2013 Bakersfield 2nd Annual Pattern Bash
Wow it seems like just yesterday we were Flying Pattern and racing Gee Bee’s at the first annual Bear Mountain Pattern Bash. Well that time is rapidly approaching again and even though there hasn’t been much said yet I assure you guys this year we are going to blow you away.
First of all we decided to turn it into a 3 day event in order to be able to get a ton of flying in for everyone. The next thing that we have added is going to be some free seminars, having to do with both trimming (Bryan Herbert) and judging (Gordon Anderson/Brock Vaugn). I know the second one is normally not something to get excited about but trust me when you see the system we are going to be using you will be amazed.
Just imagine turning around after your flight to thank the judges and your tear sheets will be ready for you to pick up. Not to mention you will have already been emailed your scores as well. Pretty cool huh, and that’s not the cool part yet.
Sponsors, yep that’s right last year was great, but this year is going to be better. Of course we will have Zap, APC, Tru-Turn, and Smart Fly, just like last year, and joining them new for 2013 will be Castle, Hobby King, YS, Dura Fly, and hopefully a few more.
I have already spoken with our good buddy John Bruml and he said this year’s shirts are going to be better yet, so just like before you will need to get your order in early. I think we will incorporate a shirt size on the preregistration form so that way everything can be takin care of at one time. Speaking of good buddies the Caglia’s are going to do the Friday night dinner at the field just like last year and Kyle Dahl has offered to do another demo or two for us to enjoy during lunch the lunch break sat. and sun.
Of course we will be flying Old School Masters just like we did last year except this year we are to divide the event up based on K-Factor. That way we will be able to get more guys involved without messing with the spirit of the event. Basically we are going to have two classes of running together. The first will be for a pattern that has a K-Factor of 38 and lower, and then for the more experienced guys there patterns will add up to 45. Everyone still has to pick there maneuvers and get them to us no later then 10am on Friday. The current AMA Masters Class as well as Old School will be kicking things off at noon on Fri. and each class will fly two rounds.
The field will be open from 7am until 1130am for anyone that want to get some practice in before Masters flies and then will re-open as soon as the last pilot lands. I am thinking that will be around 3PM. During that block of time is when the seminars will be going on and I highly suggest taking advantage of them.
Of course the field will be open all day Thursday as well as the weekend prior for anyone who wants to come up and practice on site. Normally Sat. and Wed. are the two days a week the pattern guys fly the most and the number of pattern planes at the field will be anywhere from 5 to 15 depending on the time of year.
If we have time on Sunday I want to run a Turkey shoot for the top 3 guys in FAI, Master’s, and Advanced. Of course this will be a handicapped event, and I promise the 1st place FAI pilot will not have any advantage the field. It should be a good time and fun for all. If we have time!
The Gee Bee racing was fun but too expensive and too hard to repair, so this year we will be switching to the HK funfighter Bearcat. I know a few of you guys have seen them go already but for those of you that have not I will be posting a link to some video you won’t believe. They fly like a real plane and not to mention they are incredibly tough as well as only costing $84.00. That is complete with rec. 4 cell lipo, esc, servos , motor, and 3 props. How can you go wrong?
Ok I have briefly touched on most of the main topics, please feel free to ask any Q’s that you might have, and then keep checking back for more details in the next few days
I hope to see you all here the last weekend of April. This year were shooting for 50 – 60 pilots and from the confirmations I have received so far I am pretty sure we can do it. I believe there’s only one person I know of that was hear last year but won’t be able to attend this year, however there’s at least 10 new guys coming.
More Later
C