ronschreck
Well Known Member
I competed back when I had my Pitts. I loved it. Spend a long weekend with your fiends and have them critique you up one side and down the other. Not sure why it was so fun, but it was. I miss it.
Now that I have an RV I have gotten away from acro and am enjoying formation immensly. Very fun also. Go figure.
I had a single seat Pitts so my istruction was from a ground observer. Works very well once you have the basics solidly instilled. Back in the day, you could get a solo checkout in CHD's S2B. This came with some excellent and much needed spin sequence training. Invertd, upright, accelerated, flat etc.
I really enjoyed my Pitts and I miss the aggressive style of acro you can do with that airframe. In my RV I putt around sticking to positive, gentlemans' (so to speak) aerobatics. Fun, but definately a big notch down from competition.
I don't have any inverted systems in my RV either so that puts some limits to IAC contrst flying. I have chutes (Dan T's finest wedge softies) but have doubts that I can remove my tip up 6 canopy. I do know though that without a chute on, none of it matters.
When I was getting my conditional done recently we removed the canopy so I could see how it worked mechanically. It was difficult to do in the hangar with two of us. Pulling the canopy release was even difficult.
Regardless, I am very interested in participating in a clinic if one comes close enough for me to get to. (Wx, work, winds permitting)
If there were a developed known from the IAC I would like to jump in. However I would like to have something along the lines of an 8 to 10 manuever known rather than say 5. Just greedy I guess.
Cathy
Cathy,
We all know that the RV is not a dedicated aerobatic mount like the Pitts, Extra, MX, etc. I find that the challenge is to compete against those dedicated aerobatic airplanes at a level where the emphasis is on piloting rather than aircraft capability. The IAC sportsman level of competition (with 10 figures) is where the RV shines. Even without inverted systems or constant speed propellers the RV is very competative.
The tip up canopy on RV-6 aircraft is an issue. I hope someone comes up with a clever solution that will allow one to exit those planes in a hurry.
Critiquing from a ground observer is essential to fine tune your skills. Without it we tend to make the same mistakes over and over until we get pretty darned good at making mistakes! I would encourage anyone interested in aerobatics to get instruction in the basics in any airplane such as a Decathlon, Pitts, etc. then use that knowledge to safely explore the flight envelope of the RV.