{"id":12118,"date":"2019-02-25T22:06:57","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T22:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=12118"},"modified":"2019-02-25T22:06:59","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T22:06:59","slug":"salina-kansas-airport-snares-national-aerobatic-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/kansas\/salina-kansas-airport-snares-national-aerobatic-contest\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Salina Kansas Airport Snares National Aerobatic Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Local promoters are doing loop de loops over news that\nSalina Regional Airport will play host to the 2019 U.S. Aerobatic Championships\nin late September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seven-day event is expected to bring nearly 100 pilots\nto Salina, injecting the city with nearly $250,000 in direct economic impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are ecstatic,” said Sylvia Rice, director of\nVisit Salina, a division of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce. Some of the\nnation’s top aerobatic aircraft pilots will compete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salina bested a field of 44 airports in middle America. Tim\nRogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority, his staff and the\nboard of directors, were informed roughly a week ago. When Visit Salina staff\nlearned the news last week “it was really, really exciting,” Rice\nsaid. “There was a lot of competition and it feels good when you get a win\nlike that. It’ll be a great event.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The field was trimmed to three Kansas candidates – Salina,\nGreat Bend and Lawrence – and those were personally visited by Bob Freeman, of\nLyons, Colo., and other members of the International Aerobatic Club, which is\nstaging the national competition. “We are all excited and looking forward\nto the event in Salina,” said Freeman a member of the IAC board of directors,\nin an email informing Salina. An aerobatic pilot and a three-time team\ncompetitor, Freeman said he sensed a “good vibe” from Rogers when\nthey met. “He was very enthusiastic, and excited to get more information\nabout the event,” Freeman said. “The (Salina) facilities are just\nhead and shoulders above the other options we had, both from an airport\nstandpoint and a community standpoint.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salina impressed Lorrie Penner, executive director of the\nIAC, a “community” in the Experimental Aircraft Association, with\nheadquarters in Oshkosh, Wisc. “We are really excited by the enthusiasm we\nwere met with in Salina,” she said. “The Airport Authority and Visit\nSalina staff were marvelous.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rogers said he is proud and honored to be part of hosting\nanother national aviation event. “It’s a competition that will draw people\nto Salina from across the nation,” Rogers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local aviation community is no stranger such events.\nFreeman and the IAC working group cited a number of reasons why Salina\n“came out on top,” among them the historic nature of the former\nSchilling Air Force Base, and serving as host of many aviation events. Those\ninclude the National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s SAFFRON national\nchampionships, and multiple U.S. Military Jaded Thunder exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps best known is the 2005 world record flight by\naviation adventurer Steve Fossett. In a 67-hour flight, from Feb. 28, to March\n2, 2005, covering 22,936 miles, he became the first to fly solo, nonstop around\nthe world, without stopping or refueling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Nationals will be based in Salina Regional\nAirport’s historic Hangar 606 from Sept. 21 through 27.  Many of the details have yet to be\ndetermined, but competitors and their sports aircraft will be in Salina to demonstrate\nprecision flying skills in both compulsory and freestyle performances. Local\nand area elementary and high school students will be invited to witness the\nthrills of aerobatic aviation. “It is a means to inspire youth to consider\ncareers in aviation,” Rogers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flying contest “is judged for its precision and\nexcellence,” according to the IAC. “The judging is very similar to\nthat seen in figure skating, as the competitors must execute prescribed\nmaneuvers as part of an overall performance. It places high demands on both the\npilot and aircraft to be at their best.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilots compete in five categories, according to IAC\nmaterials – Primary, Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced, and Unlimited in both\npower and glider aerobatics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilots in each category fly at least three routines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Known: where all competitors fly a pre-published set of\nmaneuvers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Unknown: maneuvers are presented to the pilot 12 hours\nbefore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Freestyle: pilots create their own routine based on\nmaneuvers allowed in their category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All routines are scored by judges, and those posting the\nhighest scores in each category are named national champions. Top finishers in\nthe advanced category will earn berths on the U.S. Unlimited Aerobatic Team\nthat will compete in the 2020 World Aerobatic Championships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local promoters are doing loop de loops over news that Salina Regional Airport will play host to the 2019 U.S. Aerobatic Championships in late September. The seven-day event is expected to bring nearly 100 pilots to Salina, injecting the city with nearly $250,000 in direct economic impact. “We are ecstatic,” said Sylvia Rice, director of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kansas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12120,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12118\/revisions\/12120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}