Hello everybody, following the last competition event of the year, Peter C. has written a report of the day, which dawned with unusually calm weather amid the usual October gales. Please see below for his report.
Aerobatic competition 11th September 2026
We finally ran the postponed Aerobatic competition last Sunday, it was blessed with light winds and some sunshine, we had seven members taking part plus a good turnout of spectators to watch the action,
Registration starting at 1:30pm after this cards were drawn for starting order with the kettle on and the hotdog sausages being cooked by Richard Long in the back of his pickup, I brief the competitors on the rules and manoeuvrers then issued out printed schedule cards to the competitors to be used by their callers to call out the manoeuvres in the correct order,
Starting with 1 a Horizontal Eight, 2 Outside Loop, 3 Two Consecutive Rolls, 4 Stall Turn, 5 Split S or Reversal, 6 Immelmann Turn, 7 Normal or Reverse Cuban Eight to finish
With our nominated volunteer judges Dave Picken and Martin Hebdon setup with scoring sheets and pencils sharpened we were ready to start,
First up was Richard Rawlings flying his Wot-4 Foam-E in his first ever club competition he put on a spirited display and completed the full schedule he walked away from the patched pleased it had gone so well.
Second myself flying my FMS Super Cub PA18 Foamie, I took off ok started my first circuit tuned on the second leg and had no control of my plane, it fell to the ground with smoke coming out the nose, I rushed across the patch it by then it was well on ablaze I immediately removed the lipo battery but could not stop it burning so rushed back to the helpers, it was finally put out by Richard Long pouring a kettle of water on it, thanks to all those who helped
Third up was Richard Long with his Acrowot Foam-E, his Horizontal Eight was a little bit of a challenge but after that he settled down and made a respectable job of all the other manoeuvrer’s
Fourth up was Peter Irvine with his nice Calmato, he started off steady with good attempt on the first three manoeuvrers, then he got into his stride and showed everyone how it was done completing a really good schedule with a high score, Peter has clearly been putting in lots of practicing
Fifth up was Adrian Brotherton but he had some issues so Robert Barker went next flying his FMS Super Cub PA18, Robert started well but was a little inconstant with a couple of the maneuverers but still he ended up putting together respectable score
Sixth was Adrian Brotherton with his lovely little Super Empress, Adrian started off very well and continued to score reasonable points throughout, managing to complete all the manoeuvrer’s, another competitor that was pleased with his performance.
Last to compete was Colin Terry flying his immaculately turned out I.C. powered Wot 4, Colin started off with a perfectly performed Horizontal Eight and continued to put on a great display of model flying a joy to watch, finishing up with and very good score.
Result:- in first place Peter Irvine with 240 points, second place Colin Terry with 226 points third place Robert Barker, four place Adrian Botherton with 190 points fifth place equal on 190 points Richard Rawlings and Richard Long, in seventh place Peter Coulson
My thanks to all that took part, Dave and Martin our judges who did a grand job, Richard for the sorting out the tea, coffee and hotdogs, plus all the spectators that turned up to watch, overall I think we all had a very good day at the field with the weather holding and flying continuing after the competition finished, I enjoyed it even though it was ended up an expensive day out, all electronics damaged beyond safe operation, battery goosed, plane airframe written off.
Peter Coulson