We often hear a lot at airshows about display pilots being "aerobatic champions" but nothing seems to ever be reported about these competitions in the popular aviation media, Infact, there are at least fifteen competitions run each year by the British Aerobatic Assocation around the country from the beginning of April through to October. They are very different events to airshows in a number of respects. An interesting addition to the calendar of competitions was the Glider vs Power Team Aerobatics Match that was held at the secretive airfield at Lasham in Hampshire. It allowed a unique view of the two disciplines in action at the same event with all their similarities and differences on show. Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports. All photography copyright of author.

The final event in the British Aerobatics Association (BAeA) calendar of competitions for 2007 was the Power vs Glider Aerobatics Match at Lasham. The event pitted the best entrants from the Power and Glider National Competitions held earlier in 2007 in all their various classes.

 Flying is contained in a 1km square box rather than the extended display lines. The entrants for competitions are divided into a number of classes. The first stage on the ladder of levels is "Beginners" (or "Standard" in Glider parlance - confused yet?) though these did not feature at the match. The next stage is "Standard" in power and "Sports" in the Glider world which are essentially equivalent. As you move on there is "Intermediate" on both disciplines, "Advanced" in Power only and finally "Unlimited" in both disciplines. All the differenet classes have differing parameters of distance and height etc  which generally reduce as the bar is raised - ie. Unlimited routines are cleared to much lower heights than the Sports. At each stage, the level represents a jump in the difficulty of routines required and therefore a jump in the performance level of the aircraft involved. Routines are judged on a number of different parameters

At the beginning of the year, "Known" sequences are published as well as default free sequences. These form part of the competition process which also include "Free" and "Unknown" sequences. The "Unknown" sequences are kept under wraps at each event until a prescribed time when they are revealed to competitors who then try and picture the routines in their heads before flying them.

Fifteen competitions are held over the "season" and the most important of these are the Nationals. It was from these that 7 pilots were picked for both the Glider and Power teams at Lasham. The selected pilots would be paired  against their compatriots from the same class level (though Advanced and Unlimited Power both drew the Unlimited Gliders as there was no equivalent of advanced for gliding) The pair would be judged and the winner pilot would score a "match point" for their team. Medals were also awarded for the pilots own overall score in the competition. Many of the pilots will be unfamiliar names to airshow goers, though Mark Jefferies is well known for displaying the Extra and a multitude of Yak aircraft as is Mike Newman for displaying the Fox Glider as part of the Swift Aerobatic Display Team.

The Friday was strictly a practice day with a number of entrants honing their "Known" routines while Saturday was the main competition day with Sunday as a "weather contingency" day. Friday was a good day allowing practices for all competitors and it looked good to allow a full days flying on Saturday and it was here we hot the first snag with competition flying - the weather. For a gliding sequence to be flown in full, the release height for any competitor is 4000ft. Even though high pressure dominated the weather over the weekend of the competition, moisture from ground was still forming low cloud which was never to lift as high as that. In this situation, a cloud base of 2500ft is required to allow the glider to fly "split" sequences - ie a sequence is broken at a specific point allowing glider to enter the circuit and land before being towed to height once again.

The wait for the cloud base to lift delayed the competition and even then it became a slightly false start when some low cloud again blew into the "Box." Things finally got into full swing after the lunch break though the "split" glider sequences did change the expected running orders somewhat. For those used to airshows and more importantly airshow photography, the flying could prove a little frustrating as it's very different to that seen at airshows. For one, no-one is permitted to use smoke and as it was described to your scribe, some of the flying is "uber-high." Having said that, the flying is interesting and entertaining as is the question of who do you think flew well and who the judges thought flew well! Sadly the October light faded all too early and left four flights left which would have taken place on Sunday had the weather not done the dirty calling a early halt to the competition. As a result, the power team were forced to drop four of their scores in the interest of fairness but it made little different with the Power Team winning 9-1 and winning the Baldwin Aerobatic Trophy. However, it wasn't all bad news for the Glider team as that 1 match point also proved to be the highest score of the competition with Paul Barker flying the Swift taking the overall Gold Medal. Full results can be found here.

Despite the set backs related to the weather issues the event should return for 2008 as a end of season fun competition that will hopefully see Team Glider try to aim some revenge at their noisier rivals!

Thanks to Mike Newman, Nick Buckenham and Steve Green for making this report possible.

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