Day 5, PM Flight

A three-task evening from a common launch site was on the menu for tonight. Another wedding-cake variety 3-D Shape Task followed by two Hesitation Waltz tasks. Gravity drops were called for each (except the logger-scored 3D task) and as usual the tasks could be flown in any order. So the question was where to put the 3D goal - before the Hesitation Waltz's or after. Team USA opted to put them after, which made for uninterrupted approaches to the marker tasks. Paul, Johnny and Nick were all able to make it into the top layer of the cake. On nights like this it's impossible to tell how one scored relative to the field, so I'll avoid making any predictions.


Tomorrow morning is the final flight of the event.  Because the awards aren't until Sunday, we should be able to run a full slate of tasks (4-5?) and avoid the use of limited-area scoring.

We've now flown 13 tasks, 4 in the morning and 9 in the evening.  Strange.

Updated Results

Updated results are now posted (click here). Team USA retains position 1, 2 and 3, with a 1000 point spread to the 4th spot. Paul is now in 21st, with the top-10 still within striking distance (assuming we get 5-7 more tasks in).

Random Photos III - Grocery Store Edition

After returning to the hotel this morning I took a walk down to the local SPAR grocery store. Here's some of what I bought:

	Croissants are good.  Chocolate pudding is good.  Why not fill one with the other?  The answer to a problem that doesn't exist.  Cost = $0.75 USD.  They also have vanilla and strawberry pudding varieties, as well as pudding-filled muffins.
	There are all kinds of fresh-baked items available.  This one is a soft bread with bacon and melted cheese on top.  You'll notice the two bites - I ate part of it while walking back to the hotel.  Cost = $0.80 USD
	Focaccia bread with cheese and lots of herbs.  Cost = $0.60 USD
	Pear juice is common here.  So is peach juice.  Cost = $1.00 USD
	More of my favorite European candy.  Breaks the bank at $2 USD per bag.
	Here's a line-up of all the Hungarian coins that I've come across.  On the left is a 200 HUF (Hungarian Forint) piece, worth about $1 USD.  Next to it is a 100 HUF.  Both are two-tone, which makes it easy to quickly tell the "big" coins from the small ones.  They proceed down through the 5 HUF coin, worth about half a US penny.  As in other countries, the use of coins here is more prevalent than in the US.  The smalled denomination of bill is 500 HUF ($2.50 USD), so lots of transactions are made using only coins.

Day 5, AM Flight (aka "Mornings Bad, Evenings Good")

It's windy at the hotel right now, an hour before the 5:30am briefing. We'll have to wait and see what happens...

UPDATE: It's 10 minutes after my initial post above and it's gotten even more breezy. Brad just handed me a forecast saying it was going to be 35 degrees at sunrise, 22kph at 300 AGL.

UPDATE: 15 minutes before briefing and the conditions at the Competition Center are the same. Not necessarily un-flyable, but more wind than we've seen so far. No markers on the tables and no event officials or staff walking around.

UPDATE: Briefing area open, no markers. Just a weather sheet with pibal readings of 15k on the surface. They'll start speaking at 5:45am.

FINAL UPDATE: Flight officially cancelled. The weather officer is reporting that it should be flyable this afternoon. So far 6 of the 10 tasks have been in the evening. No scores from yesterday evening have been posted yet. You can check for them by clicking here.

This website just passed the 10,000 visitor mark. Thank you.

Day 4, PM Flight

Overcast conditions and ceilings of around 1000' prevailed throughout the day.  It wasn't until during the afternoon briefing that the clouds began to clear.  A double Hare & Hound was called consisting of two tasks with one hare balloon carrying two targets. The plan was for the lead balloon to land, drop a target, fly on, then land again to set the final goal.  Upon seeing the improving conditions, the Event Director gave some consideration to changing the tasks to those of a Judge Declared type.  However in the end the original call stuck, with Deputy Director David Levin flying the Hare (red balloon shown below).  Anticipating shifting winds and heavy traffic, Paul inflated quickly and was the first balloon in pursuit.  He scored well on both, throwing his marker into the middle of a not-yet-unfurled target on the second task.  But as evident in the photos below the pack followed, so performance relative to others will have to wait for the measurements to be published.  A couple miles downwind was a small village that contained the nicest landing site in all of Hungary - short grass and firm ground.  Several of the American balloons landed there.
           
Several photos above courtesy of Larry Coan.

The skies have cleared out tonight and it's pretty cold.  Some moisture has already formed in the air, so hopefully fog isn't a concern in the morning.  With only 3 flights left we're hopeful for many more tasks.

Earlier in the week the owner of the hotel indicated that he'd like to host a special dinner for us.  So after refueling everyone hurried back for an authentic multi-course European feast, the conclusion of which was palatschinke with chocolate sauce.

What Does This Mean?

Below are the controls for the light (left switch) and fan (right switch) in the bathrooms of our hotel:


And here's the international symbol for radiation:

Day 4, AM Flight (aka "More Practice Laying Out")

Last night's flight to the west resulted in several stories of difficult retrieval. At this morning's briefing the Event Director put a map on the screen showing the general locations where groups got stuck (including near our landing site, where we managed a retrieve without incident). In fact, some competitors spent the entire night getting themselves and their equipment back to town, with a few even missing the morning briefing. Those experiences, combined with morning winds in the same direction, prompted those setting the tasks to pull a fourth marker from today's first flight. What we were left with when the briefing opened was a 3-part objective: Judge Declared Goal, Judge Declared Goal, Hesitation Waltz. The targets were relatively close together, which would presumably allow landings to take place before reaching those worst sites. As 120 competitors caravaned to the common launch field, the first signs of daylight yielded an unexpected site - a low cloud deck. By the time we reached the airport Brad and Al were reporting pibals lost in the clouds approximately 500' above ground. A very lengthy hold ensured, after which yet another black flag was raised. Another cancelled flight.

