NSRCA

Contest Report 2009 Northern Virginia Pattern Championships, 19-20 September 2009

We had a great contest with supurb weather, excellent turnout, and strong flying from all competitors. The third fall Northern VA Championships started off with field preparations that facilitated practice on Friday, 18 September under mild conditions and light winds. When I got out to the field early Friday afternoon all the preparations were completed by the FARM club and there were 10 to 12 folks practicing. We opened up registration and pre-registered those who were present. The flying site had electric hook up and a beautiful aviation tempo which what makes the event so unique. All weekend we got to see aerobatic biplanes, Piper Cubs and even a Cessna or two. There was a full scale aerobatic competition that also took place about 5 miles from the field, and you could hear and see the full scale planes in the far-off distance in front of the flight line.

Our competition started promptly on Saturday morning with 27 contestants. Many thanks to the diligent work of Bill McMullen as line chief, we got 4 rounds in by 4:15 PM and two more rounds completed by a little after noon on Sunday. Many thanks to Pat Dunap (NVRC) and Nick Burhans (FARM) for the scoring.

There was some great flying over the weekend. Coming back with some focused practice this year, Duane Beck took the Sportsman event by storm. Duane plans to move up to Intermediate next year and is one of the local success stories flying pattern. Duane is also very competitive in sailplanes, often seen practicing for thermal duration competitions as well. Duane was followed by Barrett Hill and Joe Peck to round out the Sportsman trophy winners.

Intermediate was a new ballgame with Larry Kauffman moving to Advanced. This opened things up for the local competitors. In a very close finish, Steve Insalaco finished on top of the 9 member Intermediate contingent. He and Joseph Szczur traded 1000’s round after round. Steve’s consistent flying paid off and he took home 1^st. Joseph and Edwin Manson rounded out the top 3, closely followed by Bruce Ginn who ended up in 4th.

Advanced was a lightly attended class with Larry Kaffman taking the win, followed not far behind by Mike Doud. I had to spend some time looking at both of their beautiful airplanes. We expect a couple of additional Advanced competitors at future events as this season winds down (move up!)

Masters was another hotly contested class with 5 entrants. Arch Stafford made his presence known in the district with straight 1000’s across the board. Joe Lachowski and Chris Moon wrestled for 2^nd, with Chis moon ending in 2nd and Joe taking 3rd. Dale Arnold showed he was going to let up and finished strong and right behind Chris to take 4th. Buff Miller rounded out the Masters class.

In FAI, it was great to see folks traveling from such great distances as Massachusetts and South Carolina. Joey Hayes and I traded rounds with him leading most of the contest, but I was able to post a couple of flights on Sunday to clinch the win this year. Bill Holston showed the agility and precision flying his pristine Black Magic to 3^rd place. We welcomed Steve Lelito for competing with some great maneuvers and top line aircraft to finish 4^th just behind Bill.

Sunday afternoon concluded with several photo-op passes of full scale Stearman biplanes.  We were able to get everyone safely back on the road, with no mid-airs and not too-much sunburn to round out a great weekend of flying and competition.

The contest donated $54 to the NSRCA award fund.  Thanks all who attended and hope to see you again next year.

Don