Radio Control: Aerobatics

Radio Control: Aerobatics

Ron Van Putte 111 Sleepy Oaks Rd. Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548

The results of the rules change vote are in, and there was only one surprise. My proposal to replace the Procedure Turn with the 1/2 Reverse Cuban Eight in the Novice class failed six to five (needed seven to pass). I can't understand why there was any opposition to the proposal. The Procedure Turn is a dinosaur from the old days. It's a maneuver that is difficult to perform because it can't be seen very well, but it is also difficult to judge for the same reason.

Perhaps the reason for opposition was best expressed by one of the people who voted against it. During the rules change meeting at last year's Nats, there was a lot of discussion about Advanced, Master, Expert Turnaround and FAI, but none about Novice and Sportsman. When someone tried to talk about changes to the lower two classes, the discussion was stifled by a person who said, "They've worked fine for more than ten years, why change them now?" If that was the attitude, I can understand why the proposal failed.

In any case, the Novice maneuvers will be exactly the same next year, except that Novice, as well as all the other classes, will have K factors for all the maneuvers.

I guess that the reason my proposal to add three turnaround maneuvers to the Sportsman class passed is that it provides a transition into all-turnaround maneuver schedules in the upper classes. The Sportsman maneuver schedule will look like this:

1. Takeoff
2. (enter box) Double Stall Turn
3. 1/2 Reverse Cuban Eight (turnaround)
4. Cuban 8 (exit box)
5. (enter box) Immelmann Turn
6. Split S (turnaround)
7. 3 Inside Loops (exit box)
8. (enter box) Straight Inverted Flight
9. Stall Turn (turnaround)
10. 1 Reverse Outside Loop (exit box)
11. (enter box) 3 Horizontal Rolls (exit box)
12. Landing

You can see that none of the center maneuvers have been changed; three turnarounds were added to provide three sequences of center maneuver, turnaround, center maneuver. Breaks after each sequence will allow fliers an opportunity to regroup before starting another sequence. Since the sequences will be limited by the box, Sportsman pilots will probably have to fly farther out than they are used to in order to fit the turnaround within the box. This will give them experience in stringing maneuvers together and keeping maneuvers in the box.

All of the NSRCA proposals passed.

The Advanced maneuver sequence will be completely different. It will be the all-turnaround Canadian Advanced schedule which looks like this:

1. Takeoff
2. Double Immelmann
3. 1/2 Reverse Cuban 8
4. Slow Roll
5. Stall Turn
6. Top Hat with 1/2 Rolls
7. Humpty Bump with Options
8. 4 Point Roll
9. Stall Turn with 1/2 Rolls
10. Cobra Roll with 1/2 Rolls
11. Immelmann Turn
12. 3 Outside Loops (from the top)
13. Split S
14. Square Loop
15. Landing

This is obviously more difficult than the Sportsman schedule. There is no relief from the box, the center and turnaround maneuvers are generally more difficult, and there are more maneuvers because there are more scored turnarounds.

The Expert Turnaround class will be eliminated. In its place will be a new all-turnaround class called Master. The maneuver schedule for this class will be the current FAI F3A schedule. It is published here because it's not in the current rule book, only in the FAI Sporting Code.

1. Takeoff
2. Square Loop with 1/2 Rolls
3. 1/2 Reverse Cuban 8
4. 4 Point Roll
5. Immelmann Turn
6. Reverse Top Hat
7. 1-1/2 Turn Spin
8. Square Horizontal 8
9. Top Hat with 1/2 Rolls
10. Avalanche
11. 1/2 Cuban 8
12. Triangle Rolling Loop
13. Stall Turn with 1/2 Rolls
14. Cobra Point Roll (up/down)
15. 1/2 Square Loop with 1/2 Roll (vertical)
16. 6-Sided Outside Loop

