Packing, Rest and F-15 Practice

Slept in today as we are on our first full "off" day.... except for Chad & Agnes who left early :-)

I spent the morning getting caught up on the blog, packing up the planes and putting the battery packs into storage mode (Discharging them for travel). I also sorted out the charger/parts box and everything is ready for the trip home.

Hartley and I took a trip out to the airport to make some rental car changes for our week of vacation following the competition. He was paying a huge insurance fee per day so we got rid of that. We also scouted out the storage area as I will be leaving my planes behind. A bit pricy (what isn't here!) but necessary for our travel plans later this week.

We texted with Chad and arranged to meet at Hinwil. He had been to the main flying site but only managed one flight before the throng showed up. Ethan and Colin went down to watch as well. Hinwil was much quieter with only the Japanese team and Lassi Nurila of Finland flying with Chad.

Hinwil flight line.

Ready for practice Japanese style!

 Akiba-san preps while Onda-san flies.

Chad-san also hard at it!

Chad's flights looked very nice with some minor issues that we talked about after the flight. The last flight we saw was very solid and controlled. Good speed and roll rates. He will do well if he continues to fly like this under the microscope of the judging panel.

The Japanese team, always so reserved, made occasional flight assessments with the quiet of the flight line interrupted by loud yelling in Japanese :-) Even woke up Agnes a couple times! They too were sorting things out still :-)

Agnes fades off.

We returned to the hotel to do some baggage organization then headed down to the patio for our daily debrief session. It has become a routine here. Everyone got caught up on the days activities as we all split up. Dinner was next door at the Italian restaurant right next to the patio... as we are tired and didn't want to walk far :-)  Apparently the US team was also tired as well :-)

Dinner: Keeping up good relations with the US team.

Weather looks a bit dreadful for the morning (rain & wind) so it should be interesting for the F-15 flights. We will head out in the morning to watch the pilots do their stuff. Competitive flying starts at 08:30 am here. (11:30 PM on the West Coast of Canada!)

There is internet at the site so I hope to give you some reports throughout the day.