The Green Mountain Aerobatic Contest in Vermont last weekend was absolutely the place to be for Northeast aerobatic competitors. Forty-three competitors made it to Hartness-Springfield airport (KVSF): two Primary, nineteen Sportsman, fourteen Intermediate, five Advanced, and three Unlimited.
Thanks to Eddie Ruhl, Wes Liu, Neville Hogan, and John Perkins for watching and judging thirty-eight flights of Sportsman.
Thanks to Blair Mohn, Jay Hewett, Farrell Woods, and John Perkins for watching and judging forty-two flights of Intermediate.
IAC Chapter 35 President Farrell Woods was thrilled and honored to have a large group of pilots fly down from Canada. He reports brilliant weather for most of the weekend-- Sunny, warm, but not too hot and humid. Sunday weather threats forced some of the competitors from North and West to bug out early, but the third flight of Intermediate was completed before the contest officially ended.
Contest Director Bill Gordon organized a capable contest staff, setup, and contest facility.
Says, Farrell, "Jim Wells was Chief Judge. He and starter Paul Russo kept the trains running on time. They had the excellent support of registrar Miriam Levin, VC Missy Zils, scorer Terri Nathanson, and much valuable assistance in these roles from Sara Hogan and Kate Russo and Beth Philip and Nora Johnson. Actually all these wonderful folks helped one another and the rest of us in these roles. They had their hands full with forty-three pilots to organize. It was an amazing effort!"
The Green Mountain Contest had a great battle in Unlimited. Mike Ciliberti won the Known, flying a Sukhoi 31, with fifty-two plus points over Goody Thomas, flying an Extra 330SC. Mike won again on the Free program, adding about sixty-eight points. We're only talking one percent differences here, though, in Unlimited. Goody won the Unlimited Unknown by enough margin to win the category. It looks like fours from two judges on the fourth figure, worth thirty-seven K, sunk Mike on the Unknown.
Adam Cope, Jay Hewett, Chuck Cohen, Neville Hogan, and Mark Stewart judged the battle in Unlimited.
Competitor David Windmiller, returned from a long hiatus to win Advanced, flying a Zivko Edge. He won all three flights judged by Adam Cope, Jay Hewett, Chuck Cohen, Neville Hogan, and Krysta Paradis.
Primary went to another competitor whom we have not seen in a while, Olga Mitchell won both flights of Primary over Patrick Sweeney. Both fly Decathlons. Judges were Eddie Ruhl, Adam Cope, Wes Liu, Neville Hogan, John Perkins, and Mark Stewart.
The big Sportsman category saw Philip Joseph climb from tenth place on the first flight with first place on the second flight to take the field of nineteen flying a Super-D. John Smith won the first flight with his Extra 330LX. Blair Mohn finished second flying a Pitts S2A. Canadians Dimitri Cuesta and Luc Martineau shared third and fourth. Dimitri flies a Pitts S1S. Luc flies a Pitts S2C.
Three Sportsman competitors shared the Executive Flyers Decathlon eight twenty-one echo fox.
Intermediate, almost as large as Sportsman with fourteen, found long time IAC Chapter 35 leader Wes Liu at the top of the barrel after three flights. Wes won the Known, then placed second on the Free and the Unknown. He flies a Pitts S2A. First on the Free was Hans Bok in a Sukhoi 29. Hans was sixth overall. First on the Unknown was Adam Cope in his Extra 200. Adam took second overall.
Winner recap
- Primary, Olga Mitchell, Super-D
- Sportsman, Philip Joseph, Super-D
- Intermediate, Wes Liu, Pitts S2A
- Advanced, David Windmiller, Zivko Edge
- Unlimited, Goody Thomas, Extra 330SC
Find full results posted at https://iaccdb.iac.org/contests/435
Coming up
On the IAC Contest Calendar: the Best Box in Texas and the Doug Yost Challenge, both this weekend.
- IAC Chapter 25 hosts, Gary Walker and Debbie Rihn-Harvey direct the Best Box at Jackson County (26R) in Edna, Texas. Doors open Friday, July 18.
- IAC Chapter 78 hosts and Dan Pichelman directs the Doug Yost at Spencer Municipal (SPW), Spencer, Iowa. Contest hours are Saturday and Sunday, July 19, 20.