Schedule A

1. Take-off sequence — K 1
2. Reverse Cuban Eight — K 3
3. Stall Turn with 2 Rolls — K 2
4. Slow Roll — K 3
5. Half Square Loop, 1/2 roll up — K 3
6. Positive Snap Roll, 45° down — K 2
7. Humpty Bump (pilot's option) — K 2
8. Four Point Roll — K 2
9. Half Loop — K 3
10. Square Horizontal Eight, inverted entry — K 3
11. Two-turn inverted spin — K 4
12. Double Immelmann with full rolls — K 3
13. Top Hat with 1/2 Rolls, exit inverted — K 3
14. Inverted Avalanche — K 3
15. Half Negative Square Loop with full roll — K 3
16. Humpty Bump from top — K 3
17. Half Square Loop down, 1/2 Point Roll — K 2
18. Figure M — 3/4 Rolls — K 3
19. Stall Turn, full roll up — K 2
20. Two 2-Point Rolls, opposite directions — K 2
21. Immelmann — K 3
22. Three Turn Spin — K 3
23. Landing sequence — Total K 66

The FAI maneuver sequences will be all new and will evolve in a four-year rotation. They will consist of three distinct schedules. Schedule A will be used initially, with Schedule B as a sequence to be used for finals. Two years later, Schedule A will be discarded, with Schedule B as the primary sequence and Schedule C used for finals during the next two years. If you compare the K factors with K factors published in the current rule book, you'll notice that some of them are different. In itself that is not a problem, but many of these maneuvers are also in the new AMA maneuver schedules. Unless there is action by the Contest Board, we will have different K factors for the same maneuver. I hope the Contest Board takes action to make the K factors the same for AMA and FAI maneuvers by using the new FAI K factors. The three schedules are shown above.

Schedule B

1. Take-off sequence — K 1
2. Figure M with 3/4 rolls — K 1
3. Figure 9 — K 1
4. Square Vertical 8, inverted entry — K 2
5. Half Loop — K 1
6. Pull-push Humpty Bump, 1/2 roll up, 1/2 roll down — K 2
7. Top Hat with 1/2 rolls — K 1
8. Inside-outside Cuban 8, full rolls — K 4
9. Half-Square Loop — 1/2 roll up — K 2
10. Reverse Top Hat — K 4
11. Turn and one-half Turn Spin — K 3
12. Triangle Rolling Loop — K 3
13. Stall Turn, 1/2 rolls — K 3
14. Vertical pull through from the bottom — K 4
15. Pull-push Humpty Bump, 1/2 roll down — K 3
16. Slow Roll — K 3
17. One-half Cuban Eight, 1/2 snap down — K 3
18. Square Loop 1/2 rolls — K 3
19. Humpty Bump (pilot's option) — K 2
20. Two 4-Point Rolls, opposite directions — K 2
21. Stall Turn, full roll up and down — K 3
22. Hour Glass — K 4
23. Landing sequence — Total K 68

Schedule C

1. Take-off sequence — K 1
2. Reverse Cuban Eight — K 1
3. Stall Turn, 1/2 rolls — K 3
4. Slow Roll — K 2
5. Half Square Loop — K 3
6. Half Square Loop, 1/2 roll — K 4
7. Negative Snap Roll, 45° down — K 4
8. Humpty Bump with rolls (pilot's option) — K 2
9. Four Point Roll — K 4
10. Half Loop — K 2
11. Square Horizontal Eight, inverted entry — K 3
12. Inverted Spin, 2 turns — K 4
13. Double Immelmann with full rolls — K 2
14. Top Hat with 1/4 Rolls, inverted exit — K 3
15. Two loops with 1/2 roll each — K 3
16. Half Square Loop with full roll — K 3
17. Square Loop on corner — K 3
18. Half Square Loop — 1/2 point roll down — K 2
19. Figure M with 1/2 rolls — K 2
20. Stall Turn — K 4
21. Two 2-Point Rolls, opposite directions — K 2
22. Immelmann — K 4
23. Spin, reversed, 2 turns each — K 4
24. Landing sequence — Total K 66

For a while I couldn't figure out what things like "2/4 Point Roll" were supposed to be. Then I realized that it has to be the first two points of a four-point roll. I think there's enough difficulty in these sequences to challenge most of the FAI fliers. Frankly, it will be nice to see them stumbling around the sky like the rest of us for a while as they get used to the new sequences.

(Ron Van Putte; 111 Sleepy Oaks Rd.; Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548)

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.