Allianz Insurance supporting Aviation in Australia

www.allianz.com.au

I am proud to report that Allianz Insurance are further supporting General Aviation and Aerobatics through our Rebel 300. Allianz provides insurance to over 80 million people world-wide and expanded into theAustralian Aviation Insurance market in early 2008. It is a pleasure to be affiliated with such a notable sponsor.

You can contact Allianz Aviation Insurance via email aviation@allianz.com.au or call the office on (03) 9224 3044 .

Make sure you tell them that Tony Blair said to look after you!

Just over a week to the NSW Champs!!

It's getting close to the NSW Aerobatic Champs. In a weeks time we will head over to Temora and finalize our preparation for the event. The Sydney winter has been kind, allowing a good amount of training over the preceding months. It looks like there will be a reasonable field competing in Advanced, including Russell Bell who will make the trip over from New Zealand. Russell has been conducting an intensive training period over the past weeks, flying Richard Wiltshires Extra 300L.

In other news, we are currently negotiating our first sponsorship deal and should be able to announce the details in the coming days.

Hope to see you at Temora!

Training for Advanced

Not much going on lately. Flying as often as possible at the "Advanced" level in an attempt to be ready for the NSW Champs which will be held over the first weekend of October. It's a pretty big step up from Intermediate but I'm enjoying the challenge. The plane continues to impress, just need to keep working on the driver...

Wollongong Fly In

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Attended the RV/SAAA fly in at Woollongong. It was a pleasant flight on the way down. I met up with brother in law, Les Day. Also, Mark McNicol and partner, RoseMarrie came down in their Yak52, which has just been sold. Mark and I flew back in formation through pretty miserable weather but it was fun. With all the aerobatics training, I haven't done many trips like this lately - must fix this, it was a great little trip! Thats Les and I on the right.

F1 Rocket Purchase

"Stu the Nav" has purchased an F1 Rocket aircraft kit! ( an example is in the pic above)

This will keep him busy for the next few years! Congratulations Stu, Happy building.

Training Day Washed Out!

Well we did have a training day and mini-comp arranged but the Sydney weather turned on us today....didn't even get off the ground! We will try again soon. The Mudgee Airshow is on next Saturday with Grant Piper flying his first Airshow performance.

Advertising opportunity

If you would like to know more, please contact Tony Blair on 02 473 77310,

0433 070099 or email blairclan@gmail.com

A tribute to Bryscen!

In the week leading to the Aust Champs, a well respected and valued member to the club, Bryscen Teape-Davis, was tragically killed in a Pitts Special. On the first day of the Comp we flew a "missing man formation" as a mark of respect. I feel honoured to be part of that formation and pass my sympathies to his wife and family.

Australian Aerobatic Championships

Just a few weeks after the Vic Champs the Australian Championships were held at Parkes over the Easter period. What a fantastic week...I was fortunate to get more coaching from Allen Kilpatrick in the weeks leading up to the comp, and once again it paid off. Again Stu the Nav and I made the trip across together, it's becoming routine now, we met overhead his house on the edge of the Blue Mountains and then made the transit to the west. The weather was great the entire time, a bit windy at times but nothing too serious. This was my second comp in Intermediate.

After winning the Vic Champs, I had high expectations which only puts you under more pressure.

I flew the first flight reasonably well but got down around the bottom of the box in the middle of the sequence. Half the judges "lowed" me which resulted in a 100 point penalty. That took me from leading to almost last! Ouch! I wasn't convinced that it should have carried, the rules are not crystal clear in that area when Chief Judge scores are included - so I protested and won. So now I was leading and got my $75 protest fee back - I was very happy going to bed that night! Unfortunately the other competitors, lead by John Sharpe who would have otherwise been winning, put their heads together when they found out the next morning and put in a counter protest. They won too, go figure! So the 100 point penalty was re-applied to my score. This meant I would need to fly very well to win the event overall but I wasn't giving up just yet.

John Sharpe was flying very nicely and no wonder, he is a competent Advanced pilot.

Luckily, I won the next 2 flights by enough to claw back the penalty and give me a win overall. That was a very good feeling to say the least!

John is trying to sell his plane, so this may have been his last comp in this plane. On some level I felt it would have been nice for him to win but I was there to win too - sorry John!

The presentation dinner was huge, actually it got quite ugly later on. There were no injuries and plenty of good stories the next morning, so all is well that ends well!

The next day saw a huge change to the weather. We couldn't fly home, so we hitched a ride and drove home to Sydney. Stu and I came back a couple of days later to get the planes and had a very pleasant flight back to Sydney in formation.

It was a great weekend and I congratulate all involved, especially the officials and volunteers, on a well run and enjoyable event.

Victorian Aerobatic Championships

In February, the 2008 Vic Champs were conducted at Tocumwal. I understand this was the first comp held at Toc and it was a great success. Other than some cloud in the box on Saturday, the weather was great and the hospitality fantastic.

In the months leading up to the comp, Allen Kilpatrich spent a lot of time in the paddock to coach me. Al has great passion for the sport and is always keen to pass on his experience. When Al, wasn't available Rich Wiltshire helped me too. I can blame Rich for my involvement in this sport - his enthusiasm is intoxicating. Thanks guys!

I competed in Intermediate at this comp. Really it was my first serious comp, I did fly at the NSW Champs late last year but only had the plane flying a matter of days before the event, so it was more practice than competition.

I was surprised how nervous I became here at Toc. I'm not sure why, perhaps it's the constant attention required to not make a silly mistake. My flying seemed to be OK. I won the Known, the Free and the Unknown to win Overall. A very pleasing result to say the least! John Lee was never too far behind in his One Design and that kept the pressure on for the entire weekend.

Stu Hutchison (who quickly became known as "Stu the Nav" as he's an RAAF Navigator) and I flew down in formation. Stu lead the way, as a Navigator should, in a Rockwell Commander and I hung with him in the Rebel. Stu was great support during the weekend - thanks mate!

The trip home was a 3 ship with Allen Kilpatrich and Stu in the lead plane with Rich Wiltshire and myself on the wing - it was entertaining for so many reasons...

To see some pictures of the comp check out the photo album.

Thanks to the Vic chapter for a great weekend.

New Blog Page

Over the next couple of weeks the
Blair Aero Sport web site
is getting a make over , come back soon!