I was one of three Cambridge pilots competing at Sports level in the Saltby Open Aerobatics over the weekend of 18th July.
Bradley Brandt took Gold and Simon Smith (that’s me) took Silver. Dave Rendall was placed second after the first round and it was only a mistake in the next round that spoilt his chances of winning a medal.
That we were able to compete and get good scores is testament to our aerobatics instructors Martin Whitehead at Cambridge and Mark Erlund at Saltby . If you’ve flown with either of them you’ll understand why I say that. If you haven’t, but you’ve watched Karate Kid, well Martin and Mark are like the Mr Miyagis of flying instructors only much better.
All three of us Cambridge competitors want to record our thanks to the people who made the competition work so well:
- Buckminster Gliding club who provided the airfield, the gliders, the tugs, excellent facilities and more
- Andy Cunningham the Competition Director who lead the event with his customary good humour
- Brendan Obrien, Charles Baker, and Paul Conran the judges whose advice and feedback has improved our competition flying
- The competitors who all made it so friendly
- Neil Oakley, the gliding representative in British Aerobatics, who is working hard to revive the sport in the UK ready for international competition.
I’ll leave last words to Bradley, “I thoroughly enjoyed my first glider aerobatics competition at Saltby. The camaraderie between the competitors was incredible, and to win my first competition was amazing. I’m hooked.”
