U.S. NATIONAL ChampionshipS - September 20-25, 2015
Friday, September 25
It's a wrap! The 2015 U.S. Aerobatic Championship is coming to a close tonight with the award banquet the Denison Country Club. Congratulations to all the winners and special thanks to CD Gary Debaun and all the many volunteers for a well run contest.
See the final results here: https://www.iac.org/files/nationals-results/2015/index.htm
USA ADVANCED AEROBATIC TEAM
Foster Bachschmidt (will be Team Captain), Craig Gifford, Kevin Coleman, Mitch Wild,
Steve Johnson, Kelly Adams, Mark Fullerton, Cameron Jaxheimer
Alternates: John Wacker and Stan Moye
Team members will compete at the World Advanced Aerobatic Championship in Radom,
Poland in 2016.
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The Unlimited, Advanced, Sportsman Power and Primary all finished up their categories today - results;
Primary Power
(L to R) - 1st Place: *Christian Schrimpf, 2nd Place: John Perillo, 3rd Place: Sarah Clark
*Grassroots Medallion - awarded the highest scoring pilot in any category, measured in overall
percentage, flying an aircraft with 180 hp or less, or more than 180hp if the 75% cruise speed is
less than 125mph -awarded to Christian Schrimpf - 84.178.
Sportsman Power
(L to R) - 1st Place: Erick McDaniel, 2nd Place: *Stephen Fiegel, 3rd Place: Jim Risher
*Highest First-Time Sportsman - Stephen Fiegel - 84.16%
Advanced Power
(L to R) - 1st Place: *Foster Bachschmidt, 2nd Place: Craig Gifford, 3rd Place: Craig Dobesh
*MT-Propeller Trophy comes with a $500 cash prize courtesy of MT Propeller to recognize the winner
of the Advanced Power category - Foster Bachschmidt
Unlimited Glider
(L to R) 1st Place: *Eric Lentz-Gauthier, 2nd Place: Jason Stephens, 3rd Place: **Lukas von Atzigen
*The Les Horvath Trophy - presented to the winner of the Unlimited Glider category at US Nationals
- Eric Lentz-Gauthier.
**The Goodrich Trophy - awarded to the highest scoring non-U.S. citizen within the highest category
that has a non-US citizen(s) participating at US Nationals - Lukas von Atzigen.
Unlimited Power
(L to R) 1st Place: *Rob Holland, 2nd Place: Brett Hunter, 3rd Place: Bob Freeman
* Mike Murphy Cup - presented to the highest placing Unlimited pilot and reigning National Champion
at the US Nationals - Rob Holland. (this is Rob's 5th consecutive win of the US National Champion title.)
4 Minute Free
(L to R) 1st Place: Rob Holland, 2nd Place: Kevin Coleman, 3rd Place: Brett Hunter
The remaining Sportsman and Primary will fly first thing in the morning. The Unlimited Unknown will
be followed by The Advanced Free Unknown II. At about 3:30pm the 4 minute Free will be the last
program of the Championship. At the end of the day the Awards Banquet will take place at the
Denison Country Club.
Thursday, September 24
The Advanced glider, Intermediate power and glider and Sportsman glider categories wrapped up
their competition today. Congratulations to the winners !
Advanced Glider
(Left) 1st Place: Guy Acheson (Right) 2nd Place: Mallory Lynch
Intermediate Power
(L to R) - 1st Place: *Thomas Braymer, 2nd Place: Mike Plyler, 3rd Place: Tom Rhodes
*Fred Leidig Trophy - presented to the winner of the Intermediate power category in addition to the
Nationals trophy for the winner, Thomas Braymer.
Intermediate Glider
(L to R) - 1st Place: Joseph Gould, 2nd Place: *Douglas Clark, 3rd Place: Steel Shoaf
*John Serafin Trophy - award to the glider pilot who has the highest percentage of possible points in
the Free Program in any category - Douglas Clark - 83.249%
Sportsman Glider
(L to R) - *1st Place: Trevor Rogers, 2nd Place: Taylor Marshall, 3rd Place: Connor Watson
*Khornwitpong (Soon) Soonthonnitikul is a USAFA
cadet from Thailand won the category, but cannot
receive trophy or title since it is only awarded to U.S. citizens.
We've posted some of the Free Unknown sequences for Advanced Power and Unlimited Power to: https://www.iac.org/sequences (member login required). We will continue to add these as they
become available.
Intermediate flew their Unknowns. Sportsman and Primary stopped at the end of the day with
two remaining competitors to fly their Freestyle.
Wednesday, September 23
The Advanced top 10 competitors have shuffled again after the first Unknown. Foster continues to hold
onto first place, Craig Gifford has moved into second and Stan Moye has entered into the top 10 with the
6th best score in the Unknown.
Guy Acheson has clinched the number one spot in Advanced Glider. Other scores from the days' flights
have yet to post.
The judges put in another full day. photo by Sheri Davis
Here is the figure grid for the Advanced Free Unknown II flight.
