2008 IMAC Aerobatics Challenge

 Click on the name to see additional Photos by Ray Mesa
Steve Dion

55 aerobatic pilots have descended on to Silver Field in Miami on Feb. 23 and 24 for the Aero Modelers of Perrine annual Aerobatics Challenge. The pilots traveled From as far away as Canada and all over Florida and Southeast US. The weather for the weekend was nothing short of spectacular with temps in the high 80’s and a light breeze from the south. Pilots started to arrive early Friday morning and throughout the day to try to get some practice flights in and get used to the flying field.

Saturday dawned and at 7:30 pilot registration opened where Butch Wenrich, Laura Fandino and Vicar Hernandez helped getting all the pilots checked in. The Club used an automated web registration system to collect all pilot information and this saved a great deal of time in the morning and gave them the ability to have the pilots welcome packs prepared before the pilots actually arrived. 8:30 the pilots meeting was started with Don Hamilton and Jim Woodward giving some judging pointers, Tony then followed up explaining the field rules and explaining the schedule for the event.

Flying promptly started at 9 AM with Basic and Sportsman starting out first. Just as things where flowing a large bang was heard and then the realization that two airplanes had just had a mid-air collision. We heard the collision but when we looked up all we saw was confetti and heard the voice of Sergio Schinoff having a turrets moment. The other pilot Pierre Kleinuburg was also in state of shock as he watched his airplane fall from sky. Flying promptly resumed and all the pilots worked their hardest to be ready and get started and in the air before the previous competitor was out of the aerobatic airspace.

The club had some great food all weekend and all in attendance did nothing but rave. The prizes also were just off the hook. All day Saturday and Sunday contest director Tony Fandino just kept calling pilot names and there were a bunch of happy faces. The club also had several spectator raffles with the grand prize being a Hobbico supesrtar 40 trainer which was raffled off on Sunday. Flying on Saturday ended at about 5:30pm, about an hour before sunset, which gave the pilots a bit of time to unwind with a bit of open flying.

Sunday dawned and the buzz was what a great time everyone had had at the Hamilton’s dinner party the night before, Honestly I wanted to attend but was to exhausted having been awake for 41 hours by Saturday night. The Pilots meeting promptly started at 8 AM and the guy’s were flying by 8:30. The day started with the pilots flying their unknowns, Unlimited led off the action with Sportsman getting underway on the other flight line. Here are the details of the flights. These pilots flew a grand total of 534 judged sequences.

BASIC Class – 13 Pilots flew 5 known sequences (3 rounds). The scores ranged from a low of 1,066.3 to a high of 3,960.6 (a range of 2,894.3 points).

1. Leo a/k/a Chuck Wise,

2. Mariano Barrios Jr, (AMPS Member and only 14 years old)

3. Philip Bederka,

4. Carlos Bonachea, (AMPS)

5. Stephen Day,

6. Carlos Bonachea Jr, (AMPS member and only 15 years old)

7. Luiz A. Bosch, (AMPS)

8. Jerry Gleicher, (AMPS)

9. Lorenzo Garcia, (AMPS)

10. Jesus Castaneda, (AMPS)

11. David Alvarado,

12. Oscar Cespedes, Sr. (AMPS)

13. Pierre Kleinubing.

Sportsman - 16 pilots flew 4 known sequences (2 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 1,768.8 to a high of 3,981.7 (a range of 2,213.0 points).

1. Oscar Cespedes, (AMPS)

2. Forrest Waller,

3. Matt Scott,

4. John Nelon,

5. Gary Willis,

6. Ramon Dezubiria, (AMPS)

7. Kevin Wilson,

8. Ernest Meredith,

9. Alvaro Yanguas, (AMPS)

10. Richard Lewis,

11. Tony Bonanno,

12. Butch Hall,

13. Mark Wesson,

14. Gregory C Baggerly,

15. Thomas Heller

16. Sergio Schinoff. (AMPS)

Intermediate - 10 pilots flew 4 known sequences (2 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 3,233.6 to a high of 3,951.7 (a range of 718.1 points).

1. Mike Remsberg,

2. Rick Kroeze,

3. Tom Reifsnyder,

4. Monty Huff,

5. Gerry Dale,

6. Juan Romero,

7. Alexander Bruhn,

8. Curtis Cozier,

9. Don Hamilton

10. Peter Jackson.

Advanced - 7 pilots flew 4 known sequences (2 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 907.6 to a high of 3,923.2 (a range of 3,015.6 points).

1. Brian Luckett,

2. Jim Woodward,

3. Ben Selock,

4. Michael Elder,

5. Pedro Jordan Jr,

6. Bill Lairsey

7. Chris Hogan. (AMPS)

Unlimited - 9 pilots flew 4 known sequences (2 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 3,175.6 to a high of 4,000.0 (a range of 824.4 points).

1. David Moser,

2. Ivan Kristensen,

3. Stephen Hamilton,

4. Don McLellan,

5. Steve Dionne,

6. Ransom Fairchild,

7. John Schroder,

8. Denis Plante

9. Andy Kane.

The tightest competition was for 7th place in the Basic class, with only 1.3 points difference between Luiz A. Bosch and Jerry Gleicher.

Thanks and see you next year