Mudgee Airshow -WWW 2010

Hope to see you there!

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Tyabb Airshow 2010

This past weekend I made the trip down to the Tyabb Airshow near Melbourne. This was probably the main Airshow in Australia for 2010 and it was a huge success. Judy Pay and the members of Peninsula Aeroclub did a fantastic job. The Air Program ran very smoothly, there were no incidents all day, the weather was near perfect and the crowd was huge. Apparently there were traffic issues for those driving to Tyabb but orgnizers will be on top of that in 2012.

I arrived about 1500 local the day prior, enough time for a practice flight. This was a good idea as there are all sorts of obstacles around the Tyabb airfield when operating low level ...

The Allianz team were out in force. We put the Rebel in amongst the Allianz area which worked very well.

The Mudgee Airshow is just around the corner and plans are well underway for an Eastern Creek Raceway event , The World Superlap Championships, on May 22.

NBN News Story

Click below for a short NBN News article:

AEROBATIC PILOT - TONY BLAIR

Australian Aerobatic Champs

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We just got back from the 2010 National Aerobatic Championships which were held in Parkes NSW. It was good to attend this event again, my first time at Parkes was in 2008 and I missed last years event because of a technical problem with the Rebel. The weather was near perfect but just like 2008, the weather deteriorated significantly the day after the comp which made the trip home less than fun ...

The local council and Mayor held a civic reception for us the evening before the comp started, they go to a lot of trouble to make us feel welcome.

35 pilots entered, which is pretty good for this event.

My family made the 6 hour drive to join me for the Easter holiday. It was great having them there. It helped me not get too carried away by the seriousness that usually accompanies these competitions.

Whilst I'm almost ashamed to admit this, I hadn't flown an Unkown sequence since the last comp at Temora last year, and only did my Free once before heading to Parkes and hadn't flown the Q until actually arriving in location. I had been in the aeroplane with display flying, so I was comfortable in the aircraft but not necessarily with Aresti (competition style) flying. My start to the year has been busy with a new flying job and its associated ratings and there is also the new house etc.
So excuses aside, the results ....
I won the Advanced Free, placed second in the Advanced 1st Unknown and 3rd in the 2nd Unknown for 2nd Overall. I had some pretty hefty penalties in the Unknowns, in fact, about 10% of penalties in the second Unknown for going low and having a break etc.

I learnt a lot but more importantly learned were I need to improve.
My aim for the comp was to win the Advanced Free trophy so I feel satisfied with my performance.

This event has reinvigorated my motivation for competition flying which had faded in recent times. Having said that, I've got 2 Airshows and a display at Eastern Creek Raceway over the next month - no time to rest!!

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Angela and I at the presentation dinner.
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The weather for the trip home was not so great ....