Page 24 - MFWDec 2023

Particular attention was focused on:
Geometrical accuracy, from the Judges view and constant
flying speed.
Lines ~ a recognizable length must be flown between
manoeuvres and equal length of lines before/after rolls.
Start and stop must be defined, crisp, and must be seen !
Roll rates must be constant and roll/loop combinations for
individual manoeuvres were emphasised and addressed
in depth.
Radius ~ must be equal.
Downgrades for Snaps, Stall turns and Spins.
Distance, positioning, and size of the manoeuvre within
the manoeuvring zone were a weighting principle also.

From the classroom briefing, the Judges Training flights
were flown on the Official Flightline No 2. There were two
flightlines ~ both lines had very different treelines and the
marker poles could not be positioned at 150m out due to
the farm security fence being within the boundary. Non-
competitor pilots flew training flights which were scored by
all judges. On completion of each flight, Peter and the
judges evaluated the errors in the flight and each judge
reported and discussed their scores.

Competition flying commenced on Sunday 20 with four
Preliminary rounds of P-23 flown; one on each day
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A calculation Stephen Johnson & Frazer Briggs
demonstration flight was flown for the Judges preceding
the commencement of the competition each day.

All pilots donned an aqua coloured vest with their pilot No.
on the back, which was great, as being the first time I had
judged at a World Championships (there were five first-
time W/C judges), it was not apparent ‘who’ the pilots
were. To the extent that at the Judges break, which was
after every five flights for five minutes, I would retreat to
Ross who would often ask “so what did you think of X-
pilot’s flight ?”; I would answer “don’t know who that is, but
pilot number X flew really well” and inevitably we were
referring to the same pilot .

The NZ Team (in flight order) was Sean Galloway (Junior)
pilot No. 34, Stephen Johnson 36, Frazer Briggs 38, and
Andrew Palmer 53. Their first flight on Sunday had Sean
as 5th pilot to fly at 9.06am.
Frazer had a ‘senior’ moment on day 2, by not putting his
Flying standards continued to improve as the rounds model together correctly and … he had not brought his
progressed and placings were relatively close among the back-up on site resulting in a 0.00 for that day. Lesson
top competitors. Flying styles varied, from compact and on definitely learnt and he had both models ready to go
the 150m line, to more open and slightly further out, most thereafter.
within the 200m though. The USA team flew precise, crisp
and closer (150-160m) whereas the Europeans and the The top 30 Competitors went through to fly the F-schedule
Japanese tended to fly a little further out with a more open in the Semi-Finals rounds, which meant NZ had two pilots
style. Most ilots flew within the ‘box’ parameters and the in the Semi-finals. A fantastic result and a first for NZ.
basic, common errors discussed at the Judges Briefing Andrew’s training with Akiba-san and Frazer’s few days
were evident. practice with Ross & I prior to going to the W/C must’ve
paid dividends.
Lassi Nurila (Finland) and Andrew Jesky (USA) both
scored 2 x 1000’s in the Preliminary rounds; Lassi had a Two rounds of Semi-Finals F-23 were flown on Thursday,
normalized total of 2956.39 and Andrew 2949.66 at the one on each flightline.
completion of four rounds.
Once again Lassi Nurila scored a 1000 and Gernot
The final results of the Preliminary rounds for the NZ Team Bruckmann (from Austria) score the other 1000. Andrew
were : Andrew 2560.84 placing 23th, Frazer 2537.89 ~ Palmer scored 794.49 on Line 1 and 873.27 on Line 2 to
27th, Sean 2453.73 ~ 33rd and Stephen 2450.30 ~ 35th. finish 21st and
23