Articles Rally (Page 8)

WORLD FLYING CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2006

Incorporating the 15^th World Rally Flying Championships,
and the 17^th World Precision Flying Championships

Troyes, France – 21 to 31 July 2006.

By Chris Booysen

• Part 1 – The Practice< < <
• Part 2 – The Precision Championship
• Part 3 – The Rally Championship

Part 1 – The Practice

The SA Flying Team departed from Johannesburg International on Friday 14 July 2006 to Troyes via Dubai and Charles de Gaulle in Paris. The team arrived at Troyes, about 150km South of Paris by 16:00, a long and exhausting trip.

The organisers had arranged an air show for Sunday and the team had their first taste of the hot weather that Europe was experiencing. The temperature was about 40 degrees!

The air show was interesting as it included a number of aircraft and displays that have not been seen in South Africa. The organisation was not a slick as we are used to in South Africa as there were large gaps between the displays. The show was also spoiled by a commentator that played loud music or made a running commentary during the displays. Is was really disappointing to have the sound of a Wellington Bomber drowned out. The displays included a Spitfire, a mock dog fight between two Tiger Moths and a Sopwith Camel, a Vampire, F18 of the Spanish Air Force (they brought two to the show), a Junkers, two Comets and

The highlights of the show were the French Air Force Aerobatic Team – the “Patrouille de France”, and an absolutely amazing display by Xavier de Lapparent a Sukhoi SU26. It is impossible to describe the manoeuvres that this aircraft was made to do. Flick flacks, hovers, side slides and tail slides were the order of the day.

The practice period, which ran from Sunday 16 July to Saturday 22 July, went well. There has just not been enough time. We are up at 7am to be at the airfield by 8:00 for the first flight. The last flight ends at about 6pm and then the team returns to the hotel for a team meeting. By the time we have debriefed and found a restaurant for supper it is 8pm. The weather has also made it demanding. The temperatures during the day (sunrise at 06:00 and sunset at 22:00) have been in the mid 30’s with the night time temperatures not dropping much below 28. There is very little shade outside where most of the time is spent. The temperature in the hangar provided for the pilots is probably 5 degrees higher than the outside temperature. Water consumption (at R15 per litre) is high.

The organisers provided three precision routes and we purchased three practice rally routes. Over the five days each pilot flew most of those six routes. We also had a few landing sessions to sharpen those skills. The terrain is very “busy” with an enormous amount of information. The pilots have to filter out all the smaller farm roads and concentrate on the more major features otherwise there is just too much to look at. The maps are reasonably accurate but the topographical information is a bit dated. Most towns are a bit larger than depicted so a road intersection shown outside a town might now be in the town.

WORLD FLYING CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2006

Incorporating the 15^th World Rally Flying Championships,
and the 17^th World Precision Flying Championships

Troyes, France – 21 to 31 July 2006.

By Chris Booysen

• Part 1 – The Practice
• Part 2 – The Precision Championship< < <
• Part 3 – The Rally Championship

Part 2 – The Precision Flying Championship

Saturday, 22 July

After the last practice day the team attended the Official Opening last night. Once again it was very hot with a small thunderstorm forcing the opening ceremony inside.

The function was held in the Town Hall and was followed by a dinner hosted by the mayor. One of the guests was a cartoonist and drew pictures of the team. If I can find a scanner I will post them. The team gave a rendering of Shosholoza to express our thanks.

The landing test comprises four landings. A normal landing, two forced landings (one flapless) and a landing over a barrier. Past competitions have shown that to win in this section of the competition you need to land all four landings within a meter of the “bingo” line (The bingo line is 2 meters wide).

The landing competition was divided into two sessions. A morning session where each pilot performed landing 1 (normal landing). After the full field of 62 pilots had completed the first landing then the second landing (forced landing) was completed and then there was then a break for lunch. At lunch time the field was led by Krzysztof Wieczorek from Poland with two penalty points. As usual the top positions were held by Poles, Czechs and the Swedish. Mary de Klerk and Ron Stirk were in the top ten for South Africa with 9 and 12 points respectively. Hans Schwebel, Jan Hanekom, Barry de Groot and Frank Eckard are also in the top quarter of the results.

After lunch the second two landings were performed. The team was disappointed by the first four landings of our team as they were all short of the box incurring penalties of 150 each which put them out of the running. Things immediately picked as Ron and Mary did two fantastic landings which put Ron into a tie for second place with a total of 14 points. Mary was also well up the field in tied 4th place with 24 points. First in the landings was Kryzysztof Wieczorek with 10 points. In all the South African team members get six bingo landings.

At the evening briefing a petition was presented requesting that the first two landings be cancelled as the teams who signed it believed that the tail wind component during the landings exceeded the maximum allowed of 3 knots. South Africa did not support the protest as we believe that the wind was the same for all competitors so there was still a fair competition. This petition was rejected as the rules only allow for individual protests. Four competitors from different countries then lodged their protests.

The jury viewed the official recordings of the wind during the landings and found that there had been a tail wind component in excess of 3 knots in the case of a few landings and was therefore forced to cancel the two landings performed in session one. The jury left it to the discretion of the competition director to decide if the landings would be flown again. The competition director decided that no further landings would be held and that the results would be based on the second two landings only. South Africa supported this decision as the rules do not allow the re-flying a portion of an event.

The result of the rulings was that Ron Stirk was moved up to first place in the landings on 2 points. A fantastic result for South Africa. This is the second time that Ron has been World Landing Champion. With good landings by Mary and Frank in the second session South Africa will be third in the team landing results.

