Home - exhausted but pumped....

Well we left Tucson at 8:30am for the drive back to LAX arriving at the airport at 5:30am in rain!!!

Dropped the hire vehicle off and checked in the luggage - now LAX is not my favourite airport to say the least - and this departure was not without it'schallenges - when TSA (airport security) insisted that every single box be opened. Just doing their job but how do you open a box with a screw down lid without a screw driver - you are not allowed to carry tools onto the aircraft right and it is not TSA's job to have tools to open luggage!!

Well Petes bill keeper was useful but it was American Airlines Maintenance division at the airport and the QANTAS supervisor who came to our rescue coming up with the necessary tools to open the boxes for inspection.

AFter two hours the boxes had been swabbed and passed as suitable candidates for transport and we checked in through customs for the journey home.

We were "shoehorned" (not a spare seat anywhere on the plane) into the Jumbo and after a half hour delay we launched into our 13.5 Hour trip home - touching down at 6:30am this morning.

It is always great to get home after a trip like this - we always enjoy the hosptality the friendship and the adreline rush of competition but home sweet home - it's the best........

Thanks to all our BLOG followers and supporters - you have also contributed tremendously to the boys success over in USA - BRING ON TAS 2010

We're on the podium!!

Well done Chris and Mark!!

Chris - 2nd in Freestyle and 4th in Invitational IMAC
Mark - 2nd in Intermediate

A great effort from all of the team, the competition was strong and and in the end it was tight on the score sheets. There was only a couple points in it!

As Norm said we head back to DA and pack everything up, then back to LA in the morning.

Final Day

Man it is hard to believe that it is all over - what atreat to lie in this monring - no 5:30am alarm clock and off to the field for 7:30am pilots briefing :)


Both boys were exceptional ambassadors for both IMAC and Australia and did exceptionally well to work through the challenges the nerves and everything that was thrown their way.


Exceptional result for Mark - second in Intermediate and 20 normalised points off frist place - well done Mark:)

Chris flew consistently in IMAC to finish 4th and 2nd in Freestyle. He went into his final round of freestyle knowing that he would have to put on a good show to beat Gernot. Both Gernot and Chris have exceptional freestyles and the competion between these two youngsters is fierce with either of them capable of winning. It is a real honour to watch them competing against each other.

Today we pack up the planes at DA before heading back to LAX tomorrow and flying back on Tuesday arriving back in Brisbane at 6am on Thursday morning local time.

We have had a great time - we are all exhausted but have had a wonderfull time in USA :)

Day 4 Saturday

Another early start, out at the field by 7:00am!! I forgot my camera today, so unfortunatly there won't be any pictures! Doh!

Mark flew his final rounds, and put in a steady performance, fingers are crossed that he finished of well enough to stay on the podium!! All in all a terific performance from Mark regardless of the finnal position.

The unknown for Chris was looking really good up until the 2nd last manouver, the spin, unfortunatly we must of had the throttle trim a little low and the engine stalled!! Bugger!

Chris put the unknown behind him and got focused on the #2 unknown and put in a cracker!! Keeping himself in the mix!!

Today was also the first round of freestyle, Chris was up late in the round, which gave us a good look at what the others had brought to the comp!! There was plenty of carnage, with one wing landings from Todd Bridges, and Mark Leseberg smacking the runway early in his flight. Chrisby put in a blinder, and the crowd really got behind him! It was brilliant!!

Gernot Bruckman won the round with Chris less than 2pts behind. At great start!

Day 3

The boys have done a great job, Chris is up into 4th overall, and Mark is only 2points from the lead. Mark is into the finals, well done!

Sorry for the lack of info today, we had a big day and everyone is drained. I will do an update tonight, with some pictures from freestyle.

Day 2, results!

Day 2 has mixed results. Both boys flew extreamly well, with Mark wining his known and unknown rounds. Well done! Mark is sitting in 2nd position overall, just a few points behind the leader.

Chris flew well, but was a little disipointed in the scores. The unknown was really complex, and he done a terific job flying it. But it seems that everyone else also flew pretty well. He done better in the known, and now lies 6th overall. Still a very respectable position, with a few days of competition to go!! Go Chrispy!

Day 2!!

Early morning day 2 (Thursday). The weather looks good, a little cloud and lighter winds (predicted). But this being Tucson, the wind can change in a second! Mark has his first unknown this morning followed by another known round.

Chris will get his unknown this morning and fly it this afternoon before his known. Everyone is pretty positive and looking forward to the days competition.

Day One - Wednesday!

The boys have both done well today. The weather while a little cooler, was windy, and from behind the pilots head. Mark was up early and started off pretty well, he was a little disapointed with his flight, but given the big occasion it was a solid start. His 2nd flight was pretty good, and he currently is 4th overall.

