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The August 22, 1996 Edition of the WAC Daily News, in which Carlys Soljolm reports "At the time of this report we had flown through pilot #42, just past the halfway point in the Known."

This is the Thursday edition of the World Aerobatic Championships. Scheduling got underway this morning with our flight briefing at 7:00 am, which means a 5:30 am wake-up call at the Radisson Inn. Shuttle buses took all the team members again from the hotel at the intersection of I-40 and Meridian out to Page Airport, about 12 miles west.

Pilots arrived for the briefing conducted in the south hangar belonging to Downtown Airpark. The FAA began the briefing with a weather update. Bill Larson (a.k.a. the Ramp Rat) conducted the morning briefing, after which the pilots drew Order of Flight for the Freestyle, which is scheduled to begin a little later in the week, following the completion of the Known.

At the time of this report (5:15 pm Thursday) we had flown through pilot #42, just past the halfway point in the Known. The Known is comprised of 14 maneuvers that were developed by CIVA judges and was presented to all of the pilots six months prior to the WAC. They are being judged by 10 Judging teams of three, consisting of a Judge, an Assistant Judge, and a Recorder. It was determined Wednesday that the judges would move from their position on the east side of Runway 17/35 to the west side of the aerobatic box as the sun reached its azimuth and passed overhead.

This was done because the judges said as the sun passed the azimuth overhead, the sight picture of the aircraft became very difficult into the strong Oklahoma sun. They elected to pull up stakes and move the judging to the other side of the box. That slowed things a little bit because it now requires two warm-up flights in order to allow the judges to get a feel for the view of the aircraft from another direction.

The quality of flight has been outstanding. That seems to have been the theme that has been recurrent throughout the event to date. The mechanical standard at which the aircraft have been maintained is also excellent. There have been no mechanical problems, no aircraft flights have been called off because of mechanical problems. The flow of aircraft through the starter's line has been continuous.

Thursday's weather throughout the day has had slightly variable winds. The prevailing wind has been approximately 190 at 8 - 12 knots. Balloons have been released periodically during the day by the judging panel who observe the balloons and look at the winds at various altitudes as the balloon rises. The winds have shifted at the 1000 meter or the 500 meter level, approximately at the center of the aerobatic box from a southeasterly direction to a more southerly direction, which is more favorable for the N-S aligned Y axis of the box.

Flights continued today with a couple of judging conferences called to resolve minor problems that were encountered, but other than that the flying was smooth and uninterrupted. The communications problems that have been encountered in past events have been eliminated at this WAC by a simple system of handsignals from the ramp, which was put together by the Ramp Boss, Bill Larson, to ascertain that we have a smooth flow of airplanes that go from the ramp and into the air. Recovery is being made on 17R, takeoffs are being made on 17L simultaneously, which speeds traffic flow through the sequence. The Known Compulsory category is the lowest scoring program.

At the conclusion of the Known we will move into the Freestyle program. Each pilot designs his or her own sequence of maneuvers, working within the guidelines required such as the number of maneuvers and the difficulty factor.

The third and final program used to determine the World Aerobatic Champion and the Men's and Women's Team Champions is the Unknown. It consists of a set of maneuvers that have been put together by the judging panel, based on suggested by one team. The pilots will be presented the Unknown the night before they are scheduled to fly it. That means they have no opportunity to practice it in the air. They can study it on paper, they can walk it on the ground, but the first time they will fly it in the air is the time they will be judged. That is something the pilots look forward to somewhat eagerly and with great anticipation.

The judges had determined this morning that now that most of the small bugs have been worked out in judging process, the transportation to the other side of the box and the establishing viewing angle, they would attempt to put as many aircraft in the air as possible tonight to get ahead of the flight schedule, as well as a weather contingent, to be sure we are running on time as we near the end of the Known. Flights should continue until 8:00 pm., then will be picked up Friday morning, commencing at 7:00 am with the briefing as usual and the first aircraft going into the sky as the warm-up pilots at 8:00 am.

Tonight a reception hosted by the IAC and Aviat Aircraft is being held at the IAC chalet.

One of the unique things about this WAC is the emphasis on participation by the general public. The event has been heavily advertised throughout the OK City area and the number of calls flooding the All Sports Association and the Aerospace America office are testament to the number of spectators we are likely to see here over the weekend. Crowds have been relatively sparse throughout the week, but we are receiving massive press coverage throughout the OK City area. Spectator grandstands have been erected along the flightline, and for the first time ever the WAD is being narrated throughout the event continuously.

The flying is exciting and the public are now gaining an appreciation for the skill and proficiency required to compete at this level.

Flying here are more than 35 aircraft, flown by the 79 pilots from 21 countries. Representing the finest in not only piloting and aeronautical skills, but also in aircraft and aircraft engineering. Members of design teams and aircraft companies from the major aircraft that are flown here are all here also at the WAC. Representatives are here from the Sukhoi Design Bureau and Pompano Air Center, the worldwide distributor for the Sukhoi range of aircraft. The Extra company also have representatives here. The only one missing is a senior member of the Avions Mudry company with the CAP 232, but many factory-trained mechanics are here with the French team, supporting the Mudry aircraft on site.

A couple of more local aircraft entered in this event are the Staudacher S300 flown by Diane Hakala on the U.S. Team and the AkroTech G-200 shared by Petteri Tarma from Finland and by Lennart Wahl from Denmark. The Edge aircraft is being flown by Kirby Chambliss, who is doing warm-up flights for the judges.

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