From Eric Marsh, Contest Director

Leicester Airport was the venue for the British Aerobatic Association’s Fenland and McAully Trophies 6–7 August this year. I learned when I was there that Leicester Aero Club is the oldest in Britain and the second oldest in the world. Clearly they know how to run an airfield, for the efficiency and courtesy of all its personnel was noted and appreciated by all.

First briefing was at 10:00hrs precisely, under a CAVOK sky. Although a show of hands indicated that all had read the recently posted Contest Briefing Notes, a comprehensive verbal briefing was conducted by Eric Marsh as CD, Brian Gleave as CJ and Nick O’Brien as AO. Registrar-Scorer Jen Buckenham’s lists showed 1 x Club, 6 x Sports and 6 x Intermediate pilots, each of whom (except Club) were to fly one Known and three Unknowns.

Flying started at 1100, but several Sport pilots were sharing aircraft, which slowed considerably the flow rate during the Known; it was suggested that this might be a future trend, with members electing to hire competitive aircraft rather than bear the cost of buying their own expensive machine. Therefore, after a brief lunch break, Chief Judge Brian Gleave integrated some Intermediate pilots into the gaps between Sports pilots, which by careful identification of aircraft and pilot worked well, such that the day’s flying ended just a few minutes after the 1800 curfew, still under blue skies and a gentle breeze.

Off stage however there were a few incidents:

1 – mid-morning I was called as CD direct on my mobile by a local resident who complained of the noise; upon investigation I concluded that it had been caused by a relatively loud Pitts, which had drifted to the edge of the box. I consulted LAC then called the complainant, who accepted the situation with my explanation and apologies.

2 – a group from Sywell were flying a pair of Tiger Moths on joyrides, and one had a birdstrike: pilot and passenger were ok, the aircraft fabric was holed and later repaired, but sadly the bird did not survive.

3 – the very last flight of the day was to be Yair Yaniv in the GenPro, so as the deadline was approaching I watched him climb into the aircraft; start-up is always challenging in the GenPro but on this occasion, I saw flames shooting from the engine air intake, shouted FIRE!, told Yair to get out, by which time the nearby fire crew was already dowsing the flames. Owner Adrian Willis was later to commend a group of engineers who worked until the early hours of Sunday morning to repair it, such that HA-XEN was ready for flight the next day.

Sunday was again CAVOK but, given the previous day’s delays at Sports level, it was decided to fly Intermediate first, then Club and Sports. The first flight was Yair flying Int first Unknown in the GenPro, followed by Intermediate flying second Unknown, then Club and Sports. Mark Onyett withdrew feeling unwell (very sensibly), and because BAeA policy dictates that pilots should fly no more than two unknowns in a day, Yair only flew second Unknown. Whatever, the judges continued without a designated lunch break, so that all competition flying had finished by just after 1530.

At 1600 hrs EM as CD thanked all who had contributed to the evident success of the event, specifically Jen in the office, Brian and co in the field, Nick O’Brien and co in the tower, and especially the fire crew who also manned the fuel pumps. LAC CFI Nick O’Brien then presented awards to winners listed elsewhere, including Ben Davis, who won his first contest in a Pitts S1T, thus beating the much larger aircraft of his fellow-competitors.

Eric