CHAPTER 2: Prelude to Competition Flying TOC Aircraft Registration

This part about the TOC has always been such a mystery to me. All the planes were on the loading dock. It's my turn. By this time both Peter's CAP and Billy's Edge have been processed. I fully know what to expect but still have that feeling. It's the same feeling when I take my 1991 Ford Taurus to get inspected at the service station… will it pass? After some discussions, we are through processing. Both airplanes are ok to fly at the TOC. We are in! Before I could even move the airplane Steve Rojecki calls my name and all the pilots are whisked off to the pilots meeting. I am processed by Brenda and get a chance to talk to some old friends. I see Bruce Underwood, Maureen Dunphy, Bob Noll. We draw flight order, then we are off. Back to the hotel the next morning for Judging School. Wow. I have never seen such a prestigious lineup of judges. As Fred Johnson read off the names and credentials of all the judges it was a pretty incredible moment. I find out that deductions are 1 point per 5 degrees. I say to myself, "Gee, I can barely see if my plane is 5 degrees off and now I'm going to be judged to it." I reflect how spoiled it's been in F3A at 1 point per 15 degrees. They say now that if wings are off by more than 45 degrees it's a zero! Man, its not hard to be off on a snap, spin, or tailslide by 45 degrees. Welcome to the TOC. After a lot of discussion about the differences between IAC and TOC judging (wind correction) the pilots are asked to leave as the judges review the knowns and unknowns.

CHAPTER 3 Competing at the TOC
The wakeup call The first three days of competition were flown under ideal conditions- light wind and mild temperatures. Exactly opposite to what I had practiced in for the most part over the last three weeks. On the first morning, several of the pilots had a really hard time with the snap to knife-edge and opposite snap to inverted. I think Naruke almost crashed. Thank you so much Branwell for the advice on practice regime. It paid off on this maneuver and I got through it without a hitch. However, my flight scores were marginal. I think I finished something like 13th in the unknown and 16th in the known. I was so nervous…starting with the first maneuver. I did not know which rudder to give in the hammerhead (first unknown). After pushing to vertical and a positive snap out on the way up, the plane was going away. All I could see was the fuselage side. I flew it over with throttle and no rudder input at all, but got through it ok. Kind of reminded me of my old sportsman days flying pattern. However, I was never so nervous as right before the second flight. Not because of the judges, but because I went up to Bill Bennett and thanked him for hosting the TOC. I told him how much it meant to me and all the rest of the folks that aspire to fly in the event. He told me that he loves the TOC and wants to continue it for a very, very long time. I sincerely hope that it does.

Freestyle was the wakeup call. I was once at a contest in Gadsden, AL. I had dragged a newcomer to his first and only contest in Novice. He was a sport flyer with a very large ego. He figured that he would win with his sport plane and no practice. When he saw the airplane trailers, beautiful pattern planes and high scores of the other competitors, he muttered in the most perfect southern twang, "Them there boys is serious!". That saying rang true to me on this first day of freestyle. Virtually all the pilots flew outstanding freestyles that were obviously well rehearsed and choreographed. Although lots of folks told me how well I flew in the freestyle, my score was quite low. So low, in fact that I would have very little chance at making the semi-finals without doing something different. Alex was great. He added a few subtle changes to the sequence that improved my score some on subsequent flights. I got a good night sleep that first night of the competition- the worst thing I could possibly do…

The second unknown and known were a disaster. I could not get through the sequences without zeroing at least two maneuvers. I was not really nervous, but the thumbs just were not listening to me. Two of the snap rolls I put in the wrong rudder, and I did a very nice INSIDE 4 roll rolling circle. I did not even know until Sabastiano told me after the flight. I listened to Alex call outside (means nothing to a vegetable), I went to roll, and the plane went left rather than right. After reflecting, I realized that my mind went on autopilot (it's a pattern thing) and since all the rollers in the knowns start off to the inside, that's where I went. I have no idea how it happened, but that night of sleep was too good- I never really woke up that day. Particularly discouraging was the 1 3/4 neg snap with 1 ¼ opposite pos snap. I had done that maneuver probably 250 to 300 times - then the one - and only - time it's in a sequence I put the wrong rudder in. I was so surprised when it happened! I almost laughed!

Tailslides. I learned how a tailslide is properly done. While at practice, I was so focused on the slide itself that I figured if a wing dropped a little, no big deal, as long as it came out straight. Well, as I found out the hard way, even if a wing drops a little faster than the other does as the nose comes over, the resulting situation would result in massive points off. Without question, the best tail-sliding airplane there was Chip's Ultimate. Since there were tailslides in every sequence, having a plane that would do these easily put him at a great advantage. I figured Jason was a wizard at tailslides. He nailed several of them. The next one, he flops over to the side. Zero. Frazier's Extra 260 slides really far- probably 20 feet, then does a nice stall turn. Zero. Sean's plane slides, rolls off to one side 45 degrees. Zero. Now you have to understand that there was little if any wind up there, so why do TOC pilots have such a hard time with tailslides? After reflecting on it for a while, I reason, hey, this is Vegas, these tailslides add in a little chance factor - excitement. Yes, excitement, that's it.

Well, I stayed up till 2 am that second night and it was unquestionably the right thing to do. I had the unknown and known down in my head. Rudder directions, snap directions, rolling directions, wind corrections…everything. The third day- the unknown in the morning was it. I know I needed a very good score. I flew very well but could not get the scores I needed. Several minor heading changes, a couple of minor wing corrections during rolls and the tail slide were the errors that did it in. The rolling circle was nice enough to draw audience applause. No pay- I had to fly the whole sequence just a little bit better. I knew I was out of it at this point. Now, although I was 5% down, I was 95% up! The burden was off! I really, really had fun that day- flying and talking to folks, enjoying the event in general. I gave it my best shot and did the best that I could. I met Christophe for the first time, enjoyed discussions with Quiqui, Sabastiano, and several other pilots.

Saturday was spent with the family at the Circus. We had a great time. I'm not sure what was more mentally draining, flying a day at the TOC or a spending a day at the circus with the kids- But was great. We were bushed that day and slept well that night.

Sunday was the finals. I loved watching the pilots fly. It was windy…just like the lakebed. When I saw the pilots struggling in the wind, I longed to fly! I had practiced so much in the high wind but competed all week in the relative calm. Then there was freestyle. Christophe's freestyle was incredible. He did a 3D rolling loop. His torque roll was perfectly controlled…nose tilted just the right amount into the stiff wind to prevent drifting. He did not fly to the music; he expressed the emotion of the song through his airplane. It was incredible. I learned a lot by watching. I believe he had quite an advantage in the wind as his freestyle routine was high energy by design. Several other pilots flew different sequences- interesting… almost as if they had a sequence for calm and a sequence for wind.

The awards were given out to the winners and the TOC was over. I overheard Chip saying he missed it by something like 50 points. It was very interesting to watch the pilots collect their trophy and prize money. Several pilots forgot to get their checks as they left the stage. I whispered to Peter who was standing next to me, "Now I know its not just me, these guys aren't really competing for the money, they are competing to be the best in the world." Money is secondary. The TOC was truly a remarkable experience and I would not want to trade it in for any other modeling experience. I hope that this short story gives you just a little flavor of what it's like to compete in the TOC.

Best of luck in the future!

Last week of practice

TOC Logo edited from Desert Aircraft