Oct - Rcsoaring.com

Joe Wurts, Manager for Team New Zealand,helps out with a repair for Team USA.Brendon’s wing was unmistakable. Brendon knew somethingwas wrong with the plane on tow, but he didn’t hit anotherplane. If Brendon had known he flew through someone else’sline, he would have been entitled to a re-flight. But not knowing,and aware that every flight might count, he just re-trimmed andsuccessfully flew it out.The delamination on the outboard panel was repaired, themissing piece of aileron was found and reattached, and a newpiece of wing was used to cover the hole in the center panel.The plane flew again.Daryl did his thing and impressed the crowd in Round 8.Wind is up, line is tensioned to its max, two seconds beforethe window opens the towmen take off, as the window opensthe thrower releases and BAMMMM, the stabilizer decides toremove itself from the plane. Daryl does not flinch. He rolls theaircraft inverted and lands upside down using the flaps like anelevator. No further damage to the plane. Less than 35 secondshave passed.Daryl picks up his backup aircraft, wind is up, line is tensionedto the max, towmen take off, two seconds later the throwerreleases and BAMMMM, the stabilizer tries to remove itself fromthe plane. This time the stabilizer remains attached, just oneside is broken and hanging down at an 80 degree angle. Daryluses all the down trim available and has to hold down stick tokeep the plane flying. Word travels quickly through the crowdand within seconds everyone is watching. The rabid NASCARfan mentally has fully taken over and they can smell a crashcoming. Will he make it?Not only did he make it, but he shot and made a landing, too.Then he fell over mentally exhausted.In Round 10, Cody was on approach, about ten seconds out,when he was mid-aired by a competitor. The collision creasedhis rudder which was easily repaired. Unfortunately, the collisionalso weakened or possibly broke the glue joints in his rudder/elevator box. It went unnoticed in the re-fly and in Round 11. Itis possible that the landing in Round 11 dislodged the box andwent unnoticed until the launch in Round 12. The launch wasvery flat and the plane popped off. Cody, who was in 6th placeat the time and tried hard to make his time from a low launch.Unfortunately, it did not happen and Cody slipped from the flyoffs.After 12 preliminary rounds, the team placing is determined.The seniors finish in 5th place and the juniors finish in 2nd placetaking the Silver medal. Daryl Perkins makes the 11 man fly-offfor the seniors and AJ McGowan and Brendon Beardsley makethe nine man fly-off for the juniors. AJ was flying out of hismind. He finished the preliminary rounds with ten, 1000 pointflights in a 12 round preliminary event. Amazing.October 2008 29