June 9, 2022 Swansboro, CA by Roger Stenbock
As many Swansboro residents and most pilots probably know, the Hayward Air Rally is an annual event. Having participated myself several times – but never won, I can appreciate just how challenging this rally is. But it is a lot of fun. It required skill and practice. Each participant is tested on his/her flight planning skills and execution’s of the plan.
This year marks the 58th Annual Hayward Air Rally. It was completed on June 4, 2022. Twelve aircraft and teams completed the first leg from Hayward to Redding. Sadly, weather kept them from flying the second leg from Redding, CA to Bend, OR. In the middle of a severe drought, they managed to pick the one weekend with real weather.
Congratulations to the 2022 Winners: Race 8 – Rob Kirkpatrick and Chris Lea!
Rob, a long time Swansboro resident, along with his co-pilot Chris Lea, flew Rob’s H35 Bonanza for a total score of just 97 points. These are penalty points, so the lower the number the better. They managed to arrive at their final destination within just seconds of their planned flight and within less that a fraction of a gallon of their total estimated fuel on their planned flight. You can see the full results from 2022 and previous years on Hayward Rally website:
http://www.hwdairrally.org/past/results.html
According the the information takes from the Hayward Air Rally web site, each of the Rally’s two legs each include:
1 Start Point
3 Mandatory Checkpoints
1 Bonus Checkpoint
1 Timing Point
1 Stop Point
The checkpoints, and therefore the course, change every year. The required checkpoints which define the course are announced the day before the race (see the race schedule) at the briefing and are documented in the race book provided to each team. The exact course flown is chosen by the pilot of each aircraft. Remember, this is not a speed race, it is a proficiency event; accuracy counts. So that prospective racers can get better idea of the materials provided during the briefing, a PDF copy of the 2022 Race Book is available for download here.
Checkpoints are to be overflown by Rally aircraft. Each checkpoint can be adequately identified from the air and a multiple choice question must be answered to prove that you properly identified each checkpoint. The answers to the 2022 checkpoint questions are here.
The two airborne timing points at Checkpoint Howie and Checkpoint Goering are also overflown and Rally officials on the ground will record the time overhead the timing line. In 2022 we used custom built ADS-B data loggers (we call it the RallyAware, based on the PiAware project) to more precise calculate timing line crossings based on aircraft-generated position reports.
The 2022 course is described here to provide an example only, the 2023 course will bedifferent, and will not be announced until shortly before the race during the briefing.
Get all the information at http://www.hwdairrally.org/past/2022
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