Tuesday 27 September 2016
Sunday 25 September 2016
Lat/Longs for 2016 PFE will be published here at 11.00 UTC on 25th November 2016
GP Lat/Longs for the 2016 PFE:
Rules and information for the PFE 2016
1. Teams must enter as a crew of one or two persons.
2. Each team must fly the same aircraft for both events.
3. A team may use the same aircraft that is being used by another team.
4. No person may enter as a member of more than one team.
5. All teams will be required to sign an indemnity waiver against the organisers and marshals, in the event of an accident.
6. The judges' decisions will be final. Appeals against the results may be made to the judges. Every effort will be made to satisfy all appeals.
7. Ignoring/flouting the rules/ATC such as to compromise flight safety will result in disqualification from the flying events.
8. Scoring: The team with the highest score will be deemed winners of the 2016 P.F.E. Total scores for each team will consist of their Navigation Event Score (maximum 300 points) and their Flour Bombing score (maximum of 100 points).
9. Any delays that necessitate a re-ordering of teams' departures caused by aircraft mechanical problems may result in disqualification, but will remain at the discretion of the judges.
10. In the event of bad weather, the judges will make a decision on whether to delay/cancel the P.F.E. in total, or in part.
11. No part of the P.F.E. requires crews to carry life-vests.
14. Non-competitive entries will be permitted for those who would like to fly the course for fun, but without a data-logger.
2. Each team must fly the same aircraft for both events.
3. A team may use the same aircraft that is being used by another team.
4. No person may enter as a member of more than one team.
5. All teams will be required to sign an indemnity waiver against the organisers and marshals, in the event of an accident.
6. The judges' decisions will be final. Appeals against the results may be made to the judges. Every effort will be made to satisfy all appeals.
7. Ignoring/flouting the rules/ATC such as to compromise flight safety will result in disqualification from the flying events.
8. Scoring: The team with the highest score will be deemed winners of the 2016 P.F.E. Total scores for each team will consist of their Navigation Event Score (maximum 300 points) and their Flour Bombing score (maximum of 100 points).
9. Any delays that necessitate a re-ordering of teams' departures caused by aircraft mechanical problems may result in disqualification, but will remain at the discretion of the judges.
10. In the event of bad weather, the judges will make a decision on whether to delay/cancel the P.F.E. in total, or in part.
11. No part of the P.F.E. requires crews to carry life-vests.
12. Trikes, Gyros, Quiksilvers will be permitted to request a launch during the early morning in order to reduce the effects turbulence - such aircraft will be known as Early Launchers.
13. All teams will be required to attend the flight briefing on Saturday 26th November at Eastern.
14. Non-competitive entries will be permitted for those who would like to fly the course for fun, but without a data-logger.
Precision Navigation Event
The Precision Navigation Event is the first of the two events that go to determine who wins the 2016 P.F.E. - this exercise carries 75% of the total marks and so a good score here is needed to win!
This year's course is approximately 65 nm and with the to/from distances between Eastern and the Start/End points, you'll need a minimum "still-air" range of 70 nm.
You will be given a time-slot for take-off, please start your engines in plenty of time to make this slot!
This year we've changed the navigation exercise slightly ........ At the end of each leg flown there are two points. The first is the GRID POINT ("GP") which is found by GPS, the second is the TURNING POINT ("TP") which is found visually from a photograph.
You will be given the Lat/Long for each GP. When you arrive at each GP you will need to find the TP by looking for the feature on the ground that corresponds with your photograph.
You will be given a photograph of each TP ground-feature, which will be located exactly 1 nautical mile from the GP, somewhere in your field of view between 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock.
You will score points for time accuracy and geographical accuracy as you fly over each TP (not the GP).
In the example below, you will fly from TP2 to GP3. When you reach GP3 you will search and see TP3 at a distance of 1 nm, ahead and slightly to the left (but other TPs could be anywhere on the dotted "10-to-2" line). You will then turn a little to port and fly over the feature TP3, then turn about 95 degrees to starboard, aiming for GP4. As you fly overhead TP3 you will stop/start your stopwatch and score your points.
The start and end TPs will simply be Lat/Long's, without any GPs.
You will be given the exact distances in nautical miles between each TP - you need this information to calculate your time for each leg, in order to stick to your nominated groundspeed.
At the briefing you will therefore be given the following information:
i) The Lat/Longs of all the GPs.
ii) Two photographs of each TP - one from 1 nm away and the other as a plan-view to show precisely where to make your turn.
iii) The distances in nm's between each TP.
