Flying magazine and Redbird Flight Simulations have teamed up to create the Flying Challenge Cup, a stick-and-rudder skills competition that pits contenders from across the country against each other in a virtual fly-off in Redbird’s full-motion flight simulators.
The competition officially starts today at Sun ‘n Fun and wraps up this summer at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where 12 finalists will square off at show center for bragging rights as the best of the best. Even better, each finalist will receive a free trip to AirVenture including round-trip airfare, hotel accommodation and meals.
“The Flying Challenge Cup is Flying magazine’s very public way of saying what we say in our magazine every month: Skills matter,” said Flying Editor-in-Chief Robert Goyer. “This competition is a way to put that philosophy into action, encouraging active pilots to sharpen their skills and promoting a wide world of pilots-to-be to get in the game.”
To keep the contest fair, the Flying Challenge Cup is being separated into three categories: pilots, student pilot and nonpilots. You must be at least 14 years old to enter by registering at the official completion website here. Then it’s time to fly.
The next step is to head to your local flight school to try your hand flying three scenarios in a Redbird simulator — precision landings, steep turns and Lazy 8s. You can try one or all three. Each has a practice mode in which a narrator talks you through the maneuver. You can fly the challenges as many times as you’d like before you enter competition mode. Then the narrator goes quiet, the guide boxes disappear and the scores are counted for real.
In addition to Flying and Redbird, the Flying Challenge Cup is being sponsored by Lightspeed, Foreflight, Jeppesen, Hartzell, Aircraft Spruce and Specialty and EAA.
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