"Hey there are 35+ pilots at Akrofest", IAC President Jim Bourke texted to Sport Aerobatics editor, Lorrie Penner. He went on to add that fourteen of the 35+ are in the Primary category and nine of those are first time competitors! IAC chapter 36 's annual Akrofest is held in beautiful Borrego Springs, California. The chapter touts their aerobatic box as, "the world's finest aerobatic box—built to CIVA standards, designed to host the world championships, and practically visible from space." The contest began this morning at 08:30 PDT. Watch contest results online at: https://iaccdb.iac.org/contests/712 and visit the IAC 36 Facebook page for photos of the fun. https://www.facebook.com/groups/chapter36.
Archived photos from past IAC Chapter 36 contests are on the IAC website here: https://www.iac.org/gallery/iac-chapter-36-archive-photos
The Clyde Cable Rocky Mountain Aerobatic Contest
Practice and onsite registration began this morning at 08:00 MDT at the Lamar Municipal Airport (KLAA) in Colorado. IAC Chapter 5 plans to run two flights for each of the five categories on Saturday, October 10 and the third flight on Sunday. 23 pilots had pre-registered by their deadline. The contenders are made up of five in Primary, seven in Sportsman, seven in Intermediate and two in Advanced. The contenders include members from two collegiate teams - University of North Dakota (UND), led by coach Mike Lents and Metropolitan State University Denver (MSU), led by coach Dagmar Kress.
Last year at this same contest, MSU team member, Roger Austin Balleau won Primary in the school's American Champion Xtreme Decathlon. This year he returns in MSU coach Nick Slabakov's Extra 330 LX moving up to Intermediate. In the last two Colorado contests Roger had flown Sportsman in which he nabbed first place at both the High Planes Hotpoxia and the Ben Lowell Aerial Confrontation.
Results from this weekend's Clyde Cable contest can be found at: https://iaccdb.iac.org/contests/697 . Photo (Middle): UND coach Mike Lents and UND aerobatic team members on the way to Colorado.
Kathy Jaffe Challenge/Wildwood Acroblast
IAC Chapters 58 and 52 decided to have a combined contest at Cape May Airport this year. Contest director, Eric Anderson indicates that the plan is to have practice and onsite registration activity today and the contest action will commence at 10:00 EDT on Saturday, October 10. U.S. Unlimited Team member Mike Ciliberti was on his way to the contest a day early to be on hand to provide coaching. Thanks Mike!
Contest regulars Ron Mann (intermediate) and John Shavinsky (Sportsman) in their shared Extra 300L as well as John Fellenzer flying his Giles G-200 in Unlimited, Wes Liu (Intermediate) flying his Pitts S-2A and Stephen Coleman (Sportsman) in his Pitts S-1C. Out of 26 pilots, half of the competitors will be flying in the Sportsman category.
Results from this weekend's Kathy Jaffe Challenge/Wildwood Acroblast can be found at:https://iaccdb.iac.org/contests/730. Follow chapter 52 on their website: http://iac52.org/
