Experiences from the Masters
World Aerobatic Championships.
By Don Szczur

Great to meet Greg and the Harrisburg, PA crew. Nice to see Mr. Ryan and
the Huntsville, AL group. Lucky, nice to meet you. 727, your in my
thoughts.

Driving home from work tonight, I felt very different. For the first time
in six months I was not either rushing to the field to practice flying
pattern or big stuff, or heading home for a long night of building or
repairing. Its an eerie feeling- beautiful weather, sunny, mid eighties,
and no flying! My daughter looks different after a week away. She is
almost talking. Branwell, lets get together with family stuff.

All day today....the boogie nights disco song keeps going through my head.
Great routine Jason Noll!

The inverted landing from Ryan Evans. He told me he was trying to drag the
rudder, but it dug in too quick.

And, Ransom Fairchild’s emotional freestlyle in dedication to his sister.
Really touching. Tears come to my eyes.

A taste of what it is like to do an unknown:

Takeoff. Engine sags. DARN. Should I land? NO WAY. Milk it. I knew I
should have run it out more before taking off. It was cool earlier in the
week now its Summer again, should have richened up the low end. Ok nudge
up the throttle Sag. Darn. OK real slow advance throttle. OK I’m past
the sag point. Engine comes ALIVE. Spectators applaud. Now, lets go!!!
Enter the box. Ok, lots of power, pull vertical two point roll, roll left,
quick, conserve energy, positive snap right. Wow, that was cleaner than I
expected. Ok nice round 3/4 outside loop, whoa, careful, lost a wing
slightly at the top, ok, cut back on the throttle. Good. OK, getting
close to the edge of the box... throttle on, next, push to vertical- great.
4 point roll up, out too far, good, stall turn in. 2 of a 4 down to the
right, negative snap to the left. Whew, got through that. OK, 8 side loop
with rolls. easy street. pull 45, pull 45, roll, ah, pulled too hard,
roll left. ok. pull 45, ok, pull 45 roll right. OK, going out, not too
bad, pull 45 , pull, roll, ok, roll STOP!!! thumb off stick. Man that was
close, almost did a roll and a half, but caught myself just in time (Warren
DID do a roll and a half on this one and zeroed). pull, pull, roll. done.
Ok lots of throttle, don’t know what’s next but remember I need lots of
throttle. Caller: Pull vertical, STOP, FULL SCALE AIRPLANE cut throttle
pull back time to relax. Man that was a nice break. OK in the box, Pull
vertical, roll, opposite negative snap, ok, off heading. (gee, next time
roll left snap right to help wind correct). Pull 135 one and a half roll
pull 45 to level. NEXT. Rolling circle outside inside outside. Ah,
another easy maneuver time to relax. Ok done, LOTS of throttle, I remember
that much. got to get speed up going up 45 degreees to do somthing big.
Next. Pull 45, negative snap left positive snap right. SHOOT, not enough
energy, too deep on the elevator. Positive snap looked very mushy, I HOPE
I get points for that snap ,Darn. OK, got to move on. Push 180 to 45
degrees inverted. 4 point roll. AH darn I’m shallow. GO with it. push
45 degrees to inverted. NEXT. 8 point from inverted to inverted. OK bang
bang bang bang, pause. NO, don’t switch direction Don! OK, bang bang bang
bang NEXT! push vertical, 3 of 4 LEFT up. OK left, left left, OK, pull
half loop, 3/4 snap right full roll opposite exit inverted. OK. Man am I
glad that was over. OK, cuban 8 with 4 pt on first leg 1 1/2 neg snap on
second. Just like the known. Easy street time for a break. Ok, next
maneuver. OK, pull 45, 4 pt roll push 3/4 outside loop. Ok make it big.
I remember suddenly Doug’s voice during a shadetree discussion saying
everyone is pinching it at the bottom, ok, nice and easy ok, on the 45
upline negative snap. OUCH, way off on the exit. shoot wrong rudder. Mush
it up to the top for 1 1/2 neg spin. OK looks good now. Got points for it
but it was ugly. OK one more tough one. Pull vertical 1 1/4 neg snap ok,
same as before. Pull horizontal pull vertical down, 3/4 roll followed by
positive snap opposite. MAN I’m glad I got through that ok. NEXT. Pull
vertical, quick, before center. OK, 4 pt roll left, looks great. Push 180.
Man this is a 10. OK, 2 point roll down. AH slight over rotation on first
point, make it smooth the judges won’t catch it (one didn’t I got one 10 on
this one) ok pull to upright. OK, NEXT. go to edge of box, lots of
energy, good pull vertical, two rolls. Roll left its smoother with the
torque. Good, pull 180 good. Two positive snaps down. GREAT. pull
horizontal. The blood starts to flow and the stress flows out. ITS
DONE!!! Exiting the box! No zeros. “Wow what a good flight. Don, you
moved up to eighth place.” Yea, right- if they really knew what was going
though MY mind during that flight.