Last night's tasks were posted on the official notice board just prior the morning's briefing. They're not available online yet. Nick Donner (USA) is still in first place, approximately 300 points ahead of Johnny Petrehn (USA). The provisional overall showed that a Lithuanian pilot had passed Joe Heartsill (USA) for third, however Joe's 3D Task from the previous evening had been scored incorrectly. With that correction made he should return to 3rd place, about 10 points behind Johnny. Paul continued his climb, moving up to 29th.


Below are Paul's tracks and results so far. If you click on the graphic you'll get a larger version that's easier to decipher.  Where the track is blue he was descending (light = slower, dark = faster).  Where it's yellow (slower) or orange/red (faster) he was ascending.

	Flight 1 (Monday AM) Task 1 - Hesitation Waltz = 33.65m Task 2 - Land Run = 1.16km2 (winner = 7.36km2) Task 3 - Hesitation Waltz = 7.86m Task 4- Judge Declared Goal = 282m
	Flight 2 (Monday PM) Task 5 - Pilot Declared Goal = 19.93m Task 6 - 3D Shape Task (cylinder) = 9,041m (winner = 17,832m) Compare Paul's flight through the 3D area to the winner's (shown here).
	Flight 3 (Wednesday PM) Task 7 - Pilot Declared Goal = 87.81m Task 8 - 3D Shape Task (cake) = 10,734m (winner = 12,045m) The track points immediately west of the rings show Paul's ascent/decent to 8800' searching for winds that might take him back to the east (re-entering the 3D scoring area).

Day 3, PM Flight

Two tasks tonight. A Pilot Declared Goal was first, with four pre-determined intersections to choose from.  Unlike the in the US, pilots here aren't challenged to choose their own spot on the map for PDG tasks.  The Director provides a very limited selection (usually 3-4) to choose from.  It ends up being like a Hesitation Waltz where you need to declare your target before taking off.  And on that note, all the declarations here need to be in before the green flag, not before an individual's take off.  When asked about this, the Event Director indicated that it's done this way so that pilots who choose to launch later don't have an advantage by watching those taking off ahead of them before choosing a goal.  It's one reason why common launch areas are used more.  In a situation like tonight where the launch time unknown, pilots are given just 5 minutes warning (the yellow flag time period) that their declarations are due.  So everyone is always running to the signals point to turn in a sheet.

The second task was a 3D Shape Task of the wedding-cake variety.  The bottom layer was a bit "thicker" than usual, rising from the surface to 3000' MSL.  The second layer spanned 3000' to 3500', with the top section reaching 4000' MSL.  Al and Brad earned every dollar of their salaries tonight, monitoring the shifting winds and providing data that allowed the whole team to change to a more appropriate PDG/3DT combo just minutes before the declaration period closed.

On the ground, the chase was probably more interesting than the flight.  Erica and I personally witnessed one vehicle accident (spectator car to balloon trailer), one red PZ violation, one yellow PZ violation, a pilot wearing a helmet land in 8' tall corn, and about a dozen vehicles stuck in the mud.  It's amazing what some people think is passable with a van.  We got to do a little mud-running on the retrieve, but nothing close to getting stuck.  However I bet I drove 2-3 miles in reverse tonight.  Oh, and we ate some trail mix.



Tomorrow morning will be busy, 5-6 tasks. Paul might actually break into his fourth tank.  Setting the alarm at 4:00am for the fourth day in a row, but today for the first time I actually took a nap (about 60 minutes total).

Up Next: Wednesday PM Briefing

The winds have calmed down and everything looks good for a flight tonight. It's pretty warm here - I have shorts on.  Hopefully this weather holds for the rest of the event.  20 more tasks isn't out of the question.

The photo at left is of the Debrecen University arena where the briefings are held.  It's fine, but it's certainly not the DeVos Fieldhouse.

Day 3, AM Flight (aka "A Chance to Practice Laying Out")

This morning's briefing started with five tasks on the sheet: Judge Declared Goal, Judge Declared Goal, Judge Declared Goal, Hesitation Waltz, 3D Shape Task (pilot declared wedding cake). After receiving "input" from a few competitors the Event Director elected to cancel the Hesitation Waltz portion. The common launch area would be the same airport area that had been used for the previous two competition flights and all drops would be gravity. After another outstanding police escort teams began laying out in the somewhat breezy (and cold!) conditions. Despite reports from Al and Brad of multiple slow layers at altitude, as the minutes clicked off the surface movement continued to pick up. It appeared that inflations would be "sporty". Unfortunately we never got the chance to find out as the black flag was eventually raised signaling the cancellation of the morning's flight.


Our assigned launch position at the airport was moved from near the perimeter of the property to more in the center. We got a very good look at the earth-covered hangers, 8 or 10 of which lace the facility. After the photo below was taken a helicopter was towed out. The gray doors on the front are at least 48" thick.


The current standings can be viewed by clicking here. After six tasks Nick Donner (USA) is in first, Johnny Petrehn (USA) is in second, and Joe Heartsill (USA) is in third. Paul is in 39th out of 118, 1000 points out of the top 10. We need more tasks.

I have no idea what we'll do to kill time this morning. Afternoon briefing is at 2:45pm.