PCD - Post Contest Depression

now while I am sitting in the office after contest, watchin out of the window when people get tows and fly out there, I can only think back the past summer. Most of it you can read from here, some of the things are better left untold :)

Anyway yesterday we flew the last contest of the season. The weather did give us a bit of  a hard time in the morning, but late afternoon we were able to start the flights and managed to pull all 3 rounds for both sportsman and intermediate. Yes I know sportsman flies only 2 rounds, but since there was possibility and will, they flew an extra round just for the practice, it did not affect on the scores but as a judges, we gave them scores and feedback, which I hope was usefull to them.

Contest was a bit of challenging to arrange, since in the intermediate every pilot flew the same plane, our acro and in the sportsman everyone flew another plane, ASK 21. There was supposed to be a Pilatus B4 and PIK-20 D in the sportsman, but due some technical errors, all 5 pilots flew the same ASK... So, we started with a sportsman pilot, next was intermediate, then sportsman again, intermediate and so on... that way we were able to get the fligts done in one day, and I have to say, with  2 towplanes and 2 towpilots... those guys did an awesome job. So thank you Kimmo & Kimmo :D

The last flights were flown late in the evening, we are lucky here that we have a lot of sunlight even now, and the sun sets a bit after 8 so we could keep on flying till then. And yes, I know you are getting excited who did what in the contest, so here are the brief results.



Sportsman Overalls
Rank   Pilot                               Known #1   Free #1     Totals     O/all %
1         Janne Nyyssönen           1061,67       1076,00    2137,67    72,96
2         Petri Mikkilä                  1049,33       1048,00    2097,33    71,58
3         Erkki Soinne                   989,50        960,67     1950,17     66,56
4         Mika Laajalahti               830,67       1003,83    1834,50     62,61
5         Tomi Ylinen                    847,67        980,67      1828,33    62,40

Intermediate Overalls
Rank  Pilot                              Known #1    Free #1     Unk'n #1    Totals   O/all %
1        Ville Sulkakoski            1492,17          1308,00     1144,00      3944,17   80,00
2         Toivo Huovinen            1515,33         1248,17     1144,67       3908,17  79,27
3         Sami Mäntyharju          1471,83         1278,67     1144,67       3895,17  79,01
4         Mikko Luukkanen        1452,83         1240,33     1199,00       3892,17  78,95
5         Jukka Pelto-Aho          1426,83         1252,17     1056,17       3735,17  75,76
6         Jyrki Viitasaari              1407,17         1128,50     1174,67       3710,33  75,26

So a big thanks to all in the contest, the organisation, contest director, startline director, office, judges, pilots and of course all the volunteers working here this weekend. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
Now it is soon time to head home and start another week at work. The next event for me will be the RC  Freestyle contest in Jämi in few weeks, after that an aerobatic camp in Oripää and then it looks like the season is really over. How do I survive the winter?

weather problems...

On saturday morning a well known text message reached us a bit after 7am... briefing postponed to 10.30. The weather is still too low, but there are hopes that later in the afternoon we will fly, at least the split program.

As a request, here is some information about the contest organisation and the pilots. The contest director is Pekka Kamppinen. We have three judges present, Otto Ahonen as the scoring chief judge, Jukka Jusslin and Hanna Räihä as normal judges. Pekka Kakko is assisting on the judge line. On the startline is the President of local airclub Hannu Lehtinen and we also have few volunteers here to help. Big thank you for everyone.

We have 11 pilots all together in the contest, 5 in the sportsman and 6 in the intermediate. Since we are flying according the IAC rules, there are no advanced or unlimited pilots.

Sportsman:
Janne Nyyssönen
Mika Laajalahti
Petri Mikkilä
Erkki Soinne
Tomi Ylinen

Intermediate:
Ville Sulkakoski
Jukka Pelto-Aho
Sami Mäntyharju
Jyrki Viitasaari
Toivo Huovinen
Mikko Luukkanen

It is nice to have this many pilots, a few more than previous years. That is easily explained since in Finland there has been glider aerobatics only for few years, I think from 2005. Correct me if I'm wrong. Either way, this has only short history in Finland.

