Just a little post to wish our Pat Mackenzie best luck at F3P World Championship

[Ededge2002]

Was doing a little reading and as i do try to keep up with the indoor F3P stuff stumbled on a name we all should know!

Way to Go Pat and good luck in the upcoming events!  Thanks for getting out there and representing us.  This is a tough compition with some VERY talented pilots.

[pmackenzie]

Thanks Ed.
Just heading off to the hall for my last two flights.
Going to try hard to stay out of last place

Not as bad as it sounds - some extremely good pilots here, and pretty much where I knew I would end up.
I am third last now, but one of the guys behind me hit a beam early in his first flight and lost the prop so scored only one manouver. (I never know how to spell that word !) They use best three flight so he will pass me for sure.

Pat

[sihinch]

Good luck Pat!

[battlestu]

give them hell Pat!!

[Michael]

Good luck Pat!

[Andy Hoffer]

Hey All:

You can see Pat in the back row, just to the right of the Coburg Arena sign, in the group photo of the F3P Competitors!

http://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=539112&d=1360106552

Enjoy the competition Pat!  Looking forward to a presentation on this at a TEMAC Workshop when you get back.

Best regards,

Andy Hoffer

[pmackenzie]

Thanks guys.

The preliminaries are all done, and I am officially the worst F3P pilot in the world 

Tomorrow we will take a trip down to Stuttegart (3 hours each way) and visit the Mercedes and Porsche museums. Then back here again on Friday for the finals between the 10 best pilots.
Then on Saturday they will have another contest where they fly to music, plus a bunch of other indoor flying.

Then back to TO on Sunday.


Pat

[pmackenzie]

Hey All:


Enjoy the competition Pat!  Looking forward to a presentation on this at a TEMAC Workshop when you get back.

Best regards,

Andy Hoffer

I did enjoy it. It is actually quite stressful to fly in front of judges and all the other pilots.
(Wasn't there a thread about most stressful flight a little while ago? This would qualify)

I got in all four complete official flights, and got scores for every manouver from all the judges. ( Actually  got one zero, but the other 4 judges gave me scores. That judge did not like what I was doing at all, he consistently gave me 25% to 30% lower than all the others.  To get a zero you have to completely mess it up, like doing 1/2 a full roll. So not sure why I got that one)

I knew I would not do well and probably would be last. Just no way to practice so I basically went in cold.
And that just won't work at this level. But this way if in the future we do manage to get some F3P style indoor flying set up on a regular basis then I will be much better prepared and no what to expect for the next time.

The difference between F3P style and regular indoor would be that flying would be one person at a time for about 3 minutes. You also need a space large enough and with a high enough ceiling to allow the sequence to be flown. And ideally it would be on a regular basis, once a week.

You would not need to fly the F3P sequence, which I can assure you is not easy, but there are simpler sequences that will build your skills in a way that less "disciplined" flying never will.

But it would also be good for those who want to fly 3D free style, since they can concentrate on flying and not dodging other models. So while it might seem like you get less flying time in, it would be more productive time, not just playing dodge-a-plane.

What nights are the TEMAC workshops? I looked around and could not find them listed. I think there is a Pilots meeting on Saturday the 23rd? I might be able to make that one. Weeknights are really hard for me, don't get home from work till past 7 usually.

Pat MacKenzie

[sihinch]

Pat,

I think it's awesome that you are there.  That's a great achievement in my book.

Plus, it sounds like a great trip. Enjoy the museums.

S

[pmackenzie]

My teammate Xavier has taken a ton of pictures since he has been in Europe.
Just a few of the F3P ones can be found here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/109974795506183947946

Lots of innovative models, power systems and construction techniques to be seen.

[Papa]

Hi Pat, congratulations on your participation in World F3P Competition.

The 23 rd is starting at 1:00 pm and you will be a star attraction.

The Pilot's Meetings (workshops) are on the 3rd Wednesday at 6:00 pm.
From six to 8 we eat supper and socialize so you could come directly
from work, have supper and stay for the meeting.


Jack.

[flying saucer]

Very cool Pat!

In case anyone is wondering (I had to look it up), in a nutshell, Indoor Pattern, or F3P, is
PRECISION AEROBATICS IN A VERY RESTRICTED SPACE.

[Ededge2002]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HzLf889Tvs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Looks easy don't it.  There are also Aero musical (freestyle to music) portions that are AMAZING. these guys in my opinion are some of the best pilots in RC

[Frank v B]

"The preliminaries are all done, and I am officially the worst F3P pilot in the world."

Pat, I have a different perspective. 

First of all, thanks for representing Canada.  The time, energy and money required to do this is massive.

You may have been last of 49 pilots but in my view that makes you the 49th best pilot in the world.  You beat 10,000 MAAC members, you beat 100,000 AMA pilots in the US. and that is just two countries.  They didn't have the balls to stand in front of 48 pilots and several judges and sweat through a flying routine.

You did fine!

Frank van Beurden

ps: When my kids were young I paid them $1.00 to show up at the starting line of a race and $1.00 to cross the finish line.  Last place paid out the max. on purpose because, in my view,  they had beaten the people who didn't bother to show up. 
When my daughter represented Canada at the World Duathlon Championships (10 km run, 40 km bike, 5 km run) in Belgium in 2003 racing as a pro she came in 10th (D F Last) when she had an asthma attack on the last 5 km run and had to fast walk to avoid turning blue.  She crossed the finish line with a smile and collected the $2.00 then off to the medical tent.  At the end of the season she was given the Canadian Duathlete of the year award for coming in 10th and top Canadian. Nobody mentioned that she came in last.   It's all about being there and crossing the finish line... which is exactly what you did.

[sihinch]

Well said Frank! Another great story.

Congrats again Pat.