The Gauteng Large Scale Aerobatic Regional Competition was held on Sunday the 9th of June at the Rand Model Aeronautical Club.
What a great day it was, kicking off with an early morning cup of coffee before the briefing , there was a great camaraderie in between the competitors , judges and spectators.
Large Scale Aerobatics is flown to very much the same rules as the full scale competitions, classes competed for are also very similar and include Basic, Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced and Unlimited. Points were scored out of 10 for each manoeuvre and strong emphasis is placed on presentation, horizontal and vertical lines. The scores are then converted to a percentage and the lowest score is discarded or “thrown” as it referred to by the judges.
The flying started off at around 8:45am, with the Sportsman class the first to take to the air. As with the full scale aerobatics Sportsman Class is the lowest serious competition level, they were followed by the Basic Class the equivalent of Graduate class in full scale aeros. Sportsman Class was the biggest class at the competition with four competitors, Mathys Botha took top honours with a very respectable 78.2%. Abram Grobler was the only Basic pilot and ended with a score of 75,6%.
Intermediate was the next class to get into the cool but clear Alberton skies, flowed by Advanced and then the “Big Boys” Unlimited Class. All the pilots had presented some breath taking lines and discipline throughout the day. The Intermediate Class was a one horse race with Justin Gomersall achieving 77,1%. Advanced Class had two entries and was dominated by Ian Edwards with a brilliant score of 80,3%. The Unlimited Class was a much closer affair and saw Jacques Alberts squeeze ahead with a very good score of 79,7%
After the flying , we were treated to some boerie rolls while the Sunday pilots came through to enjoy the rest of the day's flying.
A big thank you goes to Stan Fincham and Justin Gomersall, for organizing a great event. Everything from the hospitality, the food and the flying was spectacular.