The ruling on the landings has had a mixed effect on the competitors depending on their results in the first and second landing sessions. In terms of the rules the points of the two landings not cancelled are doubled. A number of our team members had two very good landings in the first (cancelled) session and not such good landings in the second session. This means that they carry the double the penalties for the bad landings though to the final result.

The two navigation exercises were difficult. Penalties for all competitors are significantly higher than the penalties incurred at the last World Championships in 2004. Both navigations included 10 ground markers and 6 ground targets, as well as ground targets at the turning points. Very few turning points were timed (only 3 per route). There were a large number of secret timing points. Secret timing points can be placed anywhere on the route and are not marked in any way. This forces competitors to fly at exactly their nominated ground speed.

Our results for the first navigation are satisfactory but are not good enough for us to be in medal contention. Mary de Klerk has performed well and is the lowest scoring team member in 26th place. She is followed by Hands Schwebel and Frank Eckard. Unfortunately Jan Hanekom missed a turning point that required a one minute timed turn which meant that he was penalised for missing the turn and for two track errors. This alone costs 600 points. Ernie has also missed some turning points and secrets.

The second day is almost a repeat of the first in format and results except this time Jan Hanekom hits all the turning points and improves his score dramatically. Mary was once again the first South African in 27th place followed by Frank Eckard (31st) and Jan Hanekom (32nd)

Due to the good weather we do not need the reserve day so the team members took the day off and got a well deserved rest. The only item on the program is the final prizegiving function which was held at 4:00pm outside the terminal building. The temperature is 37 degrees with a cloudless sky. Not really the weather to be dressed in our formal Protea clothing!

The Polish team take almost all the trophies and awards. They take all the individual medals with Krzysztof Wieczorek (Gold), Janusz Darocha (Silver) and Krzysztof Skretowicz(Bronze) in the top three places. They are also awarded the Ottley Trophy a the Team Champions. In the team competition the Czech Republic team are second followed by France and South Africa. From a South African perspective our top three individuals are Mary de Klerk, Frank Eckard and Ron Stirk.

In the landing competition Ron Stirk is awarded the Canada Trophy and is the World Landing Champion. The Polish receive the New Zealand Trophy as the top team in the landings.

As a country we had set ourselves some objectives which included a landing medal, a podium position in the overall results, a top 3 in the team landing position and possibly an overall medal. We have achieved the landing medal, top 3 in the team landing and 4th in the overall team results. The team can be very satisfied with its performance.

Full results and pictures can be found at the Official Troyes Website

WORLD FLYING CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2006

Incorporating the 15^th World Rally Flying Championships,
and the 17^th World Precision Flying Championships

Troyes, France – 21 to 31 July 2006.

By Chris Booysen

• Part 1 – The Practice
• Part 2 – The Precision Championship
• Part 3 – The Rally Championship< < <

Part 3 – The Rally Flying Championship

Thursday, 27 July

The official program for the Rally Flying Championship is an official practice day on 27 July 2006, followed by three competition rallies and then a reserve day and the prize giving on the 31st July.

The competition director has spaced the field in such a way that aircraft would be flying from 9:30 in the morning up to 17:00 in the afternoon. This, combined with a forecast of severe thunderstorms, leads to the officials postponing the official practice day. All teams are handed the route for the day and all fly the route as a practice with no weather related problems. The forecast thunderstorms never appear so the event could have been run as planned.

The forecast for the second day is also for severe thunderstorms. After the incorrect forecast of the previous day it was decided that the official practice day would be run but with the field far more compressed so that the flying will completed earlier in the day. The official practice day is run as if it is a competition except the scores are not taken into account

Once again the forecast is incorrect and the weather is good, overcast and much cooler. The practice was a good one for the South African team as it allows us to sort out the last few problems. The team is now ready for the competition.

The first competition day dawned. The teams are given their instruction 25 minutes before take off. Added to this are another 5 or so minutes flying to the start which means most can plot the entire route before the start line. The route contains an away landing, an arc that needs to be flown and some turning points that are in a sealed envelope. The first competition day is a bit of a disaster. Each of the our teams made a silly mistake which results in penalties. All the SA team members are lying between 30th and 44th place. The local French team is doing well as are the Poles (of course). As a country we are lying in 9th place, far below our expectations.

As a result of a protest by Poland a number of legs are cancelled. The instructions in the sealed envelope follow after three turning points from the turning point that indicates which envelope must be opened. The rules require four points.

The route for the second day of the competition was similar to the first day. A long time to plot, an arc to fly and an away landing.

The South African team had an even worse day than day one. Most of the team do not see that they were not allowed to fly over a small village that was situated on the flight path immediately after the touch and go away landing. This resulted in 200 penalties. Added to that were a few missed check points, a some incorrect plots, a bad landing or two and a number of missed photos. Frank Eckard fare the best of our team with 658 points. They are followed by Barry de Groot and Mary de Klerk who flew incredibly accurately (46 flight penalty points) but ended on 686 points due to the landings, en-route photos and the penalty for overflying the village.

The top South African team is only in 32nd place. A huge disappointment for the team. The dissapointment is tempered slightly when the team manager, Chris Booysen, is called up at the prize giving to accept the Credit Agricole Trophy for “Team Spirit and Fair Play”.

Full results and pictures can be found at the Official Troyes Website

Pictures taken by various team members

New SA Team Ernie and Francois	Emily of the Info Desk	After a hard day
Typical scenery of the area	Typical scenery of the area	Typical scenery of the area