The invitational pilots flew this afternoon, and by then the wind was blowing hard. The first round was an unknown, and it was a cracker!! It was pretty challenging, and the wind was going to increase the degree of dificulty. Chris was up 13th (unlucky for some) and put in a solid flight. He was a little nervious, but he handle the conditions well. The known round was up next and Chris was in the air around mid field. It was clear that everyone had been practicing hard in the knowns and all the scores were pretty close. Chris flew a good solid round, and is currently 4th overall.

A good start for both lads!

Lets Fly!!

Wednesday morning, its O dark hundred, and the line up for the shower has begun! We will be at the field by 6:30am, set up our pit area and prepair ourselves for the day.

Both Chris and Mark have put in a lot of preperation, and are looking pretty sharp. Mark is up early this morning (6th) and Chris will fly this afternoon. All the preperation is done and dusted, time to fly!! Good luck to both Chris and Mark, proud of you both!!

Thanks to everyone for your support, I know both the lads appreciatte it!

Countdown

We returned from Phoenix late yesterday and arrived at our accomodation house a mere 10 minutes from the TIMPA field. We are in one of two houses being shared by a number of quality pilots which adds to the enjoyment for all of us. I will let the two "rock stars" cover the who's who of the house.

The house is right in the middle of the desert and we have been warned to be on the look out for Tarantulas, Rattlers and Scorpions!!! Two pictures below show the view from our front door.

Last night we attended a BBQ at Dave Johnsons along with quite a few other guests. The Kiwis were in full song and we had a trial boat race which the Internationals managed to win. We left our cameras in the van so, sorry, no pics of the night.

Today we decided to take a break from flying and had a leisurely start to the day. We went to TIMPA and pressed the flesh with some familiar faces. The boys completed their Registration and we attended the Judges / Pilot briefing. The pilot draw for the flying order on day one for each class was conducted, Mark is up sixth and Chris is thirteenth. We have claimed our place in the Pitts with the Aussie flags flying. An early start tomorrow with the first flight to be ready by 0730. We are glad to be 10 minutes from the field.

The field is taking shape with flags, tents, portable toilets, signage and car parking tape. I can't wait for the Vendor tents to open up, thank god the Aussie dollar is looking good! I am sure there is a ton of stuff I "need".

The boys have completed plenty of practice and burnt a lot of gas. All the preperation is done, the real business starts tomorrow.

Back in Tucson!!

Well we have finished at the moon, plenty of very productive practice and model sorting!! I got a little bored in the big ass van, and my camera just wen't off randomly!!

We are back in Tucson now, in our rental villa!! Living La Vida Loca!! Ohlay, Ohlay, Ohlay!!

Snakes on a plane!! (kind of)

Hey, this is Mark and Chrisby. Chris forgot his password so here is our first post on the blog! Yeeah!

Alright, well so far this trip has been so much fun! Getting a lot of practise in at the moon. Starting to get focused for unknowns and polish known sequences. Today out at the moon it was very windy, forcast for 20mph gusting to 30mph winds. Marko while practising, coming in for a landing in a very strong cross wind today and attempting to land on a cross strip almost fell short of the strip and into a tree! I reckon it was a few inches off but other than that it was good to practise in those conditions.

(Ricky)

So today, another pretty cool experience we had while replacing a broken header gasket on Chrisby's plane was a SNAKE! I threw a wing nut to Chrisby who dropped it and it ended up falling right next to a 4 foot rattle snake! We both saw it at the same time and we used some pretty colourful language! Meanwhile Richo is sitting next to the plane working on the gasket issue, Chris, Norm, Pete and I are all yelling at Richo, "watch out" hes looking up and around going "what, what?" he then noticed the snake slithering towards him. Its the fastest we've ever seen Richo move! It moved over to the esky and sat there for a bit while we scratched our heads on what to do. Big Pete then moved the esky out the way and it slithered back into a hole. Was nice to acutally see one but no that close!

Anyway, we'll be back tomorrow to do a report before the competetion starts,

Cheers,

Chris and Mark

Day 2 at the Moon

Not sure if that is day 2 or 3 because everything is a blur over here :) I daily routine is up at 7:00am breakfast at 7:30am leave at 8:00am and head off to the field via the shops where we pick up water, subway and cold drinks to see us through the day. The boys then practice until about 3 or 4 pm before we head back to the hotel to freshen up and go out to tea.

The boys have burned another 5 gallons of fuel - that is now 12 gallons since we have been at "The Moon" and I must say they have adpated well to the altitude and conditions - they are looking very sharp and smooth.

John and Leesa Heigel opened their house to us the other night and together with the Kiwi Crew we enjoyed a very nice Chinese dinner followed by Leesa's home made carrot cake.

