ehlers for the lunch and score keeping, thank you Annemarie.  Also a very big thank you to the judges Andrew Hirst, Johan Ehlers jnr and William Pieterse and then last but by no means least a word of thanks to Ian, Johan snr and Humphrey: Thanks guy’s for making the event a success. 

Scale Masters 2009

Sport Scale (Average of best 2 flights)

Pos	Name	Aircraft	Flight 1	Flight 2	Flight 3	Total
1	Ian Edwards	Extra 300SX	2181,0	2362,5	2455,5	2409,0
2	Johan Ehlers	Fokker D7	2296.5	2223.0	2259.75	2259.75

F4C (Average of best 2 flights + Static)

Pos	Name	Aircraft	Static	Flight 1	Flight 2	Flight 3	Average best 2 flights	Total
1	Humphrey le Grice	Focke Wulf 190A	2758.2	2190	2268	2343	2305.5	5063
2	Koos Pretorius	Harvard Mk 2	2710.2	2239	2241	2358	2299.5	5009
3	Johan Ehlers	Turbulent	2448.9	-	-	-	-	-

 

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Reports