Winners:
Top Gun: Gary Shreve

Target Drop
1st: 9’ 2” - Pilot Dan Winnie, PDS Ken Yates.
2nd: 12’ 6” - Pilot Ed Pataky, PDS Dale Moorehead.
3rd: 12’ 8” - Pilot Rick Third, PDS Ben Third.

Spot Landing
1st: Gary Shreve 7.8 point average
2nd: Joel Kiester 7.1 point average
3rd : Dan Winnie 5.8 point average

Aerial Scavenger Hunt
1st: Jeff Hersom & Gary Shreve
2nd: Joel Kiester & Lexie Armitage
3rd : Kirk Wennerstrom & Will Dirickson

Egg Drop
8 Eggs Dropped, 2 Survivors. Tie Score.

Egg Drop Soup - Tonya Ford, David Stiff, Nick Wener, Ed Figuli & Harry Wiebe (completely amazing, egg was found intact with only a single balloon cushion, which popped, leaving the impression than no protection was used at all.)

The Incognito Team - Ed Pataky, Joel Kiester, Lexie Armitage, Greg Hopp, Wally & Addison Pond. (This team killed two eggs during the packaging process, but ultimately prevailed with confetti packing and a Ziploc bag parachute.)

The contest flying this year followed our usual formula with a few slight modifications. As in recent years, the main test of flying skill was landing between two painted red lines 75 feet apart on the runway.

A valid landing was counted when any part of the airplane touched down inside the lines. A few gasps and groans were evident when the tie down ring appeared to be the first part of the airplane to touch down, but most pilots managed to touch down tires first.

What made the landing contest particularly challenging was it’s location on the runway, approximately at midpoint between the landing thresholds. Most pilots are not accustomed to touching down at the 2,500 foot mark on a 5,200 foot long runway, and this made for some entertaining approach profiles. Early on it was common for pilots to make a standard approach to the threshold, and then attempt to “hold off” touchdown for 2,000+ feet by putting in some power.

A successful touch down inside “the Zone” qualified that pilot for a style and grace landing score. Six judges rated each qualified landing on a scale of 1 to 10 like Olympic ice skating competition. Pilots made three landing attempts for each contest flight, most soon learned that the secret was to make a steep approach to midfield, and flare hard right onto the zone. This turned out to be easier to say than to do, because the red zone lines were essentially invisible from the cockpit. By the second contest four orange safety cones were placed at the corners of the zone to make it easier to spot, but these too were surprisingly difficult to see on final.

In the long run, the only sure way to find the zone was to spot the judges next to the runway. In spite of visual difficulties, a surprising majority of pilots were able to perform qualified landings after an attempt or two.

The second contest we like to call a “Target” or “Package Delivery” contest. We don’t use that four letter word that starts with a “B” to describe things we drop from the airplane for obvious reasons.

The “Packages” this year were soft, brightly colored nerf footballs with foam fins. (In previous years empty plastic water bottles with cardboard fins were used.) As it turned out the NDU’s (nerf delivery units) were both heavier and softer than the previous ordinance, and target accuracy improved as a result. In addition, the NDU’s proved to be quite durable. The target was a 35 gallon trash can in the center of a 50 foot white plywood plus sign. The rules were quite simple, minimum altitude for the drop 100 feet AGL. It wasn’t always clear what altitude the drop airplanes were flying, but it was pretty obvious to all when they flew the target run below 100 feet AGL, those who delivered too low received a scratch for that attempt.

Each crew consisted of a Pilot and “Package Delivery Specialist”. Like the landing contests, each crew got three attempts at the target. Though accuracy was greatly improved this year, the safest place to sit remained target center.

Like the spot landing contest, the most difficult factor in the NDU drop was spotting. The target itself was easy to see, but once the NDU was released it was nearly impossible for the crew to figure out where it went, and whether or not their aim was any good. This year we tried helping the crews by providing two flagmen on the ground. The flagmen judged the relative winds, and positioned themselves at a correction point as stand-in targets. In reality we soon learned that the NDU’s were hardly effected by wind, and the flagmen’s role became one of marking pilot judgment corrections. For example, if pilots were consistently releasing short of the target, the flags were moved long. The advice to crews, “aim for the flags”. Whether or not the flags were useful to crews, they unintentionally ended up adding a degree of patriotic inspiration as they unfurled in the wind.

The NDU’s were surprisingly accurate, most fell within 200 feet of the target. As it turned out busting altitude was not an effective strategy. At 60-80 mph and 100 feet AGL the target zone passed underneath pretty quick. Since the NDU’s dropped almost straight down, a few crews realized that flying higher made the release window less dependent on reaction time. In all we flew 3 squadrons and 16 crews on Friday. The top scoring crew flew their most successful run at 200 feet AGL and scored just 9 feet 2 inches from the target. Five crews managed to place their NDU’s closer than 15 feet.

Top Gun
When combined, best overall performance was achieved by Gary Shreve, who won two of the three contests he entered and thus was named Clinton 2005 Top Gun. Joel Kiester and Dan Winnie also each received trophies for their excellent combined scores in more than one category.

Honorable Mention
Newcomer Wally Pond, participated in every contest, with above average scores in all. Though he did not place in the top three in any of the contests, Wally deserves recognition for his Chutzpah, as the ink on his PPL had less than a month to dry before flying to Clinton 2005.