We're always thrilled to hear from our friend & RC Heli flying legend Ian Emery & he's very kindly taken time out of his hectic life to send us this great season report:
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| Ian Emery pictured piloting at the BMFA British Nationals recently - pretty iconic image! |
Ian says "It’s been an interesting year and it’s gone so quickly, I
can’t believe another season is over. I
have been rather distracted this past 9 months with lots going on, notably the
safe arrival of our second baby.
Early in the New Year I gained sponsorship and a place on
the JR Macgregor flight team and an opportunity to switch to the JR Sylphide EX,
a helicopter I have dreamed about owning since I started flying RC
helicopters.
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| Ian's JR Sylphide EX in action... |
Much of the pre-season was spent building and getting the
helicopter setup, being an 800 size helicopter it is larger than anything else
that I had flown and managed to enjoy whatever days that were available getting
used to flying it.
The first Competition of the euro-season was held in
Vitry-Le-Francios in France at the beginning of May, it was a good turnout with
some very good pilots from 5 different Countries. Disappointingly I finished last, but the
quality of flying was exceptionally high and it gave me lots of ideas on how I
could improve as the season progressed.
The following week we made the trip back to Lendelede in Belgium. It was almost a replay of last year with
winds up to 40mph on the Saturday which made things particularly difficult for
everyone. Over the course of the weekend
I managed to battle my way up the leader board and finished in 7th
place which I was thrilled about given the result from the week before.
There was then a 4 week break before travelling to Scotland
for the Scottish Heli Nationals in the middle of June. So I went back to my training field to get
lots more practice. I felt very
determined by time we arrived and after a long battle with my good friend Roger
Mayo, I managed to finish ahead of him in second place which was just amazing.
There was then quite a long break whilst the British Team travelled
to Austria for the World Championships in July.
August brought the 1st Team trial and the BMFA BritishNationals at the end of the month. It
was a bit of a poor turnout for the 1st Team trials with only 3
pilots. Roger and I were once again very
close in our scoring. After 4 rounds I
was only 3 points behind him. This left
it all to play for at the Nationals. Arriving at the
Nationals I didn’t feel prepared at all.
A week in hospital and lack of sleep following the birth of Oliver meant
that I hadn’t flown at all in about 3 weeks.
The first couple of rounds I was frustrated by a few silly mistakes
which resulted in big downgrades with my scores. Roger also made a few mistakes which meant
the scores were still very close. In the
end I won 2 of the rounds and Roger won 2.
When all the scores had been added together Roger had increased his lead
slightly which resulted in my finishing 3rd for the Team selection
and 3rd in the British Nationals.
We have had some really good battles throughout the year and it’s always
nice to kick back and have a few beers with everyone at the end of the day.
I'm really pleased to have made it into the Team for the
European Championships next year in Poland, but there’s no time to rest. There is a new schedule to learn and I am
hoping to get a second Sylphide in the air so that I have a back-up machine
just in case. So I’m just trying to make
the most of the good weather and have started training ready for next year.
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all of
the staff at SMB Bearings for your continued support which has been
amazing. Good luck with the move to the
new premises!"
Thanks very much indeed Ian - many congratulations on the safe arrival of Oliver, the newest addition to the Emery household & for continuing on with your flying season. We're honoured to support such a gentleman & a brilliant ambassador for the RC Heli community.
Roll on the 2016 season & more adventures!
If you would like to follow how Ian & the Team are getting
on check out these websites:
Euro Heli Series www.euroheliseries.net
British F3C Team www.teamf3cuk.co.uk
European Championships
http://rcheli-echs2016.pl/
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