Last night we went to an America Saloon Bar and Restaurant at the base of the Superstition Mountains and enjoyed some steak's with steak fries beans and corn - listened to some cowboy music and watched tthe cowboys and girls dancing :)

Today will be much the same as the past couple of days except we have to return to the hotel early to do the washing! before we head off to Tucson - we miss you Mum's and Julie :)

Another Day at the Moon!!

Great day at the moon!! Plenty of practice, great weather, corona's and donuts!! We met up with our new friend Rob and his Mustang!! Nice!! Bogan and the Kiwi's showed up this afternoon, late as always. We will spend a couple of more days here, fine tuning the flying before the competition. We couldn't get the smile off Puff Daddy and Ricky's face after thier ride in the Mustang!!

We're at Timpa!!

As you would have seen from my last report we were joined by Chip Hyde during our last couple of days practice in Tucson. A talented individual and a man on a mission. Sadly today we were greeted by the news that Chip had suffered total loss of all property due to a fire completely destroying his home over night. The loss of models and personel effects must have been a shock but the irreplaceable memorabilia of trophies etc must be devistating. So our thoughts go out to Chip and his family. I am certain a number of people, like us, find it hard to comprehend.

However, today we had a fantastic drive through the Desert out to the TIMPA field (Shootout HQ) where we were greeted by some members having a casual flying day. As has been our experience so far, we were warmly welcomed and given open access. This is a superb flying site but I am sure the conditions can be a tad harsh at times. The boys put in some serious practice and Chrisby set our hearts pounding with his Freestyle routine. Late in the day we headed off to Phoenix and to our hotel for some much needed rest before heading out early tomorrow for some intence practice sessions.

The weather is fantastic and we are working extremely well together in coordinating our efforts. Packing and unpacking the vehicle has become relatively easy and each of us has a number of tasks that contribute to the overall operation of the team. I am appreciating the experience and it is fantastic to be a part of the campaign. Some shots of the days activities. Spare a thought for Chip, he must be going through a tuff time right now!

Cheers,

Peter Lee

Happy Days

The weather cooled slightly today and we had consistant stiff breezes to deal with. All good practice for the days to come. Issues resolved and time to clock up some serious practice sessions with much burning of fuel ahead, the boys are looking solid.

A few competitors are arriving and the smell of competition is in the air. Once again we have had fantastic assistance from Dave and his team at Desert Aircraft. Tomorrow morning in Tucson and then off to a private area for the serious buisness of practice and fine tuning before returning in four to five days.

New hats for a couple of the team who are getting into the local spirit. Mark managed to give some "assistance" to one of the locals!!

What a difference a day makes...........

What a difference a day makes - and Team spirits are back on track after a good days practice for both Mark and Chris - planes have been restored to their original setups - and as you can see from the pictures there were smiling faces wherever you looked.

Chris flew the freestyle model but was not happy with the setup so our chief mechanic Richo took the plane back to DA for a header lengthening exercise.

Instead of packing up in the dark as we have done the past couple of days we are back at the hotel early have purchased $100,00 of the liquid gold we have found for the aircraft:)

We are about to head out for tea - just have to wait for the laundry to finish:)

I am sure the others will have something to add - HAPPY DAYS

Back on Track

Sorry we haven't been saying to much of late!! But we had our hands full chasing what seems to of been a fuel issue. Things started well today and seemed to have stayed that way!! Anyway all is good with the world at the moment!! We will post some pictures and some more information shortly!! Happy Days!

Practice day 2.......

We will extend our practice in Tucson - we had some better results today with both boys able to fly a sequence - it has been stinking hot - 37/38 degrees - very dry and dusty - we have consumed dozens of bottles of water - had Maccas for lunch - Pizza for dinner.

Gernot Brookman and his Dad arrived this evening - they have to remove their 3W motors and install a DA 200 and DA170 in their planes tonight..

Chip Hyde was at the prcatice field today with his Aeroworks? Biplane powered by DA200 - sounds awesome!!!!!

Day 2 Work Underway

An early start to the day as we headed to DA to unpack the boxes, assemble the planes and ready the Van for transport. We were given a warm welcome by Dave Johnson and his staff and an area was set aside for us to go about our task. Three planes in all to be assmbled and the boys got stuck in. We were treated to a BBQ lunch and given free run of the workshop to complete our work. By early afternoon all planes were assembled, neatly and safely tucked away in the transporter. Smooth sailing and a good job done by all. Our thanks to Dave and his enthusiastic crew for their assistance.

Lots of great "things" to look at and we were able to see first hand where those fabulous DA Engines are birthed.

Norm, Dave and Mark getting involed in the workshop.

Richo and Chris getting hands on. The Van taking on it's main purpose and Richo and Chrisby finally back on the sticks. We spent the rest of the day ensuring the planes were performing as expected.