We've made these changes because the PFE was becoming more a GPS flying event; pilots with the best large scale moving map GPS units were advantaged. So now we're back to looking outside the aircraft, with map (well, photo actually) in hand!
Rules for the Navigation Event
1. The lighter aircraft (Trikes, Gyros, Quiksilvers and similar) will be offered the option of being Early Launchers in order to avoid winds/turbulence.
2. For fuel planning purposes, the course will not exceed 70 nm, including the transit to/from the start/end gates.
3. This year's course will consist of 9 TPs, a "start" gate and an "end" gate.
4. The GP Lat/Longs will be published on this BLOG at 11.00 hrs (UTP) on Friday 25th November. These co-ordinates, together with aerial photographs of the TPs and, the distances between TPs, will also be handed out at the flight briefing on 26th November.
5. Teams will depart Eastern in order of fastest aircraft first, slowest last. A time-separation will be scheduled between each aircraft in order to avoid "bunching" during the navigation course.
6. No aircraft may "search" for a WP - any evidence of "searching" will result in disqualification. ("Searching" includes backtracking or any heading adjustment of 90 degrees or more before a WP.)
7. Each aircraft will be required to carry a GPS Data-Logger that records position information on a second-by-second basis. This will be given to you by a marshal prior to take-off and will be collected after landing.
8. When completing your entry forms, you will required to nominate a ground speed - this is the speed at which you should aim to fly for the duration of the navigation course. (Hint - pick a ground speed that is roughly half-way between your clean stall speed and your maximum cruise speed.)
9. Scoring - All teams will begin this event with a credit-balance of 300 points. Points will then be deducted for early/late arrivals at each TP, accuracy overhead each TP in terms of horizontal distance from the TP.
10. Scoring - Each leg (between two consecutive TPs) will be scored individually. Therefore do not try to make up times on consecutive legs - for example: if you find yourselves 10 secs early when overhead TP2, do not aim to be overhead TP3 10 secs late.
11. Scoring - Time: to be decided. Horizontal distance: to be decided. The judges will take your time data at the closest horizontal point you pass each TP.
12. Scoring - No team will score more than X (to be decided) penalty points on any leg.
13. All aircraft will fly the course on the same QNH - this will be given at the briefing and will be the regional QNH at the time of the first aircraft's launch. If the QNH changes, we will notify all aircraft before departure or, in the air at the time.
This year's course is approximately 65 nm and with the to/from distances between Eastern and the Start/End points, you'll need a minimum "still-air" range of 70 nm.
You will be given a time-slot for take-off, please start your engines in plenty of time to make this slot!
This year we've changed the navigation exercise slightly ........ At the end of each leg flown there are two points. The first is the GRID POINT ("GP") which is found by GPS, the second is the TURNING POINT ("TP") which is found visually from a photograph.
You will be given the Lat/Long for each GP. When you arrive at each GP you will need to find the TP by looking for the feature on the ground that corresponds with your photograph.
You will be given a photograph of each TP ground-feature, which will be located exactly 1 nautical mile from the GP, somewhere in your field of view between 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock.
You will score points for time accuracy and geographical accuracy as you fly over each TP (not the GP).
In the example below, you will fly from TP2 to GP3. When you reach GP3 you will search and see TP3 at a distance of 1 nm, ahead and slightly to the left (but other TPs could be anywhere on the dotted "10-to-2" line). You will then turn a little to port and fly over the feature TP3, then turn about 95 degrees to starboard, aiming for GP4. As you fly overhead TP3 you will stop/start your stopwatch and score your points.
The start and end TPs will simply be Lat/Long's, without any GPs.
You will be given the exact distances in nautical miles between each TP - you need this information to calculate your time for each leg, in order to stick to your nominated groundspeed.
At the briefing you will therefore be given the following information:
i) The Lat/Longs of all the GPs.
ii) Two photographs of each TP - one from 1 nm away and the other as a plan-view to show precisely where to make your turn.
iii) The distances in nm's between each TP.
We've made these changes because the PFE was becoming more a GPS flying event; pilots with the best large scale moving map GPS units were advantaged. So now we're back to looking outside the aircraft, with map (well, photo actually) in hand!
Rules for the Navigation Event
1. The lighter aircraft (Trikes, Gyros, Quiksilvers and similar) will be offered the option of being Early Launchers in order to avoid winds/turbulence.
2. For fuel planning purposes, the course will not exceed 70 nm, including the transit to/from the start/end gates.
3. This year's course will consist of 9 TPs, a "start" gate and an "end" gate.
4. The GP Lat/Longs will be published on this BLOG at 11.00 hrs (UTP) on Friday 25th November. These co-ordinates, together with aerial photographs of the TPs and, the distances between TPs, will also be handed out at the flight briefing on 26th November.
