Mudgee Airshow 2010 **Updated**

I've just got back from the Mudgee Airshow! It was a terrific event with something there for everyone. There was plenty of cloud in the morning and most of the other display and visiting aircraft could not get out of Sydney for the trip across. We joked about how many displays I might need fly to fill in the day ... Luckily, the weather cleared and everyone arrived, albeit, a little late. Rob and the other organizers did a great job massaging the program and things ran smoothly for the rest of the day - good job everyone!



I flew my 5 minute aerobatic display and received some great feedback from various people. My display is certainly a work in progress and I'm adjusting it as I get feedback. Different people like different things but in general I seem to be heading in the right direction.




A little later in the day I did a couple of drag races with this race car, it is a very nice Lola.
It looks like I'm winning but it was actually a very fast car. Even though the Rebel is probably the highest power to weight aerobatic aircraft in the country, he was able to beat me until about mid runway when I would slowly start catching up. He reached over 300 km/hour, which is impressive - the Rebel was just reaching its stride of course. The car was in front virtually all the way to the end of the runway!

It certainly was a lot of fun and no doubt a spectacle for on lookers.

I've now received some information about the Lola. It is a 1987 Lola F3000 with a Lites 630 HP Buick engine. It has a top speed of around 350 km/hour, does 8 second quarter mile passes and has a better power to weight ratio than a current Formula 1 car. The car won the Australian hill climb championships in 1989, 2004, 2006 and 2008. It also does 0 to 200 km/hour in just 6 seconds.

Doug Parry - you have a very impressive car!

No wonder it was hard to catch, even in the Rebel ...

Another interesting spectacle was this helicopter that dropped a car from 1000 feet directly in front of the crowd - it certainly got a cheer!



Overall a great event, crowd numbers were good and so the hard work of the Mudgee Aeroclub was rewarded. Congratulations to all involved.

Mudgee Airshow -WWW 2010

Hope to see you there!

www.wingswheelsandwine.com.au

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 ....

A week in sunny East Sale ...

I've just got back from a week in East Sale to renew my military Instructor Rating. I always expect terrible weather in Sale but this past week was mostly good. It was good to catch up with some old friends down there including Glen Canfield who is now the Roulette Leader, congratulations mate.

The trip home was pleasant and interesting - an old student of mine dropped me back in a PC9. It's those kind of moments that draw me to being an instructor.

New Engine Cowl

The new cowl is going well, it's added a bit extra performance and looks a lot better ....

Allianz Aerobatic Display - Sth Australia

It was quite a trip but I took the Rebel down to Goolwa last week for an Allianz event. Goolwa is down south of Adelaide ... The airfield itself is completely different to how I remembered it from a few years back. There is a new owner and he has completely turned the place around, lots of activity there now. The display was flown at Hindmarsh Island for a function centre/venue called Rankines landing. It was the first display I've flown over water, well mostly over water. It was very enjoyable and well received by the event and several locals who expressed their gratitude.
My next event is the National Aerobatic Champs at Easter, then the Tyabb Airshow and probably down to Sydney for another display in May. With the new job, new house etc etc there is plenty to keep me busy at the moment.

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Champion Aerospace supporting Blair Aerosport!

We are proud to announce that Champion Aerospace are now supporting us. Champion make the finest ignition parts available. They recently added the Slick line of ignition products to their business. We look forward to working with Champion in the future. There will be more information available in our web page.

Move to Tamworth

With an Air Force posting to the flying school at Tamworth, my family and I have now moved to the Country Music Capital. We are very fond of Tamworth. The Rebel has been welcomed to its new home at Sigma Aerospace. It is quite an impressive organisation, major servicing, an engine shop etc http://www.sigmaaerospace.com.au/

On my first couple of training flights, I found the local ATC to be very helpful and accomodating, looks like I'll be able to train over head the airfield, which is very handy.

My girls like Aerobatic planes too ...

My girls with an Edge 540 owned by Mark McNicol.

New engine cowl

It was time the old fashioned Pitts style engine cowl had to go ... Edge 540 style carbon fibre cowl has been fitted and is now off with the painter. This should be a good improvement!

Hunter Valley Display

Last week I went to the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, to fly a display at the Kirkton Park Sebel. The event was an Allianz corporate function. It's always great to fly a display away from an airfield. This location had beautiful scenery with rolling hills and huge gum trees which made it a lot of fun.

The display was well received. On the flight home I ran into a large line of thunderstorms and decided the best option was to over night back in the Hunter - so I too ended up spending the night at the Sebel. It's a lovely place with plenty of old charm.

