Richard Knox's Mriya F3a Bi-Plane
Competition Report Fletcher’s Lane 20th & 21st February 2021
After the weather forecast for our February competition seemed to predict another Groundhog Day weekend of rain and wind, we were all blown away (pun intended) when the weather gods chose to smile on us. After a couple of us sneaked in a training flight or two between showers on Friday, Saturday dawned promising, and we had a rain free day, with little breeze to start, freshening, but not unacceptably, and a cloudy sky which made for excellent flying.
Richard Knox and Joe Costa had excelled themselves in producing a flyable runway amidst a lot of wet and muddy patches. However despite their efforts, with the moisture and sun, we could watch the grass growing, and several of the guys had incidents with spongy longer grass, resulting in some damage to props and landing gear
With an initial entry of 15 pilots, David McFarlane had to withdraw due to ill health, but we received 2 late entries in Rod O'neil and Tim Voigt, to bring us to a respectable total of 16.
Guess what? With a glorious wind free morning, for once it was NOT us in Advanced first up...... Nope, our colleagues in F3A claimed that privilege for themselves!!! The highlights in the class were the presentation of 2 new models; Phil Spence in a new Alchemy-pro Contra, from Precision Aero, together with Tom Collinge who had finally completed his Allure with his own build of foam wings, (also sporting a Contra.)
Next up were Expert, with newcomer Rod O'neil presenting with his Element (newly purchased from Joe Costa.) Rod had previously campaigned in Expert, and returned to that class. After a (very slightly) rusty start in his first sequence flown in years, Rod improved consistently through the rounds. The balance of Expert was comprised of the usual suspects.
Masters was a class of 2, with a close contest being flown between Bill Garrod and Jason Arnold, and were followed by Advanced with myself and Con Kyriakides. (Fortunately the weather was still calm!)
Our new Sportsman did not fly, as he felt he didn’t have a suitable model.
After a brilliant day, with 3 rounds completed, we regrouped in the evening at the Bowling Club. Poor Timothy Voigt found himself besieged by Rod O'neil and myself, and browbeaten into agreeing that he would bring his model on the Sunday, and if it was suitable, review his decision to stand down. Besides this, a very amicable evening was enjoyed by all.
Sunday dawned even more promising, and with no delay, F3A kicked off again. However before this, flights by Tim and Rod convinced him as to the suitability of his equipment, and he was swiftly written back into Notauscore.
Sunday rapidly delivered 3 more closely contested rounds, and come 4 o’ clock, we started the packing up, and announcement of results:
Tim took the flag in Sportsman, as the only entrant, but astonished all, including himself, delivering 3 rounds which would have been competitive in any company, including a top round over 200!
Alastair Bennetts won the ongoing rivalry in Advanced, with Con winning the first round.
Expert was convincingly won by the “old master” Brian Mc Farlane, from homeboy Richard Knox, and rapidly improving newcomer Rod, with Chris Tindall, Felix Niewenhuizen and Gavin FitzHenry completing the class.
Carnage was the defining description for F3A. The class was won in fine style by Phil Spence, in spite of his misfortunes, (including a tip-up on landing, a lost prop(s) and an excursion into the corn,) with Kahl Eckersley in second. Kahl was flying with a spare transmitter kindly lent and rapidly reprogrammed by Joe Costa, after Kahl found he had left his at home. Third went to Joe, while Tom Collinge brought up 4th, and Brian McGowan 5th, having miraculously saved his Invitation when an ESC lead unsoldered on take-off.
Masters win went to Bill, after a closely contested tussle with Jason.
There were no competition promotion points achieved.
Many thanks to Richard Knox for a splendid and much enjoyed competition, and to our new recruits, welcome to the addiction!
Our next competitions are two one-day events in March, at RAAFMAC Richmond on Saturday 20th, and at CKSMAC Pitt Town on Sunday 21st. Looking forward to seeing everyone there.
Competition Results:
Masters: Bill Garrod
F3a: Phil Spence
Expert: Brian McFarlane
Advanced: Alastair Bennetts
Sportsman: Timothy Voigt
Competition Promotions:
Masters: Nil
F3a: Nil
Expert: Nil
Advanced: Nil
Sportsman: Nil
Competition Masters Results: HERE.
Competition F3a Results: HERE.
Competition Expert Results: HERE.
Competition Advanced Results: HERE.
Competition Sportsman Results: HERE.
Current Point Scores For 2021: HERE.
