For a full breakdown of scores, please visit AcroScore | British Open & National Championships

Contest Director's Report

This was our very first OPEN Championships and the biggest aerobatics event we have put on for 15 years.   We invited pilots from all over the world and in the final line-up we had Hungary, Poland, France and Luxembourg represented along with our UK Advanced and Unlimited pilots.  We did have more than our fair share of poor weather and technical issues, which resulted in the field being a little smaller than we hoped but nonetheless, 13 pilots across both classes gave us a truly memorable contest.  We are already planning a bigger, better OPEN for next year.

Tuesday 9th was set aside as a training day and a chance to arrive at Sywell. Unfortunately, the weather Gods had other ideas and low cloud kept us on the ground. Fortunately, despite the complex weather system dividing the country, all the contestants were assembled early Wednesday and flying commenced in the afternoon with all the pilots managing to fly the known program and still pack the hangar before our 18:00 curfew.

Despite my optimistic 08:30 briefing on Thursday the early morning weather was not great. By mid-afternoon it looked like we could have a chance and launched the Slingsby weather ship. Alas it was a sucker’s gap and although the cloudbase was at 4,000 feet, it proved to be short-lived and by 16:00 we called it a day and packed up for dinner.

At this point I would like to give a huge thanks to the organising team, without whom it simply would not have been possible.  They were (in no particular order):

Jamie Williams - Chief scoring guru

Steve Green - Chief Judge with his fellow judges: Tom Cassells, Steve Todd, Brian Gleave, Pierre Varloteaux, Nigel Lamb and assistants: Lidia D, Ian S, Brian M, Gary F, Lucas M, Seb P, Toby R and Alan C

David Nichols - Marketing, Livestream, Sponsorship and Budgeting

Brian McCartney - Box markers, ably assisted by the local Air Scouts

Dom Gleave - Official videographer

David Heard - Merchandise

Jacob Hinson - Event Branding, Sponsor Liaison & Website

David Thomson - Graphics & Trophy design

Eric Marsh - Catering & Accommodation

Steve Bakhtiari - Trophies & Website

Steve Green - NOTAMs & Risk Assessment

Martin Sandford - Event Insurance & Accounts

I have always said being CD is easy when you have a good team around you.

Friday looked very promising when I looked out the window just before 05:00 and yet once again it was after lunch before I managed to launch the first pilot. Judging by the morning sky the shepherds were running for cover! Order of the day was Advanced first. In part this gave the judges a warmup which was helpful as we were trying out our new live tablet based scoring system and also gave the unlimited pilots a little more time to prepare for the 591k first Unknown! At 17:50 we got the last pilot in the sky and once again managed to close the hangar doors very close to 18:00.

With 4 programs completed, Saturday needed to give me 3 more programs. We elected to brief a little later to give some more time for breakfast and again we waited…… Reward comes to those that wait and Unknown 2 for Adv and Unl was packed in. Thank you to the judging teams that put up with a mere 20 min break between classes to enjoy their packed lunches and prepare for the next sequence. Controversial as it may be for some, the fixed Unknown sequence being flown by each pilot (per class) did its job and kept the scoring and judging more consistent and certainly helpful for the commentator on the livestream video brought to us by  Luke Tuffs & his team at Aeroview.tv.

By the end of Saturday the pilots were fully settled into the contest and I had managed to iron out some of the operational wrinkles. Unlimited had flown 3 programs and hence completed the full program as planned. Thanks to the official ‘Judges view’ video footage by Dom Gleave, we were able to analyse each flight and resolve some of the more challenging and critical judging decisions. For many Saturday evening was a time to finally relax and get stuck into the complementary Hog Roast which proved a great way to enjoy the evening together. 

The final day was always billed as ‘Freestyle Sunday’ but also a weather contingency day, so Unknown 3 for Advanced was scheduled to be flown after the Freestyle. This sadly meant Andrea Pesenato, flying his beautiful CAP 231, had to pull out of the Freestyle so he could concentrate on the final Adv program. Sunday finally gave us some respectable weather. The Freestyle got off to a great start with an ample cloudbase and some welcome splashes of blue sky. Phillipe Varinot from Luxembourg, was first up with what I have to admit was my favourite flight in his CAP 232. But let’s be clear, all of the Freestyle flights were impressive and gave the Sywell visitors the perfect morning spectacle. We were all delighted to see the welcome return of Mark Jefferies, back on the competition circuit after a break of 15 years, who deservedly took the top spot.

With the crowd suitably warmed up it was just another 6 pilots to fly the 3rd Unknown at Advanced level to conclude the OPEN Championship with tea and medals served by 16:00 in the afternoon. What made this all the more exciting for those following the live scoring system (a great addition, for sure) was that everything was still to play for, right up to the last sequence. Advanced Champion was in the balance and so too was the gold medal for our Advanced Open Championship.

It was great to see so many medals awarded – Melanie Astles (UNL) and Steve Bakhtiari (ADV) are our new National champions.  But also to welcome new faces to the podium – Carl Cox and Ben Filer are in their first year at Advanced, but managed to bag the Silver and Bronze medals for the UK National Championships respectively.  Well done all!

There are always things we can do better but I must say this event went very smoothly, despite some challenging weather. A huge thankyou to our sponsors Tele2-IOT, Brandgym, Skyboard, 2Excel and other generous benefactors, without them this event would have been financially impossible. I would also like to extend our thanks to all the team at Sywell who looked after us so well.

Next year will be even better!

Julian Murfitt

30th July, 2024