We arrived in Pitesti, Romania late yesterday afternoon (Sat. 2nd). Our hotel was a great find as it is less than 10 minutes from the competition site on Aerodromul Geamana. We found one of our official supporters, Rachael Plant, at the airfield. She had driven from the UK in her large motorhome with her dog, Toby and had brought over an extra set of lipos (12S) for each pilot. She was also loaning us one of her generators for the duration of the WChs.
We had heard that the so-called official practice sites were not suitable so early Sunday morning Dave, Ray (another official supporter) and I headed out to a local ‘field’ that we had found on Google Maps which looked like it might be suitable to use as a practice site. It was on rough ground around a 5 minute drive from our hotel at the end of a dead-end road. The entry to the area was over VERY rough ground so we drove very tentatively in our hire cars to an area where we could park; it was then a short walk over uneven rough ground to an open area that was ‘OK’ at a push for us to practice F3N. It definitely wasn’t suitable for F3C that needed a larger flat and level area in which to land.
By mid-day, all three pilots (Dave, Duncan and Adam) were hard at it practicing their schedules. It was very hot all day with no shade at all so Rachael decided that she would buy a gazebo / large umbrella so that we had some shade. We found a local shop that sold them and she bought one for less than £40 – a bargain. The team flew until around 6pm then we decided to head back to the hotel to cool off and have some dinner.
Tomorrow is registration / model processing and our first flights on the official flightline.
Julie Fisher – Team Manager