The weather had cleared by late morning the next day and the flight back to Sydney was pleasant!

Proud Partners with Quail TV!

I'm very pleased to announce our partnership with Quail Television. Quail TV is an exciting production company based in Sydney Australia. You've probably watched many of their productions without realising who they are ...

The "Real Top Guns" and the "Find my Family" series are a couple of examples.

Check our web page for more information!

www.BlairAerosport.com.au/index_files/QTV.htm

State (NSW) Aerobatic Championships

We are back from the NSW Aerobatic Championships. It was a fantastic event, the biggest comp for decades apparently. I competed in Advanced which had an excellent turn out of competitors. With not much Aresti flying lately I wasn't particularly confident prior to the weekend but things came together in the days running up to the comp.

(Waiting for the Starter to give me the go ahead ... )

I finished first in all three scored events, ie the Free, the First Unknown and the Second Unknown for an overall win.

A very pleasing result.

My wife had to eat her words, she thought I wouldn't be competitive ...

Results are at:
www.gspotaerobatics.com/results/2009/multi_Advanced.htm

Good mate, Richard Wiltshire cleaned up in the Unlimited category. We came home in formation together, both of us in good spirits! Not long after takeoff, Rich joked we should of called ourselves "Victory Formation", now that would have been rubbing it in to the other guys!

The officials did a great job, things ran very smoothly and we got through a huge amount of flying, over 120 flights I believe ...

Congratulations and thanks to all involved.

(Trying to critique ... )

Oakey - Army Museum Display

Getting the recent engine work done which included the new ECI Titan, Nickel Carbide Cylinders gave me a break for a while. Two weeks after we were flying again it was off to Oakey in QLD . The Museum at Oakey is a world class facility, if you get the chance for a visit I'd highly reccomend it.

I did 2 displays on the Saturday in very hot, windy and dusty conditions - far from the best conditions. 2 more displays on Sunday in much nicer weather finished off the trip.

The displays were well recieved - it was a nice touch to have the commentators greet me after each flight with a couple of children who had questions about flying. That sort of crowd participation is a nice addition to an event like this.

On the way home I stopped at Tamworth for the night. I'll always visit my freinds in Tamworth if I get the opportunity. Flying to Sydney the next day was interesting and challenging - plenty of weather in the Sydney basin for my arrival ...

The spark plugs were as dry as a bone after the trip, so we decided the engine was now run in. We dumped the run-in oil and replaced it with our favourite oil, Exxon Elite multi-weight oil.

It's been a while since I did any competition style aerobatics but it's time to concentrate on the State Aerobatic Champs in a couple of weeks ...

Cowra visit SAAA Annual Convention

My brother-in-law, Les Day, and I did a quick day trip to Cowra for the SAAA convention. It was a good day out, here are a couple of pictures ...

Hi Octane Performance Coatings

Ceramic coatings have become mainstream in the performance engine world. I wanted to use the technology on the Rebel - the advantages are well documented. After looking around, I decided to use Hi Octane Performance Coatings at Rydalmere in Sydney. They have a brand new facility with the latest gear and a refreshingly enthusiastic approach to their work. Before I got to know the guys there, they said to me, don't worry about your pipes, if they don't come out perfect, we will remove the coating and do it again!

I can't speak highly enough about the quality of their work.

The photos here are the exhaust pipes off the Rebel, they are perfect!

There is more information on our web page under the "Hi Octane" link and you will find more at www.HiOctanePerformanceCoatings.com.au

Tell Ian and his guys that I promised a perfect result at a competitive price!

Rebel 300 exhaust after ceramic coating!

Twitter now on our Web Page.

We have been doing some upgrades to the web site recently. Part of that was adding a Twitter feed. I'll aim to use the Twitter function for small news/intersest items and will Blog the more significant items!

www.BlairAerosport.com.au

A different kind of ride ...

I had the opportunity to do some travelling with the family recently.  We used a Cirrus SR22 from the Richmond Flying Club.  I hadn't flown a Cirrus until just recently but it's a comfortable and safe way to travel!  It was the first time I took my daughters flying.  They didn't like it much at first but they soon relaxed and fell asleep.  By the end of the holiday they seemed to be loving it.

Our trip to the Gold Coast was a bit longer than planned - no one had forecast the Category 2 cyclone type weather that kept us there for a few extra days!  While we had the chance, I took my brothers for a fly around the Gold Coast.  I had forgotten how nice it is up there.

The Rebel has been getting a few minor upgrades while I've had a break from the aerobatics but it's time to get back into it now!

My brother Ashley, always happy to go for a fly.

My 3 girls in the back of the Cirrus.