A Grand Champion Clip T •2016 Sportsman Sequence •Grassroots? •Cure for the Flying Doldrums the Bold 2016 Ford Edge Commands Your Attention
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MARCH 2016 TM •A Grand Champion Clip T •2016 Sportsman Sequence •Grassroots? •Cure for the Flying Doldrums The bold 2016 Ford Edge commands your attention. With a choice of EcoBoost® engines delivering exhilarating performance and state-of- the-art driver assist technologies, the Ford Edge is engineered to inspire confidence on the road. Available Adaptive Steering is a class-exclusive* advancement that manipulates the vehicle’s steering ratio to constantly provide smooth, calculated steering at any speed. With available Enhanced Active Park Assist, Edge almost effortlessly parallel parks or backs into any perpendicular parking space. Ford driver-assist technologies use sensors, radar and cameras mounted at specific locations on the vehicle, to help you see what’s behind you, scan the road ahead and alert you if you are drifing out of your lane. They notice if a vehicle is in your blind spot and even monitor the vehicle in front and adjust your speed to keep it at a preset distance behind the vehicle ahead. Examples of driver-assist features available on the 2016 Edge include: Front 180-degree camera The Privilege of Partnership BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) EAA members are eligible for special pricing on Ford Motor with cross-trafc alert Company vehicles through Ford’s Partner Recognition Lane-keeping system Program. To learn more about this exclusive opportunity Adaptive cruise control and collision for EAA members to save on a new Ford vehicle, please visit warning with brake support www.eaa.org/ford. *Class is Midsize Utilities based on Ford Segmentation. Edge – Nothing’s more attractive than confidence! OFFICIAL MAGAZINE of the INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB OFFICIAL MAGAZINE of the INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB Vol. 45 No.3 March 2016 A PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB OFFICIAL MAGAZINE of the INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB CONTENTSOFFICIAL MAGAZINE of the INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB After talking for a while he offered me a ride in T Clips! I was hooked! Erik said, “Well, why don’t you just build one?” So that’s what I began to do. —Trevor Niemyjski FEATURES 5 A Grand Champion Clip T by Trevor Niemyjski 12 Flying It by Gordon Penner 20 Grassroots? by Giles Henderson EMILY JOHNSON 22 The Cure for the Flying Doldrums by Ed Miller COVER Former air show pilot Tom Henry DEPARTMENTS flies the Pitts home to Alabama. 2 Letter From the Editor Reggie Paulk 3 President’s Column Mike Heuer 4 Lines & Angles 28 Contest Calendar 30 Meet a Member Gary DeBaun 32 FlyMart & Classified Ads www.iac.org 1 OFFICIAL MAGAZINE of the INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB EDITOR’S LOG OFFICIAL MAGAZINE of the INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB BY REGGIE PAULK PUBLISHER: Mike Heuer Is It Worth It? IAC MANAGER: Trish Deimer-Steineke EDITOR: ReggieOFFICIAL PaulkMAGAZINE of the INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB Flying when you shouldn’t CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Gary DeBaun Trevor Niemyjski I was recently reading my lo- accident at all is because it shouldn’t Mike Heuer Reggie Paulk Giles Henderson Gordon Penner cal newspaper when I came across have happened in the frst place, in Ed Miller OFFICIAL MAGAZINE of the INTERNATIONAL AEROBATIC CLUB a report of fatal crash of a Beech- my opinion. Barring major fndings craft V-tail Bonanza. I was sad- from the NTSB, I think what hap- IAC CORRESPONDENCE International Aerobatic Club, P.O. Box 3086 dened to read that the pilot was pened here was a classic case of get- Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086 an acquaintance I knew through a home-itis. Te pilot had mentioned Tel: 920.426.6574 • Fax: 920.426.6579 local EAA chapter and, as is usual to my friend that he was in a hurry E-mail: [email protected] with such an accident, wanted to to get home. Contributing factors fnd out the cause. were the fact that he’d gotten away ADVERTISING Vice President of Business Development: Te article didn’t mention the N with similar incidents in the past. Dave Chaimson [email protected] number of his airplane, and it was As a former fight instructor, it Advertising Manager: too badly damaged to make out pains me to read about these types Sue Anderson [email protected] on the tail from photographs, so of accidents. Tere is just no logical I couldn’t fnd the accident on the reason for them to occur. Te next MAILING: Change of address, lost or damaged magazines, back issues. NTSB database right away. A call time you just have to be somewhere, EAA-IAC Membership Services from a mutual friend helped me get consider this—what will your friends Tel: 800.843.3612 Fax: 920.426.6761 more