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The 2008 United States National Aerobatic Championships

North Texas Regional Airport (KGYI), Sherman/Denison, Texas

Sunday, September 21 - Saturday, September 27, 2008

Twenty three Unlimited power and two glider pilots completed the Known flight today. Wind was from the southeast at about ten knots. Scattered cumulus at 4700 AGL gave way to clear skies. Expect to see results posted by mid-day on Monday.

Morning fog burned-off by 9:30am for commencement of practice flying. Chief Judges met at 11am to review airport procedures as the airport is now controlled by a tower. Tower clears competitors for takeoff to hold above the class Delta. Once there, they switch to box frequency and wait for their call to fly their sequence. Finishing their sequence, they switch to tower frequency and fly east out of the box, over the tower, which sequences them for landing.

Greg Dungan led all judges in a review of some of the finer points of grading and procedure at Noon, followed by the briefing for all pilots at 1pm. The Unlimited pilots briefed at 2pm and flying began at 3pm. This year, Unlimited pilots only are flying warm-up figures in place of the inverted check on base. The pilots may optionally enter the box, fly two half rolls, and one of the following-- a triple-pull humpty, a hammerhead, a standard cuban-eight, or an inside-outside cuban eight. One pilot chose the inside-outside cuban eight. A few chose the hammer. Most used the humpty. A few chose to start without the warm-up figure.

There was a strong on-judge component to the wind that challenged some pilots. Most pilots took their y-axis segment away from the judges, and many executed their rolling turn away from the judges as well.

The forecast for tomorrow is favorable to fly the Advanced and Intermediate Known programs, and the Unlimited Free program.

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