Free flight friends,

  Some of you have emailed concerns about the weather forecasted for the Hatchek International Challenge this weekend at Barron Field in New York and what impact that may have on the scheduled flying.  The forecast for Saturday morning does look bad.  But the rain ends at about noon Saturday, and Sunday looks like it may turn out rather nice.  I have found weather.com to be most reliable.  Its forecast for Sunday is partly sunny, temp near 60, essentially no chance for rain Sunday and maximum wind of 8 mph.  There are other forecasts out there (like that by wunderground which predicts much stronger winds).  The reason for the variability is seen from the projected path of the front.  The boundary of the back side of the storm this weekend is shown to be in the vicinity of that part of New York, so it all depends on how fast the storm moves through on Saturday.

  So the above constitutes encouragement to show up.  Saturday afternoon might be OK (wind is the concern), and Sunday especially has a good chance to be nice.

  Let me explain the procedure on any possible postponement of events. co-CD Dave Acton explains that the AMA rules are clear.  One may not postpone an event based on forecast.  Only based on actual conditions (e.g. from actual lack of visibility due to rain or from excessive wind). The contest directors will be there Saturday.  It might well be acceptable to fly Saturday, perhaps with some delay. If it is not flyable Saturday afternoon, we will postpone Saturday's events until Sunday.  If that happens we will allow sufficient round length and round overlap on Sunday to facilitate flying multiple events if you like.  If you are not there Saturday, you may call Dave or me (203-645-2786) Saturday morning for particulars about whether the Saturday events have been moved to Sunday.

  As for Sunday, I believe from the evidence that it will be good.  But if it is not fliable then Sunday morning we would entertain postponement to a later date.  We would need to obtain clearance from Jim Parker representing SCAT for the postponed date to count for America's Cup (AC). Traditionally he would want one month notice to facilitate travelers, but to avoid conflict with the Annual and other AC events I would push for a two week notice in which the Skyscraper Challenge would subsume the Wilbur and Orville June 8-9 making that weekend be an America's Cup Skyscraper Challenge meet.

  Stay positive.  Our typical experience is that most weekends this time of year have some nice weather to enjoy and that those who choose not to come based on forecast have reason to regret their decisions when some nice weather does occur.

  One other comment.  The forecasted directions are wind from the NNW saturday and from the North sunday.  This means that we would likely set up on the Dean Ford grass to the left of the entrance road and send the models over the short crops.  The Ford's cut and gathered their grass last week so those fields are in good condition. This is the best time of the year for that direction as the crops are so short (4 to 6 inches) that there will not be difficulty finding the models.

Thermals,

Andrew Barron (Host and Field Marshall)
Dave Acton (CD)
Alan Abriss (CD)