Practice Possible

This morning the Contest Director has announced that the runway is usable and at 0800 the weather is reasonable, so we hope that not too much cloud cover builds-up when the temperature rises - there is a lot of moisture in the ground! But all we need are some gaps in the clouds and the pilots will be able to get some practice done. Feedback from some of the pilots who have flown in the box is that there are very few ground features to use as references for orientation, so its going to make stopping on heading tricky. The aim is to ensure that all of the competitors get at least one go in the box before the first briefing (1600 today). Some of the pilots (Russian Team, US, Spanish) have been here for between 5 and 8 days, but most pilots have had very few practice flights in the box because of weather and runway conditions.

Tom, Gerald and Nick should get practice flights between 1000 and 1100 today - Eric has had to leave to go to work flying for Air France and will return next week in time for the 4 Minute Free. Then we have the first briefing and opening ceremony this evening. Everyone at the hotel and airfield are very friendly and working hard to get everything ready so that we can start competition flights tomorrow.