Great PA Contest Day--Observing

What a great day yesterday--weather was iffy all day but got a chance to:

1. fly a minute into my first official contest flight (crashed out but was ready for round two) weather eliminated second round.

2. Got to watch Todd Lee, Constantin Bajainken (sp?), and Young Kevin Stewart fly--with Big Art Adamisin judging. Whew!...there was some serious flying goin on here! And there were several other expert local fliers as well.

My own learning curve is frustratingly slow.

Curt,

The correct spelling is Konstantin Baijakine. He flies at the same circle I do. Check out my thread "These are the moments we live for" on FlightLines - had an amazing time last week. He is completely awesome - a true artiste! How'd he do? Not only is he a world competitor, but one heck of a nice guy - he's willing to spend time giving a poor beginner like me pointers and tips!

>Curt,
>
>The correct spelling is Konstantin Baijakine.
> He flies at the
>same circle I do.
>Check out my thread "These
>are the moments we live
>for" on FlightLines - had
>an amazing time last week.
> He is completely awesome
>- a true artiste!
>How'd he do? Not
>only is he a world
>competitor, but one heck of
>a nice guy - he's
>willing to spend time giving
>a poor beginner like me
>pointers and tips!

Everybody was pretty impressed with Konstantine at the NATS this year. It's not often that someone qualifies (Top 20) in Open on their first try! I didn't really get to talk to him other than casually, but he certainly seemed like a nice guy.

Yes, He seems very open and approachable. His plane was a thing of beauty as well--and I understand that he basically hand built the powerplant from raw materials. I wondered if the plane was his own design? Pretty impressive. All take apart, and it sounded quite unique.

I didnt talk with him much--they had come about four hours to get in that morning, and were occupied with setup and the weather. Hope to see him again--perhaps in Cleveland.

My son (12 years old) was mesmerized by Kevin Stewart as well. I think until now, seeing guys fly really well seemed out of touch for him--he now knows that a young person can do this in several years. He's ready to build the Skyray now!

From what I understand, before he left Russia (this was before the breakup of the Soviet Union), he was in training the way all their world-class atheletes train - full time. This was to be his livelihood. He does everything from scratch - even makes his own engines.

For those that don't know, Konstantin placed 14th in France last year. Having seen him fly, I'd love to see those that beat him! This guy turns the sharpest corners I've ever seen.

Curt,
I was there both days and it was awesome to watch the good guys fly. I particularly enjoyed Cons. flying the second round of expert for the win. He also flew at Brodak and caught my attention. You can really tell that he has trained for the event. What were you flying (class and airplane)?

John Paris

Hey John,
Who won at Detroit.
The only thing I heard was Jim Harris won advance Pa.

Patrick,
I am probably the worst guy to ask that question to since I have a problem remembering names. When Pete sends out his summary, I will be more than happy to forward it on to you. Drop me a line at [email protected]
John

Hi John:

I was flying(?) beginner with a UKEy-40. Crashed out of the first round==it was getting gusty and I was quite nervous. I should have waived off and taken another run just get the jitters out of the way. I was repaired and ready for the second round but the rain got us.

You and I spoke a few times--I was standing nearby at the end when you were talking to Malik about getting together with Jim.

It was alot of fun. I wish we could do more than one per year. Now I'm all geeked up about Cleveland.

Hi Curt,

Hey! I didn't know you crashed. Glad it wasn't serious.

It was a good contest inspite of the weather. Saturday was really pretty nice for Classic and Old time. Sunday was what I'd call a "challenge". Good flying though, between the raindrops. Getting pointers from Todd Lee and Big Art was great too!

Absolutely!

I was again very lucky last evening--Todd was at the field doing some tuning for the upcoming FAI team trials. I had a chance to thank him for his time on the weekend and to watch several more of his flights--THe Right Stuff to be sure!

I hope to have my confidence up for the Cleveland contest next month and fly the "good" plane. (Yellow Twister)