Huntersville 2016 is a wrap!

Another year of contests at the Metrolina Control Line Society is in the books! The Carolina Classic in May, the pilots' choice and informal 1/2A Day in September, and the Carolina Criterium topping it off in October. This contest was dedicated to the club's 35th anniversary, and included extra-special trophies and a special awards dinner Saturday night. It also set a record for attendance. On Saturday, we had 21 pilots flying in the Profile event. I know the exact number because I drew 21 in the flight order Lol. I usually prefer not to be #1, but damn. The whole two-round event ran for 7 hours. The judges, runners, and pilots were worn out at the end of that day. That's a lot of time to stay on your competitive edge. I tried to postpone it, but couldn't quite turn it off during the four hour wait for my first flight. There were record breaking numbers in the other events too. Those would be Old Time Stunt, Nostalgia, Combat, Navy Carrier, and Basic Flight, on Saturday, and all PAMPA Stunt classes on Sunday. In my Intermediate class, we had 9 pilots including Wayne, Mike and Me, with Mike and me having an ongoing rivalry. So far it's Mike-3, Rusty 0.

You'll have to wait for Mike to show us what the 35th anniversary trophies look like, as well as his Combat awards. No hardware for Rusty this time. The 1st place prize was a Tom Morris line wrapping jig, and Sam Londke brought one home for winning Basic Flight. Wayne also took one of those home after showing us all what a crisp and shapely pattern looks like. Mike's is a nice looking #2 trophy, and another of my buddies, Jim Mynes, got third place in Intermediate.

I came in 6th with flights that looked like mine usually do, except I've gotten past bobbling the bottoms like a porpoise. That's been a long time problem and I'm finally locking the bottoms better. But they are still too high and I think that's mainly where I am throwing away points now. On the other hand, all of my takeoff/level flights were 29-30 pts, and my landings were 30-34 pts. That's a huge leap in points that  I improved over the summer. If I can get those bottoms lower I'll be beginning to feel like a pretty good pilot. I'm not unhappy with any of my flights, as none were worse than my current skill level.



It was a well-run contest, thanks to Will Davis, the Contest Director and all the others who ran the show. That's quite a challenge to pull off. There were no serious glitches despite the unexpectedly huge turnout, except that the hurricane victims near the coast caused a porta-john shortage, and we were pushing the serviceable limits in that area Lol.

I have another flying story and the pictures are trickling in, but I'll post it when I get a second wind, and Mike has some pictures too.
Rusty