5. Teams will depart Eastern in order of fastest aircraft first, slowest last. A time-separation will be scheduled between each aircraft in order to avoid "bunching" during the navigation course.
 |
| This must be avoided |
6. No aircraft may "search" for a WP - any evidence of "searching" will result in disqualification. ("Searching" includes backtracking or any heading adjustment of 90 degrees or more before a WP.)
7. Each aircraft will be required to carry a GPS Data-Logger that records position information on a second-by-second basis. This will be given to you by a marshal prior to take-off and will be collected after landing.
8. When completing your entry forms, you will required to nominate a ground speed - this is the speed at which you should aim to fly for the duration of the navigation course. (Hint - pick a ground speed that is roughly half-way between your clean stall speed and your maximum cruise speed.)
9. Scoring - All teams will begin this event with a credit-balance of 300 points. Points will then be deducted for early/late arrivals at each TP, accuracy overhead each TP in terms of horizontal distance from the TP.
10. Scoring - Each leg (between two consecutive TPs) will be scored individually. Therefore do not try to make up times on consecutive legs - for example: if you find yourselves 10 secs early when overhead TP2, do not aim to be overhead TP3 10 secs late.
11. Scoring - Time: to be decided. Horizontal distance: to be decided. The judges will take your time data at the closest horizontal point you pass each TP.
12. Scoring - No team will score more than X (to be decided) penalty points on any leg.
13. All aircraft will fly the course on the same QNH - this will be given at the briefing and will be the regional QNH at the time of the first aircraft's launch. If the QNH changes, we will notify all aircraft before departure or, in the air at the time.
Rules for the flour-bombing event
The Precision Flying Event is divided into two components and the Flour Bombing Event (the second component) comprises 25% of the total points.
Rules, Scoring & Characteristics of the Flour Bombing Event
1. Competitors will be required to execute their Flour Bombing after completing the Navigation Event. They will be permitted to land and rest (if they so wish) between the two events.
2. A target consisting of three concentric circles will be located on the runway. The scoring will be 33 points for the inner circle, 18 points for the second circle and 10 points for the outer circle. If any part of the bomb lands "on-the-line", it will be counted as the higher scoring circle.
3. Each competitor will have three bombs which must be dropped in three runs at the target.
4. After each release, crews will be informed of their score by radio.
5. Bombs must be dropped from at least 100 feet above the target.
6. After your drops, you will land and follow the marshals' instructions to park neatly back in the field.
1. Competitors will be required to execute their Flour Bombing after completing the Navigation Event. They will be permitted to land and rest (if they so wish) between the two events.
2. A target consisting of three concentric circles will be located on the runway. The scoring will be 33 points for the inner circle, 18 points for the second circle and 10 points for the outer circle. If any part of the bomb lands "on-the-line", it will be counted as the higher scoring circle.
3. Each competitor will have three bombs which must be dropped in three runs at the target.
4. After each release, crews will be informed of their score by radio.
5. Bombs must be dropped from at least 100 feet above the target.
6. After your drops, you will land and follow the marshals' instructions to park neatly back in the field.
Itinerary
Friday 25th November 2016
Aircraft may arrive early for an evening meal and refreshments. Camping space will be available for those who wish to rough-it. If you'd like to rent a car or book an hotel, please let us know.
17:47 Sunset
18:00 Briefing for trikes/Quicksilvers who wish to fly the Navigation Event at dawn
on Saturday.
Saturday 26th November 2016
06.20 Sunrise
06:25 - 07:00 Launch Early Launchers for Navigation Event.
07:30 - 11:00 Air Traffic will be present for visiting aircraft and Early Launchers
07:30 - 08:55 Early Launchers return for Flour Bombing Event
08:30 - 11:00 Breakfast and refreshments will be available in the clubhouse restaurant
11:30 - 12:00 Crew briefing and completion of entry forms
12:00 - 14:00 Lunch in the clubhouse restaurant - food will be served all day
13:30 First aircraft take-off for Navigation Event and thereafter at intervals of 3 to 5 minutes
14:20 First aircraft returns for Flour Bombing
16:00 Last aircraft take-off
17:30 Last aircraft returns for Flour Bombing
19:45 Results have been calculated
20:00 Announce results and prize giving
Sunday 27th November 2016
06:20 Sunrise
08:00 Breakfast will be served at Eastern
10:30 Depart for home airfields
Aircraft may arrive early for an evening meal and refreshments. Camping space will be available for those who wish to rough-it. If you'd like to rent a car or book an hotel, please let us know.
