Articles Rally (Page 36)

9^th World Rally Flying Championship

Held at Herning, Denmark – 23 July to 30 July 1995

Team Managers Report – Johan Swart

GENERAL

The South African Team left Johannesburg on 16 July 1995 after a cocktail party and Colours Presentation at Jan Smuts Airport. I accompanied the team as International Judge for South Africa as per rule D 5.1.2.

We arrived the next day in Dusseldorf from where we took four trains to the competition destination. We finally arrived that evening of the 17th of July at 23h30 in Herning. South Africa was the third team to arrive – during the morning the team from France arrived followed that afternoon by the Polish Team.

The next day competition management fetched our team at the hotel and took us to Herning Airfield to sort out aircraft hire and registration. I reported to the Championship Director and offered my assistance. Everything was fairly well under control. The rest of the week I assisted Deon van Eeden. team manager, and our team with practice route planning, route instructions and route photographs. No practice routes were available from competition management.

It was also good to meet with old friends and make new ones. Once again it was good to see that quite a number of the competitors were still wearing our T-shirt, golf shirts etc. from the 1991 event in Stellenbosch. Everybody was expressing the hope that we must host an event in South Africa in the near future.

OFFICIALS

Kongelig Dansk Aeroklub
Dansk Motorflyver Union
Herning Motorflyve Klub

• Competition Director – Vagn Jensen – Denmark
• Route Planner Director – Olaf Skov – Denmark
• Local Chief Judge – Carl Mikkelsen – Demnark
• Technical Manager – Mogens Thaagaard – Denmark
• International Chief Judge – Ottar Teigland – Norway
• International Jury
  • Colin Jordaan (President) – South Africa
  • Gerold Detter – Austria
  • Jiri Dodal – Czech Republic
  • Johan Swart (Observer) – South Africa

THE COMPETITION

Before my departure, I was in contact with the Championship Director, Vagn Jensen, to find out if I may attend this event as Jury Observer. He gave me the initial go ahead, but he wanted first to discuss this with the International Jury because they can only except one observer. The Jury discussed my request at their first meeting and I was then approved to attend as Jury Observer.

I was allowed free access to the workings of the Jury and to attend all their meetings, I was also allowed free access to all aspects of the competition management.

Our first task was to cheek the route descriptions of the all the tests and to plot the routes to make sure everything was correct. We basically had to re-write all the route descriptions, because the route planner did not follow the latest rules. Every day’s test was given back to the route planner to correct and then afterwards we had to recheck it again. This was a very time consuming task and we normally finished our tasks very late at night. We, however, did realise that this was of vital importance for the Jury to do their best to make this an exceptable World event and to do everything within their power to avoid another Chile disaster.

One must also realise that checking the route descriptions is only a small part of assuring the success of a competition. During the event the Jury and myself performed checks on all aspects on a rotation basis so that good quality control was maintained throughout the event. This included: Proof flying the routes 45 minutes before the first aircraft takes off to ensure that all Timed Points were correctly set up and manned by international Judges, to make sure all photographs were correct and inside the specified limits, checking on the placement of en-route markers, checking on Yes/No photographs at Checkpoints, as well as on Checkpoint ground markers. Driving by car to a few Timed Points to ensure from the ground that the Judges were performing correctly. Visiting the away landing airfield to see if there were enough manpower for judging, that video recordings were taken of the landings, positioning of the landing markers and the crosswind flag. Also checking on the physical judging of the landings. Checking at the departure airfield the handing out of route instructions, searching for illegal navigational equipment, cell phones, etc., checking if all radios and nav equipment were sealed properly. Sitting in at random at the debriefing of pilots and navigators. Checking on the landings at the finishing airfield and observing if the 5 min period after wheels stop are implemented correctly.

During the official practise test the Jury picked up various mistakes and problems with the running of the event and all these mistakes and problems were listed and handed to the competition management to rectify and also to report back to the Jury. The Jury had to make a final decision to go ahead or either postpone the start of the event with one day. After a meeting with the Chief Judge and Competition Manager where they have assured the Jury that everything was under control, the Jury gave the go-ahead for the start of the event. This have caused a little bit of tension between competition management and the Jury, but proved at the end of the event that the Jury had made the correct decision on behalf of the competitors. The decisions taken by the Jury was to ensure a successful event and also has caused that the minimum amount of protests were received by the Jury.

I was responsible on Test 2 to do the proof flying of the route with the route planner and with Jiri Dodal, Jury Member from Czech Rep. The following were noted and passed on to the Jury for decision.

