A sound bite on Andrew Jesky--

Yes, I remember this kid came up to me during the Toledo show in 2000 asking a lot of questions about pattern and just hanging out. I asked him if he wanted to go to the TOC and he said yes. I sensed that he was very motivated at that time. He was flying advanced Pattern in 2001, won. Masters in 2002, won. FAI in 2003, placed in the finals (top 10).

A memorable part of the Masters was when Jason Noll flew between the trees during his freestyle (overall, quite spectacular freestyle if you get the Propwash video, particularly Friday evening when it was dead calm). Anyhow, so what does Andrew do? Not to be outdone, he flies between the same two trees, but in knife edge!

These two were pretty much rivals the whole week. In the Qualifying on Tuesday and Wednesday Jason won most of the knowns, but Andrew took the unknown; since they both tied in freestyle Andrew came out on top.

They battled back and forth during the competition as well, with Andrew coming out on top (by two places) in the end.

By the way, the Masters is unique- its part invitational, part open qualifying. If you want to give it a shot, its worth it (I saw a lot of names mentioned in this forum) Get them to come out and give it a try. To have someone like Andrew come out just about cold (had just got his Carden Extra flying before the contest) and finish 5th is outstanding.

I had a long discussion with Pat Hartness about the philosophy of the event. He wants the Don Lowe to be challenging, and pull in the best pilots to determine the world champion. Kind of like a true competition. The absence of prize $ puts the focus on flying and away from the high stress associated with those big bucks. An interesting concept. I assure you that if you go you will be treated like a king, whether you finish first or 20th.

Cheers,
Don