The complications of public restrictions from COVID-19 coupled with extensive wildfires in California presented unique problems for the planners of the 56th annual Hayward Air Rally.
But the show must go on and it did Oct. 17, 2020.
The longest continually-held flying event of its type in North America, the proficiency challenge offers aviators the opportunity to demonstrate their airmanship skills of fuel planning and cross-country flight without the use of advanced navigation equipment.
The 2020 winners are Mitzi and Dave Saylor of Gilroy, California, flying their Van’s RV-10. With just under 3.7 hours total flight time, their results included a mere one second of composite time error and a fuel error of only 1.7 gallons over the route. The Saylors won this year after two consecutive second-place finishes in 2018 and 2019.
This year’s course was two legs, each approximately 250 nautical miles. The first leg was from Hayward (KHWD) to Bakersfield (KBFL). The second leg extended from Bakersfield to Tracy, California (KTCY). This was the rally’s first use of a one-day, out-and-back format. Usually, the rally is two days.
Each leg contained multiple checkpoints, which flight crews were required to visually identify.
Prior to departure from Hayward, each pilot turned in estimates of their en route flight times and fuel consumption for each of the two legs.
Traditionally flown without the use of GPS, DME, RNAV, or digital fuel flow displays, flight teams are scored on their ability to precisely predict flight times and fuel consumption en route to the two required landing points. Flight crews are scored on a combination of identifying check points, matching predicted time (to the second) and matching predicted fuel usage (to the tenth of a gallon). The lowest score wins.
Penalty points are accumulated for incorrectly identifying checkpoints, as well as deviating from time en route and fuel estimates.
Rally rules allow pilots with advanced-technology cockpits to also compete and be ranked fairly against those with traditional equipment. Interestingly, the majority of entrants this year chose to use digital equipment instead of traditional analog, rally officials noted.
Rally proceeds this year are funding two scholarships for young adults to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Air Academy in Oshkosh, which includes full tuition and roundtrip airfare. Announced earlier this year, the recipients of the scholarships are Autumn Legge of Nevada City California, a senior at Nevada Union High School, and Evan Beach of Santa Rosa, California, a junior at Petaluma High School.