2017 Tasmanian Pattern Championship.

A very early start for the competitors and team manager from The Roaring Forties.  The briefing was to be at 8.15am at Panshanger.  No ifs, buts or maybes we had to be ready to fly at 8.15.  Breakfast and coffee at Campbell Town for most of us while Mike Ralph got to Panshanger early to trim his model.  The Roaring Forties were represented by Tony Gray and Tony Sheppard in Sportsman, Mike Rutledge and Peter Allen in Advanced and Mike Ralph in Expert.

Once again the weather was perfect, well done again Andrew.  I wish I had your direct line to the weather gods.

The "A" team Tony S. (left) with caller Mike Ralph

First to fly were Sportsman and F3A.  So first off, again, was Tony Sheppard, followed by David Cook (PFL) and then our very own Tony Gray.

Tony Gray starting his model with the help of Mike Rutledge.

Eventual winner of Sportsman class, Dave Cook.

Competition in all classes was fierce with some very close results.  In Sportsman class Dave Cook took out the first two flights and Tony Sheppard the third.  Only one point separating the two.

However Dave performed better in the fourth and last flight of the day scoring 210 points to Tony's 196 points.





Both Dave and Tony earned a promotion point.

Tony Gray fly very well to come in third and just missed out on a promotion point.

Steve and Tina Reece

Scott Kay, who has just returned from representing Australia at the World Championships in Argentina, took to first place.

Scott Kay, recently returned from representing Australia.

He was followed by Ben Goode in second, Steve Reece in third and Steve Cochran in fourth.

Ben Goode

Steve Cochrane

Again the scores were close with less than a hundred points separating 2nd and fourth.











Scores in F3A were.

Scott Kay             3,000
Ben Goode           2,780
Steve Reece          2,759
Steve Cochrane    2,686

Andrew McEntyre

Mike Rutledge assisted by Mike Ralph

The field for advanced was fairly large.  Mike Rutledge and Peter Allen from The Roaring Forties, Kevin Hay and Terry Pearson from Launceston Model Aero Club and Andrew McEntyre from The Phoenix Flyers.








There was some very good flying in the Advanced class with Kevin, Mike and Terry all getting a promotion point.

Kevin Hay from LMAC

Kevin Hay took out the Advanced class with a score of 3,000 closely followed by Mike with a score of 2,975.  Kevin and Mike were only separated by a point in the raw scores.  So a very close contest.

Terry Pearson

It has been reported that Terry and Kevin have engaged the services of a coach.  The work certainly shows in some fine flying.

Terry has now moved on to the Expert class and will be giving Mike Ralph some competition.

Peter Allen and Mike Rutledge

Unfortunately Peter had some bad luck with his YS engine and had to abort his first two flights.  He never settled after that and had a disappointing result.

Andrew McEntyre showed some grit and determination and is slowly moving through the field.

The "A" team again, Tony S. assisting Mike Ralph.

Only one competitor in Expert, our very own Mike ralph. Mike has recently taken up pattern flying again after a break of a few years.  He has invested in a BJ Craft Element and a Jeti DS-16 and is a man on a mission.  Probably not too long before he is up giving the F3A schedule a run.

Mike managed to get an average raw score of 345, only 15 away from a promotion point.

Tony Gray takes the cake.

Our scorer, Tina with, CD Andrew McEntyer

Team Manager, photographer and "Hurry Upperer", William Deal

The Sportsman combatants, Tony S, Dave and Tony G
with CD Andrew McEntyre.

Advanced competitors Andrew, Mike, Kevin, PA and Terry.

CD Andrew with the F3A field Scott Kay, Ben Goode,
Steve Reece and Steve Cochrane

Expert Mike Ralph with CD Andrew.