• a. The ground maker at a timed point was to far away from the point itself (250 meters). We rectified this over the radio and this was repositioned in the correct spot.
• b. One photo was further than 300m from track – this was plotted and measured on our return. The Jury agreed with me and the photo was cancelled.
• c. An en-route ground marker was not where it was supposed to be and I was about to tell the route planner to continue when I picked up a car on the correct road. I then asked the route planner to to make sure if this was the ground crew. It turned on to be the crew and from the air we witnessed the placing of the marker at the correct spot.
• d. 0ne photo was plotted incorrectly on the master map and I marked the correct spot for remeasuring.
• e. The photo before the finish point was not where the route planner plotted it on the master map. After an intensive search and also at the point where I wanted to tell the route planner to continue I spotted the photo – approximately 4 nautical miles down track. This was also corrected.

0n. the more lighter side: 0n my return flight to the airfeld there was an urgent call from the Spanish team to talk to their manager, because they are experiencing problems inside the cockpit. A long discussion in Spanish followed, which I1 reported to the Jury. I later found out what was the problem: As explained to me: When this team arrived at a turning point the aircraft refused to follow the pilot’s input on the controls and decided to continue in it’s own direction, which was not the outbound track. The pilot and navigator were very worried. The problem: The pilot switched on the autopilot by accident without knowing it. Something to remember!

Observing at the debriefing I picked up and pointed out various adding mistakes by the debriefing judge. All these mistakes were in favour of the competitors.

The other Jury members also picked up minor mistakes during the course of this event but not to such an extent to classify it as a badly organised event. One complaint from the competitors was that there were not enough ground markers. 0ne is allowed, according to the rules (A.2.4.6), to use up to 8 markers – the max that were used were 3.

IN CONCLUSION

This was a very good experience and I have enjoyed it very much. In general one can say that it was a well run event. South Africa has made many new friends and we are still entrusted with the standard we have set in 1991.

At the closing of this event I have been honoured by an invitation to either act as Chief Judge or member of the Jury for the 1996 European Rally Flying Championships which will be held in the Czech Republic.

In closing – the South African team did not do to badly, we must look at the polishing phase of our competitors for the International market. As ambassadors for our county we have scored many valuable bonus points.

To the South African Power Flying Association – thank you for al1owing me to attend this World event.

SA NATIONAL RALLY FLYING CHAMPIONSHIPS – 1994

Held at Virginia  1st to 3rd September 1994

6^th World Rally Flying Championship

Held at Northampton, United Kingdom – 7 to 12 August 1988

by Colin Jordaan

The Team was met at Heathrow by Adrian Pilling, who then drove us up to Northampton in a small bus. During the drive we were given a very thorough briefing on driving in the UK by Adrian. Flying apparently was no sweat, but roundabouts were a nightmare.

Licence validations were automatic on the grounds of our ICAO acceptable licences and we all dispersed in different directions to fetch our aircraft. Two were at Swansea, two at Granfield (one of which was subsequently grounded) and one at Rochester to the east of London. Cost of hiring a Cessna 172 is between R170 and R210 per hour (dry) with AVGAS costing around R2 a litre. Club Membership was an insurance requirement for some of the aircraft and this was provided free of charge.

Adrian also provided the flying briefings (“Watch out for Tornadoes and Hawks at around 500’AGL”). This advice was much appreciated. After our first encounter with the low-flying Royal Air Force, we realised we had very little say in the encounters. Those guys really move. If I flew VFR in those areas I would paint my plane Day-Glo Orange. In the space of two weeks all of us had at least about a dozen “close encounters”. During Stage 2 of the Rally, John and I were subjected to a head-on horizontal “bomb burst” by a team of four Hawks. One passed below, one left, and one right with the last jet pulling up in front of us not more than a thousand metres away. I hope they enjoyed it. We also came across a few A10 Thunderbolt tankbusters low-level, and Flll’s at about 2 000 feet.

VFR flying is really easy in the UK, with ATC being extremely helpful, friendly and informal while still being totally professional. One obviously has to stay clear of TMA’s and CTR’s but permission to transit is frequently given, particularly at Military Airfields. The standard of radio patter by local pilots is good, but also quite informal. I liked this. In SA we tend to be so rigid about our radio procedures that most low-time (and some not-so-low-time) pilots are scared …..less about using the blooming thing. Normal VFR navigation is done on 1:500 000 maps and two of these cover the whole of the UK. Features are limited to topography and large towns and cities. The level of detail is perfect for flying at around 3 000′ AGL. Everything you need for the flight is printed on the map, tower frequencies, the lot. Cost? Around R30 per map (covered with plastic film).