Now just hope for the clouds to disappear.

Rainy day

Today was the first day of finnish nationals in Kauhava. We got the first 2 flights done and then the rain came. Even we did have very good weather service, the forecast was bad and eventually we cancelled the day. Tomorrow we will try to fly at least the known and free programs, if sunday allows the unknowns. Kauhava is quite famous of its morning fogs, so we'll see what happens tomorrow. The "normal" forecast is promising sun and warm weather which alone will cause fog in the morning, but we'll see what happens. Weather is probably the only thing we can't do anything about. Except keeping our fingers crossed.

Cancelling the day was definately the right decision, since it has been slightly raining the whole evening. Some of the participants went for a dinner and then hanged out for a while. Now it is time to get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day too. And I am still exhausted from my previous contest trips.

Finnish Glider Aerobatic Nationals

Today after work I arrived to Kauhava, for the Finnish nationals. The weather forecast looks pretty ok, but it is way more colder than it has been in the few previous contests.

It seems that we will have a nice set of pilots in Sportsman and Intermediate, so I will keep you updated of how the contest goes. This is the first time I am judging in the contest, so this is going to be very exciting. Then again, I got a lot of practice in Slovakia, with over 200 flights, although it was power and this is glider. Maybe I need to look at the rule book a bit more in the evening....

French anthem and the aftermath

On saturday morning we had some free time to do some souvenier shopping at the local Tesco and then it was time to get ready for the closing ceremony. We had lunch at the hotel and then went to the airfield where was a small airshow, and the prize giving ceremony. Have to say, now I definately know how the french anthem sounds like... heard it I think five times... The results of the contest are in Civa-Results, but I have to say, there are some VERY good pilots in France. Wonder why... But anyway, congratulations to the winners!

before the closing ceremony and prize givings, there was a small airshow, mainly it was the winners of the contest flying. After the ceremony, there was very nice dinner with several local delicaties and of course some wine and beer. Later in the evening there was a simulated dog fight, which was rather cool! They also used pyrotechnics there, and I think I got one or two nice photos of the event.

Sunday was a travelling day, and we started at 8 am from the hotel. PIK was great to give us a lift again to Vienna and after one change in Frankfurt, total of about 4 hours in an airplanes and 4 hours in a bus I was finally home almost at midnight...

Today (monday) I slept late (9.30 or so) and it has mostly gone by by doing laundry, and later on the afternoon I got a hell of a case (if you don't mind the expression, sorry for that) of  migrane headache again, that took me even to the hospital. I almost knew to expect it, it was the first (and last) day of my vacation and I didn't have ANYTHING to do or go officially :D
Well, after few hours in a hospital I am as good as new, and ready to go to work tomorrow.  I guess there are about million things waiting for me, and before that I still need to go through some photos from Dubnica...
So good night for now ;)

Mission accomplished.

Today we finnished the 2nd unknown program. Finally. Everyone started to get restless, it was really hard to concentrate from time to time but we pulled it off. 2870something marks given by each judge in this competition. That makes 213 flights all together. Including the warmups. Or not, I am not quite sure, but close anyway! That is a lot for a first timer. Especially when we did not have writers, or scraibs, so I had to do that also as an assistant. Reading the notes and writing down the marks at the same time, is quite challenging. And even more if you have to check the rolls at the same time, see what is going on in the sky... So basicly, multitasking.

Next weekend I will be judging myself, in glider nationals in Finland, which will be very interesting for me. It is a bit different, not so fast tempo flying and the rules and judging is a bit different than the power contest, so maybe next week I'll take the bus to work and study the glider rules before the competition.

I have to say, even I have spent an amazing summer, with two big competitions, it is good to get back home for a change. Honestly, I am a bit homesick. Only thing not so appealing, is the amount of laundry to do and on tuesday I have to go back to work. The one they are paying me for ;) And next weekend the nationals in Kauhava, will be great seeing all the friends and "my team from Poland" again. I have missed my friends in Kauhava (and in Pori of course)! Really looking forward to that, so in a way it is an easy way out, back to normal life.