A 7:00am start - today should see the Free Unknowns flown for Advanced as well as Sportsman
and Primary's second flights. Everyone should be ready in the evening for
cocktails and hors d'oeuvers at Holiday InnExpress in Denison.
photo by Laurie Zaleski
Tuesday, September 22
Intermediate, Advanced and Unlimited have all flown 2 flights. In the Unlimited Glider category
1.1%points separate Jason Stephens and Eric Lentz-Gauthier - a match up to watch.
The top 10 competitors in Advanced have shuffled slightly with Mark Fullerton moving up into the
group with his performance in the Freestyle. Foster Bachschmidt is still holding onto first place and
Kevin Coleman moves up to second putting Craig Dobesch in third. Scores in fourth through seventh
are very tightly clustered and it is still anyone's game.
More scores here: https://www.iac.org/files/nationals-results/2015/index.htm
Advanced competitor, Mallory Lynch photo by Eric Lentz-Gauthier
It was a day of changing for both the Advanced and Unlimited Free Unknown #1. Unlimited was
updated becauseFigure #2 was not flyable as drawn. The basic figure was retained, but exit direction
for the figure is different. The rolls on the horizontal line have been changed to make it work.
Advanced there was a change to figure #6 - one and one-half roll was a repetition from figure #2. So,
it was changed to a simple half-roll in figure #6 -- what the Jury felt was the easiest and least disruptive
fix to the figure to make it legal for the Free Unknown.
Update on Sept. 22: Fig 5 was changed from a loop + full inside snap (Avalanche) to a loop
+ 8-point roll in order to achieve the required K and reduce the number of snaps.
The Advanced category will continue on with the Free Style they started on Monday evening.
Intermediates will get their chance at the Free and the Primary and Sportsman should fly the Knowns today.
photo by Laurie Zaleski
Monday, September 21
Here is a snapshot of the first Advanced Free Unknown figures which were selected by the top 10 pilots
(results from the Known) at this morning's briefing. Pilots will have until 0700 tomorrow to submit Free
Unknown sequences to the jury. These will be checked and posted and pilots will select which ones they
will fly.
Lots of flying today. Advanced flew their Knowns and current top 10 in the standings are;
Foster Bachschmidt, Craig Dobesh, Kevin Coleman, Robbie Gibbs, Kelly Adams, Craig Gifford,
Steve Johnson, Mac Engh, Mitch Wild and Cameron Jaxheimer.
Some technical challenges with uploading scores to the online results page. The kinks have been
worked out, scores are posted here: https://www.iac.org/files/nationals-results/2015/index.htm
photo by Laurie Zaleski
7am Advanced and Intermediate Known Briefing. 2pm Advanced Free brief.
7pm Advanced figure submissions. Pray for good weather!
photo by Laurie Zaleski
Sunday, September 20
The weather delayed the start of the contest until after 3:00pm, but 13 of the 26 Advanced competitors
were able to fly the Known sequence and will resume Monday morning. Scores will be posted after the
category is complete.
The day started with technial inspections. Practice until mid morning was planned, but unable to take
place due to low ceilings. The judges attended a recurrent training and the Advanced Team aspirants
met at 8:00am CDT.
New this year was the Opening Ceremony
at 11:00am CDT --- something that has
been absent and needed to give it a proper
send-off and to add dignity to the event.
It is also time to remember that this is the Championships of the United States of
America, so the national anthem was sung
by Kristina Hayden, the colors were
posted, and speeches given by local leaders.
Denison Mayor Matt Hanley, Grayson County
Judge Bill Magers and Sherman Mayor Carrie
Wacker spoke words of welcome to all.
Some are already finding time to hang out in the new IAC welcome trailer which Gary DeBaun arranged.
Thank you Gary. Everyone is welcome to stop by and visit and have some refreshment. That's what we're
here for. Also many thanks to our sponsors.
Saturday, September 19
The rain let up and practice commenced at noon. Light winds and a lot of flying for the rest of the day.
photo by Forrest Fox
photo by Eric Lentz-Gauthier
Looking down on the competition box at the US National Aerobatic Contest.
When trekking out to place box markers they seem quite large, however from this
view they are quite tiny.
Saturday morning starts out with rain in Denison, TX. The forecast is looking
great for the rest of the week though with temperatures in the low 90's.
Advanced competitor Robbie Gibbs waits for Registration and a break in the weather.
photo by Eric Lentz-Gauthier
The Williams Soaring Center Fox in the glider hangar at the US National Aerobatic Championships
with the three Air Force DG-1000s. Today is the official practice day, but rain has everybody on the
ground for now. 10:30am CDT
photo by Gary Debaun
Saturday, September 19 - 7:00 am to 7:00 pm Practice and Technical Inspections.
Sign up for all unreserved Sunday practice slots (see boxmaster).
Over 90 Glider and Power pilots are registered to compete at this year's Nationals. 18 Advanced
pilots have declared their intentions to fly for US Advanced Team selection.
Follow the action on this page and;
on Facebook: https://www.iac.org/us-national-aerobatic-championships
on Twitter: https://twitter.com/USNAcro
