Success in Borrego and Team USA Update

Success in Borrego

I must begin this column with my compliments to IAC Chapter 36 in San Diego, CA, and particularly to Bryan Jones for their amazing growth. At the recent Borrego contest, they had 54 competitors!

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of their success is they had 13 Primary and 16 Sportsman competitors!

Bryan tells me the most productive strategy they’ve found is to reach out to flight schools. I suggest that all our chapters follow his advice and make regular contact with schools in their area. Encourage new pilots to fly aerobatics, help them find training, and share your enthusiasm with them. Tell them that competing in aerobatics is a great way to build piloting skills that will last (it’s true!).

With this strategy, the chapter went from drawing in 2 or 3 primary competitors per contest to over a dozen! And with a few years behind them of having a wide field of Primary pilots they now are reaping the rewards in Sportsman with 18 pilots in that category.

Focus on flight schools and new pilots.

I want to add, on a personal note, that they would have had 55 pilots if I had an airplane ready to fly. Instead of competing I took time to do some coaching and to explore the Borrego Springs area. It is a very scenic desert valley full of blooming flowers, some cool metal sculptures, wildlife, slot canyons, oases, mountain springs, and some good golfing. Also, a whole lot of sand, but that can be fun too if you have the right vehicle. If you are within 1,000 miles of Borrego Springs, you should try to attend sometime.

USA Advanced Team

After a successful first camp in Keystone Heights, Florida, with many team members enjoying the Snowbird contest which followed under the careful stewardship of Hector Ramirez, the team met most recently in Union City Tennessee.

While there I got the opportunity to fly Marco Bouw’s Sukhoi 31, the pinnacle of Russian aerobatic aircraft design. That was a real treat. It flies just great with no bad habits or weirdness, just a nice flying airplane with tons of excess thrust. Sometimes I think about our sport and how unfortunate it is that there is so much sameness. It’s nice to see a radial engine at a contest, and even better if you are sitting behind one feeling the rumble in the seat pan as you tractor your way around the box.

An Alternative to Helmets

Helmets are a fantastic idea, but many choose not to wear them. I can’t use one in my Extra because at 6’ 2” I barely fit in the airplane as it is (the inside of my canopy is covered in greasy headprints after a flight). In my new MX Aircraft MX-S there is enough room, so I’ll be putting that fancy carbon fiber shell to use again this year. I really believe in helmets even though I’ve spent most of my aerobatic career doing without one. I’ve seen many times where they have saved lives, and I know of some crashes where a pilot may have been saved if they were wearing one.

Still, there are a bunch of reasons why it is hard to get people to wear them. Besides a lack of noggin room in many cockpits, they are also expensive, and many people complain of neck pain after aerobatics with a helmet.

I’ve come across a less effective but inexpensive and lightweight solution that might help many of you. It’s called a “bump hat”. It doesn’t offer much protection, but it seems better than nothing. You can find them online and probably at many workers safety stores. It’s basically a ball cap but with a hard shell inside. Bonus: many of these look like normal ball caps, just a bit thicker. If you’ve given up on helmets maybe give one of these a try.

Tech Inspections

At the beginning of this contest season, the IAC adopted a new approach to technical inspections. This new way of doing things makes it very clear that pilots are liable for their own aircraft. In order to ensure that there is no confusion about this, the IAC has removed the requirement that our volunteers must sign off on inspections. Instead, volunteers simply witness that they have observed the competition pilot inspecting their own aircraft.

Some Contest Directors and safety-minded people have wisely pointed out that it’s still a VERY GOOD IDEA to have knowledgeable people check over aircraft. And this wisdom is surely doubly true if the pilot is a new competitor. These people are, of course, perfectly correct.

To be clear: there is no IAC policy that prevents anyone from helping new pilots learn about their aircraft, nor any policy that precludes contest officials from preventing an unsafe aircraft from taking flight at a contest. It’s just as essential as ever that everyone in the IAC follows and encourages the following of safe practices. But it is still important for all of us from a liability perspective that no one is taking responsibility away from the pilot, as they are the ones who ultimately make the decision to fly their aircraft.

Closing Thoughts

That’s all for me this issue. I hope you enjoy our special summer double-sized edition of Sport Aerobatics. Please as always reach out to me with any comments, questions, or concerns about the IAC at president@iac.org.