2022 U.S. Unlimited and Advanced Glider Teams

              

Congratulations to the United States Aerobatic Team pilots that will be competing in the 12th FAI World Avanced Glider Aerobatic Championships and the 24th FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships. The championships take place in Issoudun, France from the 11th of August through the 27th. 

The pilots traveling to France in August are Jason Stephens for the Unlimited category and Shad Coulson, Joe Gerner, and Mallory Lynch for the Advanced category. The competitors qualified for the team at the Estrella Classic, held in Maricopa, Arizona which ran from February 16 to 19, 2022.

 
Jason Stephens
Unlimited
 
Shad Coulsen
Adanced
Team Captain
Joseph Gerner
Advanced
Mallory Lynch
Advanced
Team Manager

In addition to paying entry fees and obtaining the French/EASA License Validations, the team has been working with the French organizers Jean-Philippe and Theirry Fraize who have been extremely helpful with registering and getting in paperwork for the championship. With the help of Staszek Makula the use of the single seat Fox has been arranged for the U.S. Team's use. Staszek helped the competitors obtain the license validation form. 

Official results from all flights will be posted here: www.civa-results.com/2022/WAGAC_2022/indexpage.htm  

See more news and updates on the official Glider Aerobatic Championships website: https://www.wgac2022.net/


 

NEWS AND UPDATES

August 15, 2022

Shad and Jason arrive Time to go practice Shad and Jason with the MDM-Fox Yum, fresh baked bread!

The long journey to Issoudin, France for the 2022 World Glider Aerobatics Championships has been made. The team and glider are assembled and ready. We’ve spent the last couple days acclimating to the new time zone and enjoying some of the rich history/cuisine France has to offer. Practice days ahead with the first official contest day on Thur. Let’s go team USA!


 

August 16, 2022

Practice Practice Practice Beautiful rainbow, a promise of wonderful things to come.
Today was the second to last practice day for the 2022 WGAC/WAGAC. Final practice is tomorrow, weather permitting, followed by the opening ceremony. First contest flights begin on Thursday morning.

 


August 18

Cloud Streets
Shad with Sandor Katona,
Hungarian aerobatic glider pilot
Figures for the Unlimited
Free Unknown 1
Figures for the Advanced
Free Unknown 1
The first official contest day is in the books. Jason opened the contest for team USA with a masterful flight of his Free Known program in the morning. Results from the unlimited flight had not yet been posted before our departure from the field this evening. Joe opened the action in Advanced in the afternoon with his Free Known. We were unable to finish the Advanced category, leaving Shad to fly first thing tomorrow morning. We also completed the figure selection and sequence submissions for the first Unknown. We had beautiful weather today. Even the best aerobatic pilots in the world could appreciate the beautiful cloud streets laid out before us.

 


August 19

   
Lined up and waiting out the weather Peggy and Jerry Riedinger with Jason    
The 2nd official contest day of the 2022 WGAC/WAGAC proved to be a test of our patience and perseverance. Those pilots in the Advanced category that were unable to fly on day one arrived eager and ready to get in the fight. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans for us. Low ceilings kept any hopes of competing at bay, though we remained staged and ready should the conditions improve. The highest ceilings we had were 1050m and 1250m is needed to open the contest box.
Late afternoon brought rain showers and the day was ultimately cancelled. We concluded the day with a social/dinner hosted by the Czech National Team. We also ran into the Riedinger’s at the social who are judging at the contest. Results were posted for flights made on the previous day. Jason sits in 11th place and Joe is in 7th, though more than half of the Advanced category has yet to fly their P1, so expect some shuffling in the results following those flights….hopefully tomorrow.

 


 

August 20

Shad enjoys the shade that Andy provides Lined up again, this time we fly! International viewing area
The long-awaited completion of the Advanced Free/Known (P1) was today. Though we were forced to wait until 3 PM to start flying due to low ceilings. Shad had a tailslide choose not to cooperate and zeroed figure 2 of his program but flew well for the remainder and is sitting in 23rd. Joe was bumped down slightly to 13th but is still in good position.
These competitions are a marathon not a sprint. Everyone makes mistakes. The success comes in managing the damage and moving on. Nancy Blank once told me to be a goldfish - short memory!
Unlimited began the first of what will be 4 or 5 unknown programs in the contest. The late start to the day meant only a small portion of that group was able to complete the flight. Jason will be flying first thing in the morning (weather permitting).
Big shout out to Andy Gerner, who has been immensely supportive and helpful to team USA.

 

Facebook page link: World Glider Aerobatic Championships 2022

4th day of the world glider aerobatic championship with the presence of the
public to see pilots in the Unlimited and Advanced categories.

RECAP VIDEO (Facebook)

 

5th day of the world glider aerobatic championships were cancelled due to weather.

6th day of the world glider aerobatic championship. Evolution of the Unlimited
category from 3 p.m., followed by the Advanced category.

RECAP VIDEO (Facebook)

7th day of the world glider aerobatic championships. The Unlimited and the
Advanced were able to carry out their programs. Tomorrow, start of the
evolutions of program 5 for the Unlimited and end of program 4 for the Advanced.

RECAP VIDEO (Facebook)

 

8th day of the world glider aerobatic championships. The day started at
7am by getting gliders on the grid, followed by the daily briefing and the
first flights at 8am. The rain put an end to the day at 5.30pm.

RECAP VIDEO (Facebook)

 

August 27, 2022

Closing Ceremony and awards presentation. LIVE streamed on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/IGXyBBGJChg

   

August 29, 2022

Team USA just returned home from WGAC 2022 in Issoudun France. A great experience flying with so many of our friends from around the world! Jason Stephens finished 16th in Unlimited while first time contestants Joseph Gerner and Shad Coulson placed 23rd and 25th in the Advanced category.

Thank you to all our families and supporters back home and a big thanks to the Gliding Club of Issoudun for organizing the competition.