Artistic Aerobatics

[Ed Alt]

Hi all:
I'm new to this list, having decided to get into pattern in '04 after about 7 years of IMAC competition.  I find the comments on Artisitic Aerobatics very interesting, especially coming from this background.  There are some fun aspects of the IMAC Freestyle that can certainly spice up a competition, but it can also become the center of attention by a CD and materially interfere with the quality of the precision sequence flying, which is all that most IMAC flyers usually participate in.  I never even competed in Freestyle until '03, when we were socked in by low ceilings at a contest and the only flying we could do was down low, hence my plunge into the event.  I could never really get my mind around how to properly coreograph a performance to music, so I stayed away from it in competition.  I also didn't much like the idea of the pure subjective nature of the event, the way pure WOW factor could spell a win over superior flying etc.

Later in the year, I took one more whack at Freestyle and actually won the event, but I couldn't rationalize why.  I thought my performance was mediocre at best.  After that, I think I finally made peace with myself over this and figured that it was just another chance to put the airplane up, show off if you are so inclined and generally have some fun.  FWIW, if you can approach it this way, Artistic Aerobatics could be a nice addition to pattern events if you don't want to be too serious about it.  A few will be able to really do it right, i.e., coreograph something that somehow captures the mood of the music, accentuating it as much as it accentuates the flight of the model, displays precision where it seems like precision should have been achieved and fully exploits the performance envelope of the model at the right moments. They should rise to the top.

Incidentally, there may be a misconception that the IMAC freestyle is mostly about low torque rolls and dragging the tail in the grass.  That trend is well past.  Excessive time spent doing TRs, or for that matter staying in a pure 3D flight mode and not showing the full capabilties of the model, displaying precision aerobatics at least part of the time and making good use of the aerobatic box is generally not a winning formula anymore.  Lastly, although I can't say that I'm intimately familiar with what's being proposed for AA, it seems that one challenge that deserves much attention is to try to have as much objectivity in the judging criteria as possible.  That's not an easy thing to do and is probably not fully achievable.  IMO, if you can accept the idea that your scores may be strongly influenced by moods and style preferences, then it seems that you may be able to enjoy Artistic Aerobatics.

Ed Alt
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