information. and loved ones think if they never E-mail: [email protected] Te friend who called me told me see you again? Will other pilots read he spoke to the pilot a couple hours your accident report and shake their The International Aerobatic Club is a division of the EAA. before the accident, and advised heads? My friend who’d spoken to him not to fy that afternoon— the pilot prior to his crash was devas- EAA® and SPORT AVIATION®, the EAA Logo® and Aeronautica™ are the weather in Utah and western tated. Please listen to those nagging registered trademarks and service marks of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. The use of these trademarks and service marks without Colorado was deteriorating, and it doubts the next time you just have to the permission of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc. is strictly was getting late. I knew he wasn’t be somewhere—they just might be prohibited. Copyright © 2015 by the International Aerobatic Club, Inc. instrument rated, and the airplane the voice of reason. IAC All rights reserved. was a 1950s-era V-tail with min- The International Aerobatic Club, Inc. is a division of EAA and of the imal instrumentation. My friend NAA. advised me to look up the fight on FlightAware, and I was deeply A STATEMENT OF POLICY The International Aerobatic Club, Inc. cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy of the material disappointed to read the radar data presented by the authors of the articles in the magazine. The pages leading up to the accident. of Sport Aerobatics are offered as a clearing house of information Using FlightAware, I was able to and a forum for the exchange of opinions and ideas. The individual reader must evaluate this material for himself and use it as he sees determine that he had taken his fit. Every effort is made to present materials of wide interest that will Bonanza up to nearly 19,000 feet, be of help to the majority. Likewise we cannot guarantee nor endorse under visual fight rules, at night, any product offered through our advertising. We invite constructive fying single-pilot over the Colo- criticism and welcome any report of inferior merchandise obtained through our advertising so that corrective measures can be taken. rado Rockies. His friend informed Sport Aerobatics (USPS 953-560) is owned by the International me that he did not have oxygen Aerobatic Club, Inc., and is published monthly at EAA Aviation Center, on board. It doesn’t take much to Editorial Department, P.O. Box 3086, 3000 Poberezny Rd., Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. Periodical Postage is paid at Oshkosh Post Office, fgure out what may have led to Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901 and other post offices. Membership rate for this crash. the International Aerobatic Club, Inc., is $45.00 per 12-month period of Te reason I’m writing about this which $18.00 is for the subscription to Sport Aerobatics. Manuscripts submitted for publication become the property of the International Aerobatic Club, Inc. Photographs will be returned upon request of the author. High-resolution images are requested to assure the best quality reproduction. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sport Aerobatics, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086. CPC 40612608 Please submit news, comments, articles or suggestions to: [email protected] 2 Sport Aerobatics March 2016 PRESIDENT’S COLUMN BY MIKE HEUER, IAC PRESIDENT, IAC 4 Awards, Nominations, Elections Your call to action One of the most enjoyable aspects of my job to stand for re-election. That said, we are always as IAC president is to play a part in the presenta- looking for new blood, and the board has had some tion of the various awards and trophies we give significant changes in the last couple of years. This away every year. All of the recipients have come a is all to the good. How they do their jobs is import- long way to achieve what they have in aerobatics ant to each and every one of you. and richly deserve our recognition. Our busiest and most complex meeting of the Some of the most important awards we present board of directors is held each November. This one are what we call the “Non-Flying Awards.” More is the most difficult as we deal with rules changes information on these awards can be found on the for the following year, choose Known sequences for IAC website (www.IAC.org), and nominations can all categories of competition, receive and review be submitted there with online forms. They go the reports of all our program chairs, hear from directly to our new awards chair, Patty Anderson our U.S. National Aerobatic Championships offi- of New Jersey, who collects them and submits a cials, plan for an ever-expanding presence at EAA ballot to the board of directors for them to vote AirVenture, and approve a budget for the next fis- for the winners. Deadline this year for submission cal year. All of our directors must bring their skills, of nominations is June 15, 2016.