The weather, of course, is usually lousy. On most days in summer one is, however, able to get in or out of a place, but it takes a lot of patience.

Our practice sessions were rather limited because of finances, so we kept the routes short and sweet with lots of photos and short legs. Five of us also had to practise for the European Precision Championships. Amazingly, the weather held out for practice but Murphy’s legislation was sure to be applied during the competitions.

For once, Murphy struck out and we flew the Precisions in glorious sunshine. As non-Europeans (sic) our scores did not count, but I would have been in twelfth place and Andre Schoeman in twentieth with the other guys trailing not far behind. The Polish team took every single trophy that was to be had.

The question is: are the Poles beatable? I don’t believe they are for a good few years. A combination of their aircraft (the Wilga), their vast experience and of course State sponsorship makes this highly unlikely. Most serious competitors have taken to modifying the doors of their C152’s by putting perspex windows in the lower half to improve visibility. One Austrian even brought along specially blown full perspex doors with bubbles to improve downward visibility. Didn’t help him, though.

Once again we picked up a lot of tips from other competitors, such as marking conspicuous features on photos. The Polish team use a special training method for improving their memory skills (similar to the game of matching cards). It obviously works.

Our own training leaves a lot to be desired and the need for a National Coach (who knows what he’s doing, of course) is very necessary. The psychological aspect of the competition is critical and this is also an area that we can work on. It is extremely interesting to see how the different team members handle pressure, but it is very obvious that exposure to top-class competitions helps enormously. Both Andre Schoeman and Johan Swart flew individually in the Precisions and their steady performance as a Rally team showed competition maturity, despite a few stormy moments.

John Adams and I were really hoping to come in with a chance, seeing our first and third day performance in Spain two years ago had been in the top four. We had flown an old, clapped-out , Musketeer then and surely with a very nicely equipped C172 and two more years of practice we were going to give the Poles a run for their money. Heh heh!

Start on day I was delayed till after lunch due to low cloud and bad vis. This eventually improved to around 1 500 m and Route 3 was flown in place of Route 1. The routes were intended to get more difficult as the competition progressed and so having to start with Route 3 was a real humdinger. It got the better of us at one point and we tracked parallel to course for around ten minutes. By the time we were back on course, four photos had been missed and we were out of it. Our team mates also had their share of problems, except of course for Swart and Schoeman, because when they flew the vis. had improved to a million miles and their tiny little Cessna 152 cockpit wasn’t really so tiny and blah blah blah …..

The pressure is, of course, extremely high and I think all of us felt this to varying degrees. How to combat this without more international exposure is really the biggest challenge facing us right now.

It is extremely important to get to the right level of STRESS in a competition. Performance improves with an increase in stress, up to a point, and then it drops off sharply. Stress consists of Personality Stress, Family Stress, Work Environment Stress and Situational Stress. The trick is to get the combination of Personality, Family and Work Stress to such a position that even severe Situational Stress doesn’t push your performance over the back side of the curve. Lack of stress is just as fatal. Performance suffers badly in people who are understressed and one of the induced causes is, of course, fatigue. I believe these aspects should also be considered in the selection of a team, but the problem is how to measure this.

Our method of team selection relies on the fact that the pilot and navigator know each other well and function as a team. Is this a necessity? Should the selectors be able to select only one half of an existing team and pair individuals up according to some psychological criteria? Interesting questions, but ones that need to be addressed if we want to build up a really effective Springbok squad. For that matter, who selects the selectors?

The World Rally format is becoming a bit of a paper chase and a navigator has to be a total masochist to enjoy this type of event. The four routes were all exactly the same format as well and this actually got monotonous. I hope that the controlling body will take heed of the rumblings in England and work towards introducing a bit of spice.

Our own Rally circuit still needs a lot of building up and 1 believe the Sportsman’s class is going to help a lot. When Rally flying becomes a fun thing again, more competitive people will gravitate back to the sport. We must never discard the family element either.

We discussed holding the next World Rally in SA with many of the team managers and pilots. The reaction was not promising, simply because of the limitations that some governments would put on their teams. The teams themselves would, of course, love to come here. The next idea bandied about was the concept of a World Cup Challenge. This was received with amazing enthusiasm. I think we have a project on our hands.