If one of the readers is not aware of this case, then I will explain: "Air Rangers" - the reincarnation of the old and very kind movement "Carlson Cup", which ceased to be held when the athletes moved from Volen to Konakovo. Why the name has changed, no one knows. I personally liked it, my helicopter sport started with it, and therefore nostalgic impulses remained in my soul too. Last time, “Carlson” was held in 2014 on the Vol'ny site with a live broadcast on the Internet. Then the audience liked much, but like every "first time" many people disappointed. It became clear to the organizers that the live broadcast makes very tough requirements for the event, which were previously completely unknown to them. Then we decided that we would try again. Let's change the script, shorten the time, even change the rules to make the exercises look clearer to the viewers on the network, but ... abandoned.
The history of the new sports base of helicopter pilots began, the Konakovo airfield, where all our thoughts, forces and means rushed. After a break in the length of a year, which was spent mainly on the construction of sports fields and the creation of various “amenities” for participants and spectators, we again began to hold helicopter competitions for amateur pilots, but somehow by itself, together with the place, the name has changed. It seems to me that in the subconscious of the inhabitant there is an indestructible admixture of vanity, which in this particular case resulted in the invention of a new name for the old case. But down with the reasoning in the style of old grunts, friends! Moving on to “Air Riders”.
It has been about a dozen stages. The organizers - the International Academy of Helicopter Sport and the Federation of Helicopter Sport of Russia - decided that once a month was enough, but participants, especially from the elderly, were ready to fight even every weekend. I'll explain why. Finally, after a long search for the meaning of helicopter life, we saw a real goal. It has become easier for me personally to answer the eternal question of friends and relatives “why do you need all this?”. Search! By competing we learn to look for people. The main exercise "trackers" - the route. This is a simplified version of the classic exercise from the international regulations of helicopter sports. The task of the crew is to find objects on the ground in the flight zone.
Briefly remind the rules. In a radius of approximately twenty kilometers around the airfield, there are on the ground a cloth of orange and yellow color with letters and numbers. The size of the cloth is two meters, approximately the height of a person. On a two-kilometer map, some targets are marked with dots, others are not mapped, but their geographical coordinates are given. The crew obtains the card for five minutes before departure, sitting in a helicopter launched and ready for takeoff. In five minutes, you need to prepare a search route for yourself, map missing targets, set a course between all points and synchronize the onboard timer. The exercise is performed for a while, but not “who is faster”, but “who is more precise”. That is, the task indicates the time of exit from the “search zone” and the time of arrival at the finish line. The crew should not just quickly find everything, but he should allocate the allotted time so that he can cross the finish as accurately as possible. Here judges count every tenth of a second. Why am I talking about time so tedious? This is due to the fact that in large Championships the first ten fit into one second (!) Fine. That is, everyone found, everyone got, the whole struggle unfolds at the finish. On the "Pathfinders" until the speed of arrival is judged, I think we still come to this, and in the classic competition it is impossible to fly more than thirty kilometers per hour at the last stage of the route.
I remember that at the last World Championship in Poland in 2015, my crew performed everything very beautifully, they immediately found everything, hit the bags in the very center of the circle, skittled into the roof with a whistle for 12 seconds, the height of the arrival was perfect, 30 meters, and in the table with the results I suddenly see a deadly 20 penalty points. This is the same for those who understand the sentence! This is the same as Argentina - Jamaica 5: 0, in vain, as they say, drove! “What is the matter,” I try to find out, “where have you picked us so much, freaks!?”, My navigator Vadik asks intelligently from helicopter sports experts, Polish and English judges. It turns out that the speed of arrival seemed to them below thirty. Well, we immediately to Grushinoy. “Ira, where is the protest form !?” Let them show instrumental timekeeping! ”It turned out that only one of the three judges at the finish had a dream about our violation. Yes, I finish slowly, it's easier to catch this champion second, but I have a speedometer in the cockpit! Do I not know the rules !? Am I going to ruin the result myself ?! Show us something other than the gloomy eyes of a Polish judge, at least some device that measures my speed! Not shown. Nope Well, "no", and there is nothing to spoil the mood of the masters of sports. Thanks to Grushina Irina Borisovna for the principled position on this issue. She, by the way, is an exceptionally fair judge, and if there was a violation, you will not turn away. A little example, but very indicative.
