Who here does recreational aerobatics and has kicked around the idea of joining the IAC and flying some contests? What prevents you? I'm just curious, since there's now such a large fleet of capable aerobatic aircraft that aren't being represented on the IAC contest scene. With this year's season over, I was looking through the contest results and found exactly two RVs (RV-4 and RV-8) as having competed. Guess we can count the one F-1 Rocket as well.
There are quite a few RVs with inverted fuel/oil...and yes, it's hard to do well without inverted systems, but a large percentage of RVs these days are fuel-injected and would only need flop tubes and a few more hoses, ball valve, and oil separator firewall forward.
It's possible there are some misconceptions out there regarding what competition is about, but it's basically of a bunch of very friendly, laid-back, open pilots who just want to hang out for a weekend, talk airplanes, learn a bit, and maybe even do a little fun flying. Everyone's there to have a good time and to help each other.
To let you know the mix of planes that can show up at contests, here are some flown this year (Primary and Sportsman Categories) that are not your usual Pitts and Extra types: Clipped J-3 Cub, Bucker Jungmann, Sorrell Hiperbipe, Stearman, Yak 50/52, Great Lakes, Cessna Aerobat, Cap 10B. RVs can definitely hang.
There has been strong interest among the IAC body regarding bringing in RVer's. There has even been talk of new categories/sequences that are more friendly to non-inverted systems aircraft.
RV's would easily fly the Sportsman sequence, which each year is changed and arranged to contain variations of these basic maneuvers: Loop, Roll, Half-Cuban, Spin, Hammerhead, Immelman, Split-S, and Competition Turn.
I don't think anyone would go to a contest and leave disappointed, as long as you make a point of being there to have fun and learn a bit about the sport and flying better aerobatics. There are over 40 IAC Chapters across the country, so there's probably one relatively close to you. See www.iac.org for more info.
There are quite a few RVs with inverted fuel/oil...and yes, it's hard to do well without inverted systems, but a large percentage of RVs these days are fuel-injected and would only need flop tubes and a few more hoses, ball valve, and oil separator firewall forward.
It's possible there are some misconceptions out there regarding what competition is about, but it's basically of a bunch of very friendly, laid-back, open pilots who just want to hang out for a weekend, talk airplanes, learn a bit, and maybe even do a little fun flying. Everyone's there to have a good time and to help each other.
To let you know the mix of planes that can show up at contests, here are some flown this year (Primary and Sportsman Categories) that are not your usual Pitts and Extra types: Clipped J-3 Cub, Bucker Jungmann, Sorrell Hiperbipe, Stearman, Yak 50/52, Great Lakes, Cessna Aerobat, Cap 10B. RVs can definitely hang.
There has been strong interest among the IAC body regarding bringing in RVer's. There has even been talk of new categories/sequences that are more friendly to non-inverted systems aircraft.
RV's would easily fly the Sportsman sequence, which each year is changed and arranged to contain variations of these basic maneuvers: Loop, Roll, Half-Cuban, Spin, Hammerhead, Immelman, Split-S, and Competition Turn.
I don't think anyone would go to a contest and leave disappointed, as long as you make a point of being there to have fun and learn a bit about the sport and flying better aerobatics. There are over 40 IAC Chapters across the country, so there's probably one relatively close to you. See www.iac.org for more info.