Artistic Aerobatics

[White, Chris]

I'd have to ditto the concerns voiced by Bob..... If you are trying to get
support (unless you are willing to pay for it yourself) you have to draw
spectators.  As in the days of the barnstormers and aerial circuses....the
crowd wants to be thrilled.   Although I love the pure contest of
maneuvering accurately without thrill appeal (subjective comment:)) Any
comment I've ever heard from non-contestants is:  "Boring".   Why don't they
fly it?  Expensive & boring.  Obviously it takes a special addict to "Want"
to put the effort forth to fly pattern.   We may always have to finance
ourselves....but maybe the answer is to invite demo pilots if we want to
attract crowds....(Top Gun & others do....)
 
I think model aviation would benefit from the old appeal of AAA contests....
So have demo pilots of heli's, imac, scale, jets, c/l team race, combat or
whatever your mind can dream up and your field can support.
 
Spoken here as a club promoter and president who is always trying to build
PR for Model Aviation.
Chris White
NSRCA 3601
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On
Behalf Of Bob Kane
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 10:05 AM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Artistic Aerobatics


My opinion, and it is just that, is precision aerobatics is a sport for the
competitor, not the spectator. To the uninitiated, it has all the excitement
of watching paint dry. If we don't do something to spice it up a bit, it
will go the way of Olympic Figure Skating.
 
I organized a pattern contest at a local municipal airport (former Naval Air
Station) a few years ago. They closed a runway for the weekend for our use.
After two years the airport board was unwilling to give up the weekend
because we did not "draw a crowd". My competition was a Jet Rally started by
Michigan Jets that same year. They generated enough revenue from paid
parking to donate a few thousand dollars to Ronald McDonald House. That
event is still going strong.
 
I believe we need to introduce something "watchable". Not so much change
what we do during a regular contest, but add a special event at the end
where music, smoke, and ooh-ahh manuevers would entertain a crowd. A club
could advertise it as an airshow and maybe generate some revenue.


"Henderson,Eric" <Eric.Henderson at gartner.com> wrote:

As some of you may know I ran an FAI-FG1 event a couple of years ago at the
Nat's after the finals. Quique, Troy and Chad Northeast put on a really
great show for us while we waited for the Masters and FAI results.
 
I have not heard much about this event type since then. I was wondering if
the FAI adopted it or not.
 
Flying a pattern type plane to music is very attractive. It is one of the
few times where the plane does not drown-out the music! More correctly said,
the planes have to comply with size weight and sound FAI regulations. They
do not actually have to be what we fly in a pattern contest. Some guys use
the same planes and swap-in 3-D wings and stabs. They often change their
props.
 
It is, of course, the rest-of-the-world's version of IMAC freestyle.
 
I have written, not without a shot or two across my bows, that the
delineator between precision aerobatics and scale aerobatics is that pattern
is based on practicing the routine, a lot! 
I see IMAC pilots practicing tailslides and Harriers and torque rolls, but
rarely the routines they fly. In particular, wannabe IMAC pilots fly the
hover stuff for most of their flights. Once in a while I "push my luck" and
I ask them why they practice most, the thing that they will do least, in a
contest. (Maybe once in a freestyle routine at the end of an event). 
 
The answer always is, "Because I want to get better at it and it is fun".
Are they having more fun than us? I know that watching a loud plane hover
over the runway is fun for a while but it gets old pretty quick and even
becomes annoying. A bit like when we played our 45's on repeat. We coul
listen to the same song, that we had just purchased, but our allegedly
tone-deaf fathers were soon motivated to become "discus" throwers!!!!
 
The question is still out there however, "Are we boring?" and "Do we,
(pattern pilots), need be more watchable"???
 
Regards, it is still winter - Eric.
 



Bob Kane
getterflash at yahoo.com 



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