I just recently found this site and I figured I'd throw in my 2 cents worth. I participated in my first two contests last year and I'm totally hooked. When I arrived at my first contest in Sullivan Co NY I had never flown in front of anyone, had never even seen a box, and I was afraid of making a fool of myself. The people I met totally put me at ease and gave me some excellent advice I figured I'd pass on.
I would definately advise anyone wresteling with the question of which to fly, Sportsman or Primary, to go ahead and fly BOTH. When I got to the contest they told me I could do this. You only fly Primary for the patch and Sprotsman for the awards but you get judged for both. My first contest and I was able to fly in front of the judges, in the box six times!!! The best practice in the world is experience right?
As far as staying in the box is concerned, at your first contest don't worry about it. Like contest director Ron Chadwick told me before my first flight, only the first figure has to be in the box, just concentrate on your figures and fly the plane. You only lose minimum points for flying out at this level. After a few flights in the box you become more comfortable and can pay a lot more attention to positioning etc...
SO for all of you out there who are putting off contest flying because you arn't sure what it's all about I encourage you to just go and fly!!! You won't meet better people anywhere who are more willing to help out, answer all those "dumb" questions and give great advice.
I can't thank everyone who helped me enough from all the great contest pilots I met to the volunteers behind the scenes crunchin the numbers on the computer (THANKS TOM P.)

• RE: New Contest Pilots,TomParsons, 01:28z, 02-25-03
  • RE: New Contest Pilots,RickB, 17:45z, 02-25-03
    • RE: New Contest Pilots,Patty_Wagstaff, 16:56z, 02-27-03
• RE: New Contest Pilots,TomParsons, 22:55z, 03-02-03
  • RE: New Contest Pilots,KendalSimpson, 23:11z, 03-02-03
    • RE: New Contest Pilots,TomParsons, 15:49z, 05-23-03
      • RE: New Contest Pilots,KendalSimpson, 04:01z, 05-26-03
        • RE: New Contest Pilots,Patty_Wagstaff, 01:38z, 05-27-03
          • RE: New Contest Pilots,andy, 17:54z, 06-03-03
• RE: New Contest Pilots,andy, 17:50z, 06-03-03

Hey, Kendal, welcome to this board! Glad you found your way here. You are too modest to mention this, but I'll tell everyone that you won the best first-time Sportsman award at your first contest, last September's Kathy Jaffe Challenge, as well as being the highest-scoring pilot in Primary! And your beauty-burger Meyers Little Toot turned lots of heads. I wish I had gotten the chance to see more flights, but I spent much of the time locked away in the computer room.

Thanks for the advice!

Tom P.

I just flew in my first contest last Sunday, at the Bill Briski Acrofest, and had a great time too. It was exhilarating and I learned a lot; about myself and flying in a contest.

The Bill Briski is a sportsman and primary only contest, so it is ideal for the first time pilot. The judges took the time to talk me through their scores after the contest was over so I can do better next time and there was no rush since only two categories flew during the day. The box has lots of section lines and landmarks to use so it was easy to fly in.

I had an incredible experience which I compare to my first aerobatic ride, first solo flight, first SCUBA dive, etc.

Rick

Hi you guys

You are bringing back memories of my first contest at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in l984. I flew my Decathalon down from Anchorage to compete in intermediate and like you, Kendal, I had never seen a box before and had never flown in front of judges - just had done a couple of local airshows in Alaska. I'm proud that I didn't come in quite last!

Everyone was wonderful, friendly and helpful to me which made me want to stay in the "competition" scene. I'm glad you had a similar experience.

Patty

So, Kendal, what contests are you planning on flying and/or judging this season? Are you going to WAC or Nationals? I'm hoping to be ready to do something by the Orange, MA contest on May 16-18. And Maytown is just two weekends later, May 30 - June 1. There are about four other contests I'd love to make (including, of course, the Kathy Jaffe Challenge), budget and schedule permitting.

Tom P.

Hey Tom sounds familiar. Orange should be my first contest this year. My wife and I are going to the judging school in Harrisburg here in a couple weeks. I will only be able to be in Maytown for Friday and Saturday but I'm going to fly whatever I can there. I'm going bear hunting in Canada so we will start driving Saturday night. I will also hopefully make Sullivan Co. and Farmville again this year. I hear The Vermont contest is another great one and If I can get away I'd love to do that too. I took vacation the week of Nationals and I'm planning on flying down for that but it will be a long trip at 125mph. Weather will play a huge factor in that. I can't wait to get the plane in the air again and start practicing. I'm going through major withdraw. I'm driving my wife crazy (er) lol.

Hey Kendal-
Congrats on your finish at the Orange contest! I see that you finished ahead of your position at the KJC last fall. And more importantly, your TBLP score is well above last fall's!

I'm pleasantly surprised that you guys got in three flights- I thought the weather would really mess things up for you.

So it looks like Ch. 52 was represented by you, Alex, Dennie, and Ron Sheradin. Ron did pretty darn good! And Alex and Dennie... well, I hope they were happy to knock the rust off.

I hope to see you at Maytown. Talk to you soon.

Tom P.

Hey Tom good to hear from you. We diddn't get to fly three flights because of the weather but we were happy to fly the two that we did. I was flying pretty good untill my hammer turned into something of an inverted flat spin. LOL. All the other maneuvers on that flight scored well but that zero did me in. Hope to see you this weekend at Maytown in that new ride of yours.

Kendal Simpson
www.littletootaerobatics.com

Kendal

Good luck at Maytown. I haven't flown that one, but have heard it's a really good contest.

Patty

It was a blast. We all had fun, but Sportsman and Primary only got 1 flight in due to the weather.

Hey Kendal!!!

Congrats on your win at Maytown over the weekend. We'll beat you at Warrenton in 3 weeks.

Andy