WORLD RALLY FLYING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009
This year the World Rally Flying Championships will take place in Valencia, Spain from 5th - 12th September. Hopefully the Great Britain team will be entering some crews for this competition.
To view the local rules and entry conditions please click here
This page will be updated on a regular basis as more information or news becomes available. If you are a competitor for this competition or wish to follow the fortunes of the British crews that are taking part please return to this section on a regular basis.
11/09/09
Final stage completed in good weather. The 15 minute delivery of the envelope placed a heavy workload on all Navigators and the plot did not provide too many difficulties. Once again the en-route photos were the difficulty and the major area that created penalties. Chris and Martin finished with 476 penalties, of which 320 were for missed photos. Rodney and Paul finished with 1088 penalties having picked up a 190 penalty for an ‘abnormal’ landing. We await the final results and the closing ceremony but it is believed that Julien Cherioux and David Le Gentil of France have won the Individual Gold medal and Poland has taken the Team Gold medal. This will all be confirmed when the final official results come out.
10/09/09
A hot, calm day with only some small Cu developing. The pressure is increasing as the plotting difficulty is increased, along with the en-route photograph difficulty. The scenery was spectacular especially the leg that involved following a road that was winding its way through a steep gorge. Unfortunately both crews were working hard and were unable to fully appreciate the view!! Todays route involved a 'Correct' / 'Incorrect' envelope, which was opened once TP 5 was identified from the photo. Despite the difficulty of the flight, Chris and Martin compled it unscathed and scored a respectable 407 penalties. Unfortunately it was not to be the same for Rodney and Paul, who were deemed to have made turns of more than 90 degrees to track during 2 legs incurring a hefty 600 penalties and 2 'not observed' incurring an additional 400 penalties. All this produced a disappointing score of 2556 penalties. Tommorrow will be route D where once again the difficulty will increase. Envelope delivery will be 15 minutes before take off, unlike the previous routes where 20 minutes was given. Both crews are hoping to have a good last route to try and pull team Great Britain up the group league table.
9/09/09
Another pleasant day weather wise, although the winds were slightly stronger than yesterday. Today was Route B which is one of the official Competition routes. The route plotting was slightly more complicated and one leg involved flying along an arc. Again the photographs were more complicated. Chris and Martin had one ‘not observed’ and subsequently also got the turn point photo wrong. Total penalties for the day were 704. It was also a difficult day for Rodney and Paul, with 3 ‘not observed’ at turning points, gaining a total penalty score of 1272.
8/09/09
A bright sunny day greeted the first official practice day, which should any of the 3 official nav routes be cancelled due to weather will be used as a scoring day. The route plotting was reasonably straight forward, although the en-route photos were more difficult than the training routes. Chris Barnes and Martin Reynolds gained a score of 362 penalties. Although they got a 'zero' for the landing, they were judged to have used power in the box earning them 50 penalties.
Rodney Blois and Paul Smiddy got 'a not seen' and ended up with a score of 938 penalties.
7/09/09
All the British team have arrived in Castellon, Spain, and have successfully completed a couple of practice routes. The weather has varied from hot and sunny 30 degrees, to wet and overcast with the cloudbase obscuring the local mountain tops. Tonight is the official opening ceremony and tomorrow sees the official practice day which will count as a scoring day should we loose any of the competition days later in the week. Hopefully the website will feature daily updates on the competition - internet access willing!!
15 May 09
British team entry finalised as follows:-
Pilot Rodney Blois with Navigator Paul Smiddy
Pilot Chris Barnes with Navigator Martin Reynolds
International Judges Rhona Hodson and Tina Smiddy
International Jury member Howard Cox
Unfortunately due to this year seeing the Precision and Rally World Championships being divided between different months and venues, and the current financial climate, the Great Britain team entry for both events is lower than has been the historic norm. Hopefully things will improve next year. Luckily we did manage to enter 2 crews which is the minimum entry requirements for a National team.