The 16th International Easter Egg Cup Aerobatics Competition

Under grey skies and low cloud, with a brief bright spell in the middle of the day, various pilots could be seen executing mysterious manoeuvres over the airfield. The competitors were given the choice of three sequences - Standard, Tricky and Joker. For those of you who speak Aresti, these are illustrated below.

The day started with a briefing, and then Graham Saw, the organiser, explained to Paul Field how to fly the figures in the standard sequence. Paul said he had never flown aeros before, except as part of his fighter pilot training, but he said that didn't count, so he had a quick practice flight and then flew the sequence solo, thereby gaining his Standard Aerobatics Badge.

Paul after his Lightning Aeros badge flight

The comp is taken seriously..................

George clarifying the finer points of the Joker sequence with Graham

After a long - and cold - day the competitors reconvened in the briefing room for the results - and prizes, presented by safety pilot Will Jones

Champion Maddi Roberts

2nd place - Paul Field

3rd place - Richard Crockett

Judge Graham noted that everyone did well considering the conditions, no-one landed out and no-one crashed. The results and scores in full were:

1st - Maddi Roberts - 78% - Standard
2nd - Paul Field - 70% - Standard
3rd - Richard Crockett - 62.2% - Joker
4th - George Darby (last year's winner) - 61.1% - Joker
5th - Geoff Silvey - 55% - Standard
6th - David Humpreys - 48.9% - Joker
7th - Norbert Eschle - 47% - Tricky

Congratulations to all the competitors and many thanks to Graham for organising the comp and to Will for acting as safety pilot.