This was my first year being invited to participate in the Tucson Aerobatic Shootout and to say that I was thrilled and honored would be an understatement. After coming off a XFC which was slightly disappointing for me, I was ready to get some quality practice in and get ready for my first TAS. One thing that would be new for this contest was that it would be the first time that I competed in an invitational freestyle contest with an airplane different than the 104" Extra. The new 104" MXS was set to make it's competition debut in the printed heavy metal color scheme and powered by the DA-150L (would highly recommend a DA-120 instead for this airframe). During practice, the MXS flew excellent and did not lack any power whatsoever. We knew that the conditions would be extremely different out in Tucson especially the change in density altitude. I remember fall came early for us in Michigan and most of our home practice was done in colder, lower density altitude conditions. Upon arriving in Tucson, we struggled the first day with getting the engine to run properly. Initially we thought the density altitude conditions were so different, it would cause us to change certain parts of the freestyle routine. However, upon further examination after the first day of practice we discovered that there was some dirt that got into the carburetor of the MXS. After cleaning, it ran and flew much better on the second day of practice. After only one practice hiccup when the spinner blew apart in air and damaged the prop and cowl, we were on our way to the contest site and ready for five rounds of freestyle. The first round of freestyle was very rough for me for a couple different reasons. The wind was extremely challenging and it turned into something I was unable to overcome. A rainstorm had literally just rolled through in the middle of the round causing extremely different conditions for different pilots throughout the field. Some flew in fairly decent wind conditions, some even flew in down pouring rain, and some flew in extremely high winds such as myself. My first round score ended up being a 924 which put me in 5th place going into round 2. Round 2 went smoother for me as I definitely felt more confident about the field. I knew I had some work to do and I was positive that my scores would reflect a better flight. Fortunately, I scored a 969 in round 2 which put me up to 3rd place overall. However, I fell down to 4th after round 3 with a 911 which was very disappointing as I had lost the ground I made up in round 2. Going into Sunday, I knew I had to make some changes if I wanted to finish on the podium. I felt like I had about maxed out what I could do with the current freestyle routine and even went so far as to calling friends who were out of state and not competing in the contest to make me a new music mix for the next day. That idea was quickly squashed however when I realized that there is a high chance I could score even worse. My decision for the final two rounds was to switch to the 104" Extra which flew significantly lighter being powered by a DA-120 as opposed to the 150L in the MXS. The MXS was a great airplane and extremely precise, I just felt like maybe the Extra would fit more with what the judges were looking for. I also changed the routine significantly. After rounds 4 and 5, I was able to move back up to 3rd overall and finish on the podium in my first TAS. Final results: 1. Gabriel Altuz 3,000.0 2. Gernot Bruckmann 2,954.7 3. Jase Dussia 2,898.7 4. Spencer Nordquist 2,889.2 5. Andrew Taylor 2,791.5 6. Bryant Mack 2,778.4 7. Werner Kohlberger 2,669.6 8. Nicolas Detry 2,632.6 9. Kyle Dahl 2,554.8 10. Matt Stringer 2,482.2 11. Kal Reifsnyder 2,466.5 12. Kim Quenette 2,363.7
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