Ultimate High's inaugural Aerobatics competition at Kemble on 20th July 2005, was a great success. The event was designed for pilots who had recently completed the AOPA Aerobatics certificate to experience their first competition in a low-key, supportive and educational environment, and to encourage them to enter British Aerobatic Association (BAeA) competitions.
The sun shone brightly at Kemble despite clouds rumbling on the horizon and the morning briefing from Contest Director Mark Greenfield covered the typical rules and organisation of a BAeA event, with safety being paramount at all times. Entrants at Beginner level are allowed to fly with a safety pilot, and all ten pilots at this event chose that option. The competition Box is a 1000m cube with a base height of 300m (1475 feet) and no upper limit - although performing manoeuvres so high that the judges can't see them is unlikely to result in high scores! Chief Judge and former British aerobatic champion Alan Cassidy went through the salient points of the sequence (loop, 1/2 Cuban eight, stall turn, 1/4 clover, roll) and explained that each individual manoeuvre starts with a perfect score of 10 from which points are deducted for errors, with the score then multiplied by a 'K' (difficulty) factor ranging from 10 for the loop to 17 for the stall turn. Additional marks for framing reflect the symmetry and proximity of contestant's positioning of the figures about the intersection of the two axis from the judges point of view, giving a maximum possible score of 740 points for the 2005 sequence.
The BAeA stress that Beginners events are not competitions but to introduce newcomers to flying under simulated contest conditions and to quantitative assessment in accordance with normal judging criteria. Whilst there was certainly a strong sense of camaraderie and shared experience on the day, it was pretty clear that most of the pilots were also very keen to do well!
The morning session demonstrated that there is a big difference between just flying the sequence and flying the sequence accurately within the Box, especially with a breezy 20knots blowing the pilots away from the judge, and this was further exacerbated by a westerly wind resulting in the pilots mostly being on the far side of the aircraft from the reference runway. Entrants also found that spare mental capacity was at something of a premium, and figuring out which way to move the stick whilst inverted in the quarter clover to end up flying towards the judge was initially too much for some!
Lunch at AV8 afforded all the pilots the chance to receive detailed feedback from Alan, especially on the tactics required to fly the axes and frame the sequence accurately. This, along with individual critiques from the two UH safety pilots, Nitro Miller and Ian Hoolahan, resulted in a fairly substantial increase in standard for the afternoon session. The pilots benefited from watching the others perform, and rapidly became 'expert' judges, especially on those individuals who started to look particularly good!
With confidence high the afternoon session was completed in short order and nearly all of the pilots put on a materially improved performance, with many reaching an excellent standard. The pilots then begged Alan to show everybody how it should be done, and the Chief Judge, aware that there was very little upside in trying to demonstrate an unfamiliar aeroplane, bravely took on the challenge and inevitably did extremely well!
Time for tea and medals. Alan carried out a final debrief for all entrants, who universally felt that the day had been extremely helpful. Finally, the 'winners' of the non-competition were announced as follows:
Highest Scorers and prizes
Gold Chris Mitchell 1017 points Extra300 sortie
Silver Andrew Barlow 975 points Bulldog sortie
Bronze Simon Craven 906 points UH merchandise
Johnny Graham 830.5
Chaz Lister 801
Will D'Arcy 797
Dave Taudevin 741.5
Richard Phillips 465
Alan Richardson 350
Paul Jones (H/C) 955
Most improved pilot
Alan Richardson Increase of +250 points over morning performance - UH merchandise
All competitors received a Pilot magazine Polo shirt and competition certificate. Barry Tempest was also kind enough to present prizes, including a painting of a Harrier to Ultimate High for organising the event.
Top Scorer Chris Mitchell was delighted with his prize trip in an Extra300 and is looking forward to his first BAeA outing. 'People's champion' Chaz Lister is currently completing his IMC rating at Ultimate High, and declared the aeros event to be the perfect break between NDB holds and limited panel Unusual Position recoveries. Competitor Will D'Arcy commented "I'm glad that I've had the chance to do this before I enter my first BAeA event - I'll have a far better idea of what to expect".
The next Ultimate High Beginner Aerobatic Events will be in 2006 at Kemble on 12th April and 12th July. Contact or 01243 576137 for more details. | 