What am I talking about? Oh, about the routes! So, the route, if you fly it according to these rules, contains a huge amount of penalty points. Once we thought with Vadik, it turned out only after the arrival line, that is, after the finish, there are 180 points. Weaken a microsecond attention, you can collect them all. Attention is the quality that is needed on the “route” and in aviation as a whole. A good safe flight begins at home before breakfast. He carefully looked in the mirror, listened to the body, carefully looked at the weather, wherever possible (Internet, sky, window, METAR at the airfield), carefully examined the board, listened carefully to the sound of the engine and transmission ... The pilots understood me and forgive me for the banality. Attention can be trained like any other quality. Our "route" coaches him well. I often hear indignant opinions about the details of sports rules, for example, about the requirement to keep the door closed at a preliminary start, or about the clarity of writing characters in a flight task. (It often happens with us that the crew didn’t write a letter very nicely, for example, the letter is written as “E”. It gets 10 points). But this is all - attention and accuracy! You pour out the fuel after each refueling “Carefully and carefully”, until there is no water bubble or sorinochka in the bank. Although, I do not remember the accidents associated with fuel in recent history. However, every refill and every morning you do this action, without asking anyone why.
Let's go back to the "Traillers". Our good friends, the rescue team "Liza Alert" often involves helicopter pilots to search. I will not talk here about the complexity of the search from the air, but getting the basic skills is best of all on the “route” exercise. A person lost in the forest is hardly identified from the air. The surface of the earth is visible only in a cone of ten degrees, almost under itself, which means that it is necessary to “comb through”, fly in a spiral or grid with a small step. But for such a flight is required to very accurately keep the course, altitude and speed. The search area is indicated on the map, so it must be able to read and be able to determine its location on this map. We do all this on the “route”!
Something I get is an advertising booklet, not a story about competitions. Now corrected. So, we divided the competition into two parts, we hold them in two non-overlapping offsets, masters and beginners. Beginners are those who do not have sports ranks. They fly a little according to other rules, but every next stage we complicate these rules for them. Soon, I think so, we will have three credits: beginners with experience, without experience and the rest. Beginners fly a crew of two, the commander and the navigator, so you can separate the work of piloting and the actual search. Athletes with experience fly alone. This is not a requirement, I think. Simply, each pilot of a sports crew considers his role to be the hardest, and all errors on the route are attributed to the navigator. Here is the very place to prove to the navigator "who is who," as they say. Sometimes it turns out. Navigators themselves think so too. It is believed that the control of the helicopter during the exercise will not add much work to them, the pilot is generally needed only because they need to throw bags and pins with two hands, and someone must hold the handle at this time. Our navigators are all professional pilots, they condescended to us, dummies. And on our "trackers" they can finally demonstrate everything. Well, what can I say, though, because they demonstrate, look at the standings.
Okay, enough about the "route". This, of course, is the most interesting thing in helicopter sports, but competitions are also held at the aerodrome itself. Extremely two times we shoot. Not all, only the navigator, and while not from the air, sitting on the ground. Not very interesting, I’ll say this straightforward, but for the time being we regard this view as a preparation for aerial biathlon. I hope that in the near future, when the organizers are convinced of the safety of this type, we will shoot from hovering, then in flight at fixed and moving targets located at different heights, of course, ammunition safe for people and animals. It could look like this: the helicopter flies up to the firing line at a height not lower than ten meters and at a speed not lower than 10 knots, the speed should be measured by the device (we still have everything “by eye”). Targets stand in a semicircle, with their backs to the forest, in which the safe zone is cleared of mushroom pickers. Targets look like real targets, with circles and numbers. For the whole series, for example, 10 shots, 60 seconds are given. Estimated accuracy and speed. That will be, it seems to me interesting. There it is necessary to draw a line on the ground, at a distance of, say, one hundred meters from the targets. Although biathletes also shoot from a hundred meters, but lying or standing. Maybe we can fly closer, I don't know, we have to try.
