The Weekend of 26,27 July was the Australian Scale Aerobatics Australia(ASAA) comp at the Dalby Model Aero Club(DMAC). I was keen to compete in this comp obviously to enjoy the flying but also to see some more of this amazing country Australia. Having been here a year I seem to have always been within 20 miles of the coast! Dalby made a great change, taking me three hours inland through some far more remote locations and remarkably different scenery as hopefully some of my photos will have captured.
After sneaking away early from work on Friday I managed to arrive at DMAC around five, just in time to watch a couple of flights, enjoy the sunset then crack open a Beer! Most competitors camped at this event, made far more comfortably by the DMAC's outstanding facilites including fully equipped kitchen, floodlights and hot showers. Friday night was spent round a fire enjoying the company of fellow minded aeromodellers, a few glasses( bottles!) of red wine and also some foamy flying, all in all a good night, though Saturday morning came round all too fast.
The comp kicked off with the Basic class, seven were entered in this class including three new pilots all pilots coped well with what at times were challenging conditions with a cross wing blowing straight in. At the top of the class there was a bit of a tussle between Brad Anderson and John King, both winning rounds throughout the comp with Brad Anderson coming out on top.
John Lee was flying in the intermediate class but was breaking the mould by using an electric motor to power his IMAC plane. This setup worked great and certainly had no shortage of power and was obviously extremely quiet, within the scoring each pilot is awarded a score for quietness of the plane, flying electric must give you an advantage in this area. I love flying the with the petrol engines but I know in the UK there is definitely some issues with noise, these electrics provide a competitive alternative.
Aaron Garle was flying a Comp Arf Sukhoi with a DA 200 upfront. I must say he was flying it with real finesse and his schedules flowed well using the airspace effectively. The DA 200 is quite a motor providing plenty of smooth power. As you will see from the photograph the Comp Arf Sukhoi is an awesome plane and good to see something slightly different in this size range.
At the IMAC comp pilots double up as judges for the classes they are not competing in. I had the chance to judge the Intermediate class and see some of the future talent pushing through. Ashley Ross was a pilot who really impressed me. His known schedules were to a very high standard and he continued this on with the unknown sequence. It is fair to say Ashley has completely mastered the Intermediate level of IMAC and will be a challenge to the pilots in the next class up.
I was very impressed with the ASAA's scoring system which uses one IPAD per judge, this is being operated by a scribe. For each manoeuvre the scribe inputs the score from 0 to 10. This means results can be produced instantaneously. A great time saver and no need for hundreds of paper scoresheets!
Matt Benfield was the man to beat in Sportsman, convinvingly winning the competition. I saw him practicing the Advance schedule later on in the day, perhaps he is planning a jump up to the Advanced class??!!
I was kindly lent a plan by Team Garle and a tx by Michael Hobson. The plane was a Comp Arf Yak with DA 170 on RE3 pipes. I was keen to fly this plane, as my usual IMAC plane back in the UK is the 3w Yak of similar size. The Comp Arf Yak was very predictable to fly and I very much enjoyed it, I need to spend a bit of time with my setup though as my snaps were waaaaaaaaayy to deep in the stall! It also took a bit of getting used to flying a plane on pipes, I found that their was definitely a delay with throttle response and not as linear a feel with the throttle either. However when it came on the pipes there was no holding it back.
At the IMAC comps each class is given an Unknown schedule on the morning of the comp, pilots must go away and study this before performing the schedule unpracticed to the judges. I love this aspect of IMAC which really gives the competitions a level of unpredictability, you have to count your unknown score so any wrong manoeuvres will cost you big time!
The Unlimited Unknown was a good challenge with variety of complex snapping manoeuvres, rolling circles etc. I had "Bones" calling for me which helped getting me through with no wrong manoeuvres, until I saw my scoresheet and they zeroed a manoeuvre, Damn Judges! ;)
Bones flew the Unknown to a good standard and deserved his convincing win in the Unlimited class. As I write this he is in South Africa at the F3A World Championships, competing for Australia. Hopefully Aaron and the rest of the team will put on a good show for Aussie Aerobatics.
As with all good things the Dalby Dash had to come to an end, a good weekend had been had by all. Thanks must go DMAC for the use of their great site, ASAA for all the organisation particularly Robert Michael Paul. Well done guys your hard work is appreciated.
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