17:47 Sunset
18:00 Briefing for trikes/Quicksilvers who wish to fly the Navigation Event at dawn
on Saturday.
Saturday 26th November 2016
06.20 Sunrise
06:25 - 07:00 Launch Early Launchers for Navigation Event.
07:30 - 11:00 Air Traffic will be present for visiting aircraft and Early Launchers
07:30 - 08:55 Early Launchers return for Flour Bombing Event
08:30 - 11:00 Breakfast and refreshments will be available in the clubhouse restaurant
11:30 - 12:00 Crew briefing and completion of entry forms
 |
| Crew-briefing at the 2015 PFE was intense |
12:00 - 14:00 Lunch in the clubhouse restaurant - food will be served all day
13:30 First aircraft take-off for Navigation Event and thereafter at intervals of 3 to 5 minutes
14:20 First aircraft returns for Flour Bombing
16:00 Last aircraft take-off
17:30 Last aircraft returns for Flour Bombing
17:47 Sunset
18:20 Judges calculate points for competitors
19:00 Commence "Precision BBQ"18:20 Judges calculate points for competitors
19:45 Results have been calculated
20:00 Announce results and prize giving
Sunday 27th November 2016
06:20 Sunrise
08:00 Breakfast will be served at Eastern
10:30 Depart for home airfields
E.F.C. Airfield and Pilot Information
E.F.C. is a 500m grass airstrip situated some 4 Nautical Miles East of the beach at Jomtiem/Pattaya, 20 NM South of Bang Phra (VTBT) and the nearest commercial airport is U-Tapao (VTBU), about 13 NM South of E.F.C.
Here's a video (Oct 2014) showing the circuit 19-Left, with obstacles:
http://youtu.be/ayoqbDNz_Pw
And, here's another (Oct 2014) showing 01-Right:
http://youtu.be/EdqqRpt5UxQ
Here's a shot taken (Oct 2016) on short finals for runway 19, showing the water-tower obstruction:
And, here's one (taken Oct 2016) looking down runway 01 showing the cement works at this end and the tin huts at the far end, you can also see the coach park to the right of the runway:
Children's Day: As with previous years, there will be no Children's Day.
Here's a video (Oct 2014) showing the circuit 19-Left, with obstacles:
http://youtu.be/ayoqbDNz_Pw
And, here's another (Oct 2014) showing 01-Right:
http://youtu.be/EdqqRpt5UxQ
Here's a shot taken (Oct 2016) on short finals for runway 19, showing the water-tower obstruction:
E.F.C. Frequency: 122.3
Lat/Long: 12* 54' 09" N / 100* 55' 59" E
Runway: 01 and 19
Runway length: 500m
Runway length: 500m
Slope: 1 degree upslope on runway 01
Surface: grass/dirt
Circuit Patterns: 01 RH circuit - 19 fly LH circuit
Altitude: 120 ft AMSL
Obstructions:
- Bungy-Jumping tower very close (west) on finals to 01 - for this reason alone, do not attempt to fly a left-hand circuit for runway 01.
- Tall mast when turning right-base for 01.
- Red/White tower-mast near left-base turn for runway 19.
- Mast on downwind-leg of 19L, near blue-roofed building.
- Radio model strip, slightly East (left) of finals for 19.
- Mast by red-roofed structure (fire station), West (right) of finals to 19.
- Brick wall and green fence at end of runway 19
- Structure and wires/lamps near wall at threshold of 01
- OBSTRUCTION ON SHORT FINALS OF 19
Sunrise/Sunset times on 26th November 2016: 06:20/17:47
Life-jackets: You will not need life-jackets to participate at E.F.C. 2016
Life-jackets: You will not need life-jackets to participate at E.F.C. 2016
NOTAMS: It is the responsibility of all pilots to check NOTAMS prior to this event but active NOTAMS will be covered in the briefing session. We will also issue a NOTAM for this event so other non-participating aircraft know to avoid the area.
Aircraft parking: will be in "George's field" this year, East of the runway at the end of rwy 19. Entry to this field requires crossing a small grass hump so take great care and follow any instructions from the marshals. Each aircraft will be given a take-off time-slot so please stick to yours. Parking space is a bit tight so please park neatly.
Fuel: will be available (at no mark-up) to anyone who has ordered in advance. We are able to supply 100LL, 95 benzine.
Tie-down points: will be available to those who order in advance - so you don't need to bring your own pegs, just your tie-down straps.
Air Traffic: will be operating at Eastern during the actual event. Children's Day: As with previous years, there will be no Children's Day.
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