Tomorrow we will have morning off, so it is time for some shopping, I need to get something to the kid at home and then we'll have an airshow, the closing ceremony, some fireworks was also promised and the closing dinner. And I definately hope that the thunderstorm we had this late evening will not come back for tomorrow.

few days to go...

now we have finnished the 3 first sequences, the Q, free and unknown. Today we had a long day again, and after lunch we made a small bet with few other judges (no money or anything, just the glory and admiration as a reward, yeah, lame, I know) about when we are going to stop for today. We had us, me and Kimmo, then we had the Swiss&german judge&assistant and the Hungarian, judge& assistant, so 6 people together, and Kimmo was the one who won, with the exact time. Of course the time was stopped, when our Chief judge blows the whistle after the last flight. THE moment, we were through for today.

Well, the unknown is finnished and tomorrow will start the second unknown, so that means again a lot of paperwork, new programs, trying to read them correctly to the judge and so on. I have to say, I have learned A LOT during this trip, but it is still going to take years to become a good judge. Anyway, I am on my way.

Since it was again a LONG day with a lot of sun and wind, I am going to get some sleep, but if you are interested, there are some photos AND video material on the contest website. I REALLY can recommend that you take a look, at least to the videos. Some of them are HILARIOUS! :D

Btw, I am serously getting worried about the "return to the real world"-thing... I don't want to, I could do this all the time. The athmosphere is relaxed and fun, the people are great and be... coffee does not cost that much.

So good night!

Slovakian style...

few words about the contest it self... Now we are passed the half way to get the contest valid. The Q-flight is done, so is the free program. We started today the 1st unknown, there are 8 different ones there, where every pilot has picked one, which they will fly. Already finnished the first group, meaning 18 pilots. The weather forecast is very promising, +27 for tomorrow, +28 for friday... should be able to finnish that, and maybe even fly the 2nd unknown.

But ok, I seriously have to tell you something about this place. The airfield is nice, it is located between some  highlands and the Carpathian mountains. Here the mountains are not that high, but as a finnish girl, I can really appreciate the view. Quite something we don't have back home. At the airfield the infra is quite nice, there is a big hangar, which does not accommodate all the airplanes, but at least some of them. There is also a briefing room, judges room, juryroom, a restaurant and so on. So the facilities are fair enough.

Which brings me to food. I have to say, the food is pretty good here. We have the breakfast in the hotel (which is pretty amazing, me having a room with a bedroom, livingroom, bathroom etc, in case I haven't mentioned). The breakfast is ok, but some of us are missing the bacon... :) There is plenty of fresh bread and all things, yogurt, cerials, etc. and very good coffee. Lunch is at the airfield  and there is normally a soup at first and then they will bring the "real food" to the table. Today it was some chicken, fried potatoes (no french fries, but those that you fry on the pan) and some veggies. We got some fresh watermelon to the judging line along with some "candy bars" with waffle and chokolate, along with coffee of course. Dinner was also in the "briefing room" and there were french fries and a "cheese steak". It was very nice. Most of the time there is to much food, that I can hardly finnish it, And normally I can't :)

Yesterday we ate at the local restaurant near to the hotel and whoa, I could live with a plate like that for few days at home... Excellent, must say. And what pleases me much, is that there were 8 of us having a dinner, some of us had starters, some of had desserts, there were few beers, some glasses of red wine, some water etc.... and for the 8 people, it costed 120 euros, so basicly you can eat a hell of a lot with 15 euros...

There is some videos you might want to check out also on the contest sites along with some photos. Just go to www.eaac2011.sk and from the gallery you'll find out more.

Well, should be getting some sleep, tomorrow will then flying continue...

Time flies, and so do they...

on tuesday we finnished the first 2 groups for the known program. This time I will upload some photos for you, now I got the first set done so here you are... :)

Getting ready at the judging position

 Having a quite nice view from there. Of course, with the thunderbox... :P

 At the opening ceremony

 The teams marched to front of the hangar...

and then we listened few speechees from Jury president, chief judge, contest director etc. etc.

