Crikey, I said a lot happened at the Club Meeting yesterday
And I forgot one.
Mark Allen has reminded me that he gave an open invitation for one to one ‘experience F3A’ flights. In conjunction with Peter, here is the text of their offer:
Aerobatic Training
As some members will be aware, we have hosted aerobatic competitions organised by the UK F3A Association at Knettishall for a number of years. The problem in past years has been that with access from the primary entry point to Knettishall requiring coordination between flying and allowing cars to gain access to the parking area. That all changed last year with the change of primary entry point to the airfield and now club members and other spectators can enter and leave at times that suits them.
Consequently, Peter Jenkins and I thought that it would be useful to offer interested club members the opportunity to improve their aerobatic capabilities and those who are interested to consider having a go at flying in a competition.
We will organise both ground training as well as hands on flying training to help those who want to improve their aerobatic skills. We should emphasise that we are talking about traditional i.e. so-called precision aerobatics, as opposed to 3D aerobatics.
If you would like to take up this offer, please contact either Peter (peterjenkinsbmfc@btinternet.com) or me (mwallen65@gmail.com). We will then arrange to hold an initial Zoom meeting to establish what members wish to do and then arrange some flying sessions. We will be able to offer buddy lead flights on a range of aircraft from Wot 4 to a current state of the art 2m competition aircraft so that you can get a feel for what a properly set up aircraft should feel like. We will help you to trim your aircraft to an optimum state and then help you to develop the skills to fly a series of linked aerobatic manoeuvres.
For those who might be interested in flying a competition schedule, we will demonstrate the basic schedule, the Clubman Schedule using a Wot 4 to show what can be achieved with either no or very small cost.
There are 2 national league competitions that will be held at Knettishall on 15th June and 14th September. Depending on your skill levels you might be able to enter one or both. You do not have to be a member of the UKF3A Association to enter your first competition but you will have to pay the entry fee that for Clubman being £6. You only need a BMFA A Certificate to enter Clubman and the next level up but to go further, you will need a BMFA B Certificate. Suffice to say that if you can fly the Clubman Schedule then flying the B schedule is much easier.
Please don’t think that the world of competition aerobatics is a cut throat place that is unwelcoming to newcomers. It is anything but. We hope that you will consider giving this opportunity a go as you will find that your flying skills and enjoyment will be greatly enhanced by doing so.