Team Practice Day 2

We all met up again this morning for our breakfast & coffee. A few bleary eyed soldiers but we are slowly swinging into the time zone nicely.  Numerous USA Team members also enjoyed the hotel breakfast and I managed to say hello to Brett Wickizer and caller Bryan Hebert who finally got in some flights with the delayed airframes. All good on the USA front I am told.

We departed for our practice field and in short order had our planes assembled and flying. A right to left wind prevailed so it was nice to fly the opposite direction from yesterday. This is also the probable flight direction for the event itself according to my "sources".

Hartley and Kelly enjoying the new chairs!

We met several local club flyers who let us have access to the facilities on site as well as the use of umbrellas etc from the shed. One fellow just came down just to say hi and spend some time with us. All were very welcoming.

Ethan's Acuracy

All of us put in flights with continued critique and general improvement . Chad continues to put in solid flying with Michi making good strides today with his overall presentation. Ethan has been on fire and has his Acuracy dialed in nicely. A few minor presentation issues got worked out during the session.  I spent the day getting some settings sorted out and when I left the field I had a new radio setup along with a new throttle curve thanks to Chad. Ya.. lets mix things up a little! I'll need a day to really get a feel for this but I was happy with the changes. We also managed to complete some of the requisite paperwork in preparation for our team processing on Friday.  (Weights, measurements and sound check.)

Deep discussion on the state of F3A:-)

Chad preps for another sortie.

The heat was stifling when the winds dropped and we melted in the 32 degree heat. Lots of water consumption coupled with a nice lunch that Kelly picked up on one of her "runs through the wee towns" help beat the heat :-) The sun was also starting to become a problem but we just shifted around and continued. 

We packed up around 5 pm and headed home just as the a couple of the Swiss team members arrived. A quick meet & great ensued and we were on our way home. We stopped at a gas station on route and picked up some ice (a 5 kilo bag cost 9.90 CHR or $13.50 CDN)! We splurged and bought one to go in our team cooler.

Dinner was at the local Italian establishment next door and we also had the pleasure of Harry & Rosemary Ells join us. A good meal and good company! We had a great time catching up.

Tomorrow we will all fly our backups for a couple flights so I headed back to the room to unpack the Galactik and get it ready.... yes it was still in the box. Everything was in good shape and the assembly took place without any problems. The stabs and T-canalizer will remain off to improve transportation and the plane is now in the van ready for the a.m. departure.  Ethan and Colin put the backup Axiome+ together and  Michi also prepped his Axiome+. Chad has a non-contra powered Oxai Acuracy as his backup and it's already in his van from the day he arrived.

Tomorrow Hartley will attend to registration duties at the main flying site.  Another warm day in the forecast!

I almost forgot... Michi returned to the hotel and discovered that he is the proud owner of a 220v Rice Cooker! Seems Liyan found one on her shopping trip today. I guess we won't be seeing them at dinner anytime soon :-)