 And few anthems of course

 a small cultural event

 and an "airshow" with parachutes

 and antonov

 some formation flying

and then to the main thing... the line up is quite nice...

 as well is the view

there, this for today, now I need to run again for the breakfast and then to airfield again. Still 20 more to go in free program.

amazing weather

ok, either our weather man is REALLY good, or he is incredibly lucky, but this morning when we had the briefing at 8:00 am, we were shaking our heads like "yeah right" when there was the announcement that at 10am the weather will clear out... since this morning there was a lot of fog and low cloud base and all, and visibility was really poor. But at 10 am it cleared and we started the flights.

Ok, lets go a while back... On saturday was the opening seremony, which I have to say, was the best so far. And I can say this with all my experience of 3 big contests... :)  Last year in Jämi, it took about 13 minutes, with speeches like "welcome to Finland, lets go fly!" and in Torun it was held in a tent way too small, with few speaches, in Polish of course (ok, Marta did translate them) and some food and so on, but now we had the teams marching to the front of the hangar, few speaches, playing some anthems, and then there was this cultural event with some local music and dancing. I kind of liked it, it is nice to see some local things. The opening dinner was nice and the food was good and I really enjoyed the evening.

On saturday, the first flights were done, only 4 due some weather conditions, but today (sunday) we really got to do our "judging business" and got 35 flights done in the Q-sequence. Morning did not look too promising, but amazingly - just like the weatherman said- it all cleared at 10 and the flying started. Ok, few words about the judging... or more like how and where we do that... We were transported to the other judging position, where there was tables for all judges, then there were chairs for assistants and some weird  old kind of an army beds for the judges. Just like yesterday. I have been told now, by several judges, that the "beds" are not that good to sit on, and it gets your back hurt a lot... Hopefully there is a change to that coming up... Anyway, we are sitting on the end of the runway, on an old wheat field and luckily we also got some parasols, since there is no shade within... well, a long way.

After 31 flights today with the Q-sequence (the known), we got back to the "base" had a german night with some bratwurst and beer and nice chats with others. It was quite a lovely night. I had fun and enjoyed the athmosphere and the people. It is quite unique, that there are so many languages around, english is the official language of course, but then you hear german, french, hungarian, polish, slovakian, russian, portugese, swedish and of course finnish, which I use of course with "my judge" and so on... I have studied french at school for several years, but since you don't have to use it anywhere, you basicly forget it. Then I have studied a bit of german, which is very difficult language for me, but now I have been pleased to notice, that when you jusst listen, you eventually start to understand something. Possibly. Maybe.

But there is no way I can speak those. No, not yet at least.

Tomorrow will the flying continue and there will be more Q-fligts. Then we'll continue to the free-programs, which are made by the pilots themselfs. Then there will be a unknown, which will be composed here according to the teams proposals and of course the sporting code. But we'll see what happens then. Now I need to get some sleep, since the briefing is going to be at 8 am. Again.

Judging seminar

Nowdays, I've been told, there is a judging seminar every time before a contest starts. Not so much to teach anyone, since if you are judging in a big competition, you already have to know what you are doing, but just to go through few things, remind everyone about the rules, take a look at the possible rule changes and see, that we all agree on things.

Today our Chief Judge Nick did the presentation and we also went through the judge currency tests, which were sent to the judges in advance, to fill out and return... Kimmo did well, and have to be a bit proud of myself too, so did I. I took the test just for fun, and out of curiosity, and scored about 80% correct. I had few simple, one would say idiotic, mistakes there, like I seriously did not know which is the figure for a tail slide canopy up or down... right. But anyway, way to go me :)

After some theories we went to the judging position and scored few flights to see, that we are on the same page with everyone else and it worked out quite nicely. The one big change from the previous years, is that there is no more soft zero, but there is a PZ, a preception zero. Kind of an opinion zero along with Hard Zero and 0.0. I am not going to explain the differences here completely, but shortly it means that HZ is given, when a pilot flies a completely wrong figure, a 0.0 is given, when there are so many errors, that the downgrading comes to 0 and PZ is given, if you can't properly see the figure, or that for example a flick roll is not a flick roll. That is the short version. The longer version you can read from the Sporting Code.

