IMAC NORWAY SEASON REPORT 2009
The 2009 season in Norway got underway with the first official Nordic IMAC championship the first weekend in June and it was a great success. Most of the competitors arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday was the official practice day and Thursday was the first day of the competition. Both days were hampered by horrible weather with temperature around 7 degrees Celsius (around 45 F) wind at a 90 deg crosswind of 30 gusting 40 mph and light rain showers. No flying those days! Friday turned out better with a 20 mph wind at 45 deg cross and a temp of 12 Celsius (54 F). Flying got underway with 3 competitors from Denmark, Norway and Sweden in each class. There was a lot of great flying and with only a few weather (rain) interruptions we finished with freestyle on Saturday afternoon. Basic flew 4 rounds known (8 sequences) and the rest 3 rounds know and 1 round unknown (kindly supplied by IMAC). On Saturday evening there was a formal banquet and awards ceremony. It went on into the early hours and we all had a great time. Sunday saw everybody leave for home.
We have had 3 more competitions here this year including our Nationals. We have had good recruitment both on pilots and judges. We have had a judging school with 17 participants and had another planned 2 weeks ago. The last one was supposed to be in Bodo which is a city north of the artic circle. Bad weather with heavy snow closed the airport for hours at the time and my flight was diverted twice to other cities, so we had to postpone this judge’s school until early next year.
We are very sound conscientious here in our neck of the woods. We use canisters or tune pipes, most use 3 blade props (but a few use 2 blades and with use of the prop tip speed chart (From IMAC) and proper use of the throttle they can also be quiet), rubber damping of engines and exhaust, eliminating airframe and carb noise etc. This combined with strict use of airspace score, sound score and written information to the neighbors about the events has resulted in no noise complaints at our contests this yearJ
We are planning for 5 competitions and 1, maybe 2, training camps in southern Norway next year and 1 competition in Northern Norway. The latter will be in the land of the midnight sun which means sunlight 24 hours a day! Can you imagine the possibility of flying IMAC 24/7! The Nordic championship will be held in Sweden in 2010. We are planning two judges’ schools in Norway, one in Denmark and at least one in Sweden.
On behalf of IMAC Norway I would like to thank the IMAC BOD and the Sequence Committee for your support in 2009. We really appreciate the help!
We wish you a great IMAC year in 2010.
Rolf Meum
President IMAC Norway