Hungary - European Rally Flying Championships
2/09/11 Overnight storms have cleared the air and it's a perfect VFR flying day. As all 4 competition routes will be completed, the first day will be counted as an offical practice day, with all scores removed. Chris is getting the hang of the C172 and on both landings an 'A' box is achieved. The final score is a very respectful 158 penalties, gaining 17th place on the day. Rodney and Rhona also have an improved day signing for 200 penalties. For the overall competition, Chris and Martin finish in 27th place and Rodney and Rhona finish 34th from a field of 43 crews. Overall the Great Britain Flying Team is awarded 8th place out of the 13 countries that took part.
1/09/11 The weather remains hot, in the 30s and the late afternoon has several towering Cu and the possibility of stormy conditions. Once again an away 'touch and go' is required and the organisors fascination with 'arc flying' continues with 4 arcs on todays master chart. Again landings are proving expensive and at the end of the day Chris and Martin finsh 32nd with Rodney and Rhona finishing 33rd, sperated by 4 penalties.
31/08/11 Todays route was over the western area, with our teams staying in their original routes. As in the previous day a 'touch and go' at an airfield away from Dunakeszi was conducted. Again observation scores were good, but landing penalties werew costing the team dearly. Chris is finally getting used to the C172, so the scoring penalties were less. On the day, Chris and Martin finsh in 26th with Rodney and Rhona again finishing 32nd.
30/08/11 With Rodney and Rhona scheduled to fly in the middle group and Chris and Martin in group 3, the weather, after a brief weekend lull is back in the 30s, making the opportunity to get airborne a welcome relief. Both crews have a reasonable obervation score but suffer badly with timing and landing penalties. At the end of the day Chris and Martin lie in 31st place, with Rodney and Rhona one place behind.
29/08/11 A final chance for practice in the morning, which with Chris and Martin sharing an aircraft proves a non-starter and then the official opening ceremony commences. VIPs at the ceremony include the head of the Hungarian Air Force, CEO of Malev Airways and the CE of Hungaro Control Air Traffic Service, along with the usual assortment of local mayors and other civic dignortaries . The hangar party is a quiet affair with most competitors back at the hotel by 9.00pm.
28/08/11 Finally a break of good luck!! Whilst talking to some of the Austrian team, the offer for Chris and Martin to share the use of a Cessna 172 means the possibility of an aircraft for the competition until the Glastar is back serviceable. So whilst Rodney and Rhona set off on an East practice route, Chris and Martin get to do a route into the West competition area with their new Cessna stead. Although the scores will probably be higher, with the use of a 'strange' aircraft, at least it will avoid the maximum penalties of a "no fly" and the disasterous effect that would have on both individual and the Team score.
27/08/11 Rodney and Rhona had the opportunity of undertaking a West practice route, whilst for Chris and Martin a frustrating day on the ground. Chris has managed to contact the electronic ignition manufacturers in California and a new "black box" is on it's way, although unlikely to arrive prior to the competition start day on Tuesday. Alternative solutions of fitting a second magneto were looked into but with no real time frame advantage, it was decided to wait for FedEx to deliver. With the possibility of getting maximum penalties on day 1 of the competition, there will be little hope of resurrecting a reasonable score by the end of the competition.
26/08/11 Today was a chance to undertake some competition practice with a East Route chosen. The plotting proved reasonably straight forward and with good quality en-route photos, picture spotting scores were good. As in previous competitions, flying arc legs was popular. For the afternoons landing practice, the Glastar was discovered to have an electronic ignition fault and although the alternate magneto was running the engine, with only one ignition source the aircraft had to grounded. Rodney and Rhona's landing practice went well with a fair few "zeros" achieved
25/08/11 The storms of the previous night had certainly cleared the air, leaving blue skies and sunshine for the final leg to Dunakesi. Routing through the Czech Republic, cutting across the north east corner of Austria into the Slovak Republic before entering into Hungary. The crews were treated to some wonderful views of the River Danube and the city of Bratislava, arriving at Dunakesi for lunch. After the arrival adminstration was completed, it was off to the competition hotel, the Ramada Resort hotel with it's adjoining Aquaworld water theme park.
24/08/11 With the remains of a weather front across the East of England, both crews took off into an overcast sky for the crossing of the North Sea to Holland en-route to a planned fuel/lunch stop at Seigerland in Germany. On approaching the eastern border of Holland, the weather improved markedly with sunshine and blue skies. After a lunch and re-fuel, the next leg was to Pribram in the Czech Republic for a nightstop at the airfield "Cavok Hotel". During the late evening, the blue skies began to fill with multiple CBs with ensuing thunderstorm starting at midnight, for a very spectacular lightning display and heavy rain.