It would be good to combine all the species for which we compete in one continuous cycle. This, firstly, will reduce the total time of the competition, and secondly, it will add dynamics to the whole process. Imagine starting with a route, soared, found targets, finished, threw something into the roof, flew to the targets and shot them nafig (all this for a while). Then he rushed to the "low height" and sat down five times on five different slats, before that he spun around 360 squares in two squares (here, however, it is not clear what to do with the chains, let's think ...). Next, they took the cargo and flew “Delivery”, then racing “Slalom”. 40 minutes is enough. True, the judges need a lot, but we have them, I think. Oh, to introduce a quick electronic refereeing!
Imagine, all this quickly, one after another, with comments by Mikhail Bibishev or Alexey Pivovarov, with a TV and sound from the cabin. Winter, really soon, without the door is cold, but it is possible to put the navigator on the ski in a sheepskin coat, so it is more difficult.
And finally, the opinion of the competition of the participants themselves:
Gregory, novice amateur pilot: "For me," Air Tracks "is primarily training and mastering the basics of helicopter sports and good pastime in a helicopter family. A huge plus of these competitions is that they are aimed at beginners and pilots- lovers, it attracts a lot of new and interesting crews. And, of course, gives me a higher chance of getting medals! And it's always nice. It is interesting to perform non-standard tasks that the pros have not tried, and you really have a chance to make them! For example, I never Aboud exercise with sweeps the glass of water on the ski, because at the time I got it, and many masters on this fell! For a long time I was not happy! ".
Catherine and Alexander, the spouse of the R-44 helicopter: " We did not immediately join Sledopyat, only at the 3rd stage, and now we regret the missed first two! First," Air Tracks "- this is a great opportunity to practice the skills of accurate piloting, to feel the car. In the home club, we often fly to classes in the training area, but we focus more on the" mandatory program "of each pilot - emergency procedures, special situations and other practical aspects of flight operations. same sports exercises, also under the attentive eye of the referee team, helps to develop accuracy and coordination of movements.The reigning friendly atmosphere allows beginners not to run away from their blunders, but gives an opportunity to draw up a training program, while communicating with coaches and athletes of the Russian team opens up the nuances of doing one or another exercise , distribution of control and attention. And, of course, “Air Pathfinders” are always interesting and even unexpected tasks, such as, for example, “Helicopter Biathlon” at the 5th and 6th stages, as well as an excellent schadka to communicate with pilots, helicopter pilots, exchange of experiences, information and expertise. Thanks to the organizers, we are looking forward to each new stage! "
Gregory, a pilot with experience: " In these competitions, amateur pilots develop and refine many interesting and useful moments in pilot practice. First and foremost, skills of orientation on the terrain. A very useful and quickly lost by amateur pilots skill , because after passing exams, most always fly on GPS. An element such as touchdown accuracy is a very valuable skill in areas with limited dimensions and / or in the mountains. It is possible to learn in a relaxed and easy manner with more experienced colleagues " .
Alexey, an amateur pilot, the first sports category: " Participation in helicopter competitions in itself is very useful and interesting for pilots. The program of official competitions is monotonous, and you constantly meet world, European and Russian champions as rivals. it’s difficult with them. Unusual disciplines are played out in the Pathfinders, in which there are no trained champions yet. This gives more chances to beginners. Yes, and for champions this discharge, distraction from patterns, is also an interesting challenge. Format and organization The events are not inferior to major sporting events: a large number of judges, prepared stands and routes, safety, food, informational materials are all serious, it's nice that at least 9-10 crews are recruited to participate, the competitions become interesting, passion and sporting spirit appear. I urge the participation of all helicopter pilots; this is not only interesting, but also useful for improving civil aviation piloting techniques: orientation skills without GPS, piloting accuracy, helicopter sense, ground search x goals (very useful for rescue operations). And of course, fascinating communication, exchange of experience and impressions. That's what Pathfinders are! "
It only remains to add one. Dear helicopter pilots, fly and participate! Even if helicopter sports do not seriously hook you and you will not spend most of your free time at the airport, preparing for the Russian Championship, Helicopter Racing or the World Cup, a great company and breathtaking gambling spirit that reigns on the Air Tracks will add bright minutes in your helicopter life! Follow the information on the website www.konakovo.aero and on the pages of Facebook.
Andrey Orekhov,
Master of Sports of Russia, member of the Russian national team
on helicopter sport
Photos by Natalia Sotnikova
