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Redlands
July 12-14. It started out as a Mini scheduled in March, was rained out and relocated to July, then morphed again into a full five-category contest after the Paso Robles event was cancelled. Only two Chapter members went, Matt Dunfee, flying the Sunrise Extra 300, and Dale Roberts. After struggling a bit in the first flight, Matt edged out Dale for Third Place, Sportsman.
Los Angeles Gold Cup (Apple Valley)
May 4-5. More success! Matt Dunfee, Second Place Sportsman; Fernando Scalini, Third Place Sportsman; Elias Corey, Fourth Place Sportsman. Matt and Fernando flew the Sunrise Extra, and Elias his own S-1 Pitts.
Hammerhead RoundUp (Borrego)
April 12-14. SUCCESS! Seven Trophies: First Place Sportsman, Second Place Advanced, Second Place Intermediate, Second Place Primary, Third Place Sportsman, Highest Scoring Flight School and Highest Scoring Chapter. Winners in order were Matt Dunfee (Extra), Hiroyasu Endo (Extra), Daniel Wisehart (S-1 Pitts), James Smet (S-1 Pitts), Fernando Scalini (Extra), Sunrise Aviation and IAC Chapter 120. All pilots were coached by Michael Church. There!
The Revenge of the Aerobatist (Redlands)
March 16-17. [Cancelled/postponed due to weather]
Tequila Cup
November 3-5. Endo was our sole export to Arizona, flying the Advanced category in the Sunrise Extra 300. The wind was a factor: strong enough to drift a hammerhead almost the length of the box. After taking one zero in the Known, Endo came back, taking First in the Free, Second in the Unknown and finishing with his second Second Place overall finish for 2011.
Borrego Akrofest
October 13-15. After a quiet summer, the SoCal Aerobats team revived in time to make a respectable showing in Borrego at the Fall classic. James Smet, new to a Pitts S1, captured second place Primary, Daniel won Third place, Intermediate, and Endo toook Second place, Advanced. Fernando Scalini flew Sportsman, but lost his chance for a trophy when he zeroed a figure in his second flight.
For Daniel and Endo, the trophies represented a lot of hard work: in each case it was the first win since moving up in category. Daniel, Fernando and James were flying 80DD, the Pitts S1 they recently purchased from Ty Frisby.
The contest was preceeded by a two-day Chapter 120 coaching camp attended by Endo, Fernando and Dale Roberts. Dale went on to win First place, Sportsman, in his Decathlon.
80DD
Duel in the Desert (Apple Valley--May)
May. The second California contest is in the books, a five-category contest at the Apple Valley airport. The big news for Sunrise was the performance of the two pilots who represented Chapter 120: Elias McGeeney earned Second Place, Primary, and Matt Dunfee finished just out of the running in Fourth Place, Sportsman.
Matt's accomplishment is not fairly reflected by his fourth place finish. He lives in Apple Valley, but that was the sole familiar element for the entire weekend. He had elected to move from the Sunrise Decathlon to our Extra 300 just two weeks earlier. Mastering a high performance plane wasn't enough: he also jumped up from Primary to Sportsman.
Matt's first solo flight in the Extra was the ferry flight to APV, his second and third were practice flights on Thursday, and his next flight was his first competitve flight in Sportsman. And here's the impressive part: he finished third and second, respectively, in his first two contest flights.
A zero on a spin in the third and last flight took Matt out of the medal picture, but all told, he and his CFIs have a lot to be proud of.
Matt & the Extra
Hammerhead Roundup (Borrego--April)
Jeff Boerboon. In addition to the standard pleasures of watching new and experienced pilots work their way through the intricacies of competitive flight, the big news at the Borrego contest was the Jeff Boerboon Show. Jeff, the current US National Champion, undertook to dazzle onlookers by earning an "Achievement Award" in all five categories. To accomplish this, he chose to fly every single maneuver flown by all the other entrants.
Jeff's Extra, at rest for a moment
What started as an improbable task--no zeros in fifteen flights--eventually took on the flavor of a no-hitter in its last two innings: it could actually happen. By the time Jeff started the last sequence, each new maneuver had us all staring at the sky rooting for success, and there was a count-down started at the Chief judge's table.
He made it.
The Start of the Season!
February. 2011 is off to a good start. On Saturday, February 26 we began the year with a well-attended Advanced Judging School. The instructor was Brian Howard, and nine active judges kept him busy answering questions well past the scheduled end of class. Four attendees were renewing National judges, and five are committed to earning National status this year.
April. Our first training camp of the new season! We traveled to Borrego on April 1st and 2nd to start tuning up for the contest year. Daniel Wisehart, Elias McGeeney and Matt Dunfee were the students, and Michael Church coached. Elias and Matt are new to the sport and will be flying Primary for at least the first contest. Daniel is starting his second year in the Intermediate category.
Both Daniel and Elias are flying new (to them) airplanes: each is the proud owner of a Pitts S1. It was fun to coach single-place Pitts again: great competition performers--by far the best return for the dollar.
Elias's Pitts S1S
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Southern California Aerobatic Club
"SoCal Aerobats"
President: Michael Church
Vice President: Daniel Wisehart
Secretary: Elias Corey
Treasurer: Matt Dunfee
Webmaster: Michael Church
Featured Merchandise
Intermediate Aerobatics
Michael Church
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Chapter News
New Membership Policy
After four years, the Chapter 120 Officers have decided to change the way we manage chapter membership. To this point we have not kept a formal membership roster, content to list only enough pilots to fill the slate of required officers.
For 2011 we will accept applications and keep a roster. General membership benefits include:
- Personal coaching in the Blockhouse
- Aircraft rental from Sunrise Aviation for California contests
- Priority access to Chapter Training Camps
- Priority access to Chapter hosted Judging Schools
- Contest support
We also offer Charter Memberships, although it is unclear at this time how one earns the privilege and what, if any, benefits come with it. The current Charter Members are:
- Michael Church
- Jon Nash
- Clark Foster
- Ty Frisby
- Daniel Wisehart
You can apply for membership with our Easy Fillout™ form. Annual dues are $10 (compare to others!). As the chapter has no debts (compare to others!), our plan is to save up the dues until we have enough money for a party.
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