Note: don’t guarantee that I covered all the maneuvers accurately above.
I don’t have the unknown memorized. My caller gets full credit for
allowing me not to screw up the maneuvers. My dad did a GREAT job calling.
All I had to do was listen to him and obey him. ala Charles Dickens.

I have a deep respect for Doug Cronkhite who finished 9th. He can pick up
and fly well with even less preparation than me (as little as I had) and
still fly like a pro.

Ransom Faichild gets my vote as most improved flyer at the Masters- he
finished 10th.

I learned a lot from Jason Shulman. He flew his best in the finals- when
it counted. I believe that Mike McConville was the best prepared pilot at
the Masters. Expect to see Mike do very well at the TOC. For the second
year, Jason has come from behind to take it.

Jason Noll, I think, stole the show as this was his first major competition
and he did very well, finishing 7th. He is still being held at bay
(barely) by his dad, Frank, who finished 6th.

I could sense third place (and newly TOC invited) finisher Gerald Neel’s
butterflies as we sat in the hangar Saturday evening listening to Jason
talk about the TOC. “You practice the known for weeks and weeks and you
show up and the first flight is an UNKNOWN!” GOOD LUCK TO GERALD at the
TOC!

My condolences to Bill Hemple who was in second at one point during the
prelims but ended in 5th.. He worked hard but Gerald beat him out for the
TOC slot. Flew very well but the sun got him on the 8 side loop (got me on
the triangle during my first flight). He has heart and I suspect he’ll be
back. The Hempleman. There is no question that the Aeroworks G-202 is a
solid plane. Going full throttle, over 30 pounds with smoke pumping. Dead
stop in less than a second. You will have to see it to believe it. Try
watching it on Propwash videos when they release their MASTERS video.

So, yes, the Quadra 100 XL Aerobatic is a spectacular engine. It ran very
well and, discounting my ability to adjust it (I seldom ever do) it just
keeps on running. I am glad that I flew the Aeroworks 40% Giles. Its a
great flying plane and I am definitely not outflying it. The
Q-100XL/Aeroworks G-202 is a great combination at 29 1/2 Lbs. (with big
bertha 5000mAH battery and smoke system).


Sponsors and/or products I fully endorse:
Aeroworks, world class aerobatic aircraft- new number (303)-366-4205
Quadra Aerrow, great power, total reliability at the right price
JR Feel the difference. I love their servos and the Tx is easy to program
Ohio RC- Revolution Ultimate Spinners- Great performance, light weight
ZZ Enterprise- Smart light switch and on-board voltage monitor- I will not
fly without
them call Tony at (610) 539-7476 for a Smart light or Field charger- they
work great.
ZAP Products- the best conventional super glues I have used
Magnum Fuel- great performance and I never need after run oil
1-800-700-Fuel
S&W Fuel
Futaba YS 120 AC Engines- great service, super power when you need it (in
the verticals)