After hanging out at the airfield trying to get, or more like waiting for, an answer from the organizer to few questions, we headed out to the hotel and went out to get a good dinner. The food was good again and so was the company, so now it is good time to get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow. If the weather allowes, the flights start tomorrow, so it is going to be a long day...

Travelling day

Today my day started rather early, 5:30 in Helsinki and I got to go to the airport by 8. Flight was dued to leave 9:15 to Vienna via Frankfurt. I met Kimmo, the judge I am assisting at the gate when I was struggeling with my computer... For some reason, my computer starts acting up when Kimmo is around. Good thing is, he knows how to fix it. The same thing happened last year in Jämi, and he did his magic and that one still works.  Now I have my "new" one with me, only a bit less than a year old computer and it gave me the "blue screen" few times at Helsinki-Vantaa, but now it *seems* to be working out... So now, after a long day, I am taking pack up files from photos and other important stuff.

Anyway, from Helsinki we flew to Frankfurt and I was kind of hoping to see few friends there but I guess they were busy or unable to see me there. Well, that was most likely the situation, but one can always hope ;)
After a short break of 2 hours, we continued to Vienna and landed safely to meet PIK waiting for us - with LG! and just to be clear, PIK was the chief judge last year in Jämi and this year in Poland, and is now working as a "normal" judge here in Slovakia. LG then again, is here as the president of jury and we already met last summer in Jämi. That was a nice surprise.

We drove to Dubnica, which took about 2 hours or less, on a perfectly good highway in PIKs car and finally found the airfield. There were few familiar faces and ´names for me, but honestly this is my first contest in Power so basicly I don't know anyone. Luckily, I am quite social, and talk to people easy, so it was nice to meet few other very nice people.

After a late dinner I am in bed, trying to copy all my files to the hard disk I had with me and hope for the best... I seriously need to do something to this computer before it crashes completely.

Right after the crucial files, I need to get some sleep. There is a judging seminar tomorrow, and i know that some people will give me a hard time... ;)

about to go again...

Tomorrow morning starts another journey, this time to Dubnica, Slovak Republic, for the European Advanced Aerobatic Championships... It is the first big competition for me as a judge assistant. I am going there with one of our finnish judges, Mr. Kimmo Virtanen.

Now that will be the third side of a competition to see for me... First there was this contest in Jämi in 2010 where I worked in the contest office. Then there was Poland, and team manager-job. Now I will see also the judges side of the contest.  I have to say, those two glider competitions have been the highlights of  both summers. It was amazing to see familiar faces now in Poland and meet many new, very interesting people, who I really wish to see again some where, some day.  The sooner, the better.

Have to say, I am looking forward to this coming week, what is going on in Slovakia. Never been there before.  Let you know more about this when I get there...

what it is all about...

it is said in the attribution, "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. *Leonardo da Vinci"

Since I can't fly myself, I had to invent something. The urge to get out in the sky and airfields is so demanding, there had to be something...

I have worked as a volunteer several years in a local airshow, Jämi Fly In and last year, 2010, there was held the World championships in glider aerobatics after the show... I was working there as a volunteer, in a contest office. That two weeks made me realize that there must be something I can do what includes airplanes, flying, airfields... And I think I found my way....

Now I am on my way to be an aerobatic judge. I just returned from Poland, where the world championships in glider aerobatics was held this year. I was there as the team manager for the team Finland. If you are interested about what happened there, you can go and read about it from the team's blog. It was a great trip. I really spend time easily on airfields and watch airplanes and gliders come and go...  and just hang out there even if the weather is lousy.


So, next thursday morning I will travel to another competition, the European advanced aerobatics championships to Dubnica, Slovakia.  So, untill that... take care all.