Winners:
Top
Gun: Gerry Nolan
Carrier
Landing Short Stop: Kirk Wennerstrom (copilot Geoff LaGioia)
Carrier
Landing Style and Grace: Bernard Savoie
Top Gun Gerry
Nolan shows how it's done, catching the middle "wire."
There were three contest
categories in 2002. Pilots attempted to land on a simulated carrier deck the
"USS Catywampus" where they were judged both for style and grace, and also
for being able to stop their airplane prior to running off the end of the
deck. There were three orange "wires" painted on the runway, and pilots had
to land on the deck and before at least one of the wires in order to receive
a scored landing. Those landing short of or running off the end of the carrier were
advised "You're Dead, Taxi to Parking."
Pilots also
dropped toy paratroopers, crepe paper "message" streamers and empty plastic water bottles with cardboard
fins. There were three targets next to the active runway, and the idea was
to make all three drops on one run. Most pilots were confused by this, and
some simply threw out all the packages at once. Most of the parachute men
landed in the cornfield next to the runway, and few of the water bottles
landed even close to the target. No trophies were presented for the target
contests but they served as a tie breaker for the Top Gun category. As in
other years, Top Gun was the pilot with the best combined score in all three
contests. In this case, Gerry Nolan had a high score in both landing
categories, and was fortunate enough to also place his bottle drop closer to
the target than any of the other top contenders, thus becoming Top Gun 2002.