[Billpilotca]

While sitting in the judges chair for Basic and Sportsman at Stoney Creek this weekend, it occurred to me that when I started in IMAC we used to get direct feedback from the judges after each round. It was often very quick and just a couple of words of feedback but it was helpful for new pilots to get these pointers to improve their flying.

We don't seem to be able to do this any more at contests but I thought it might be useful to have some feedback in this forum that might be helpful to some of our newer pilots. Personally I am very glad to see new faces at contests so far this year. We need to encourage more people to come out and give it a try.

One of those most important points of feedback I got early on was "slow down". I think this was something that I saw a lot of this weekend. A lot of our newer IMAC competitors are flying at supersonic speeds through the maneuvers. People are flying way too fast !! Throttle management is a basic skill that every new competitor must learn. Slow down and give yourself time to think through the maneuvers.

This becomes even more important when you move from Basic to Sportsman and start to fly unknowns. You cannot fly through the sequence at speeds like an F-16 fighter and have time to score well. Its one thing when you are practicing the known sequence over and over and know all the maneuvers. But with unknowns I always try to remember the good advice of my Chatham and Sudbury mentors ---- slow down, make it big and extend your lines, give yourself time to think !!

Your throttle stick does not need to be full up through the whole sequence. Work on learning a cruising speed somewhere in the middle of the throttle range that produces a nice pace taking into account wind speed both downwind and upwind.

Main thing for all of you Basic and newer Sportsman pilots is SLOW DOWN. If you watch the better Sportsman pilots from this past weekend the one thing that stands out is throttle management, it makes a big difference. With the exception of a couple of top Sportsman pilots I would say that most of you are flying TWICE AS FAST as you should be.

I am sure others have comments. There is lots of experience in this group and I thought it would be good to have some direct feedback in this forum. Please accept this as helpful well intentioned advice. After all the goal for all of us flying IMAC is to be better pilots

[goneflyin]

Bill, excellent advice. Thanks for starting the topic!
I'd like to add that most of the Basic and some Sportsman pilots were also flying way too close. It's a natural thing for some beginner pilots to fly close, because that's what we do at our own fields even just flying around for kicks.
It's really important to remember that if you fly a close line, you will then become rushed, and things will get kinda ugly.
If you're flying over or near the runway deadline, move your line out 100' or so, and you'll instantly feel a bit of tension (rush) disappear, as you'll have a lot more time to think and fly smoothly.
Thanks Bill.
Don

[Billpilotca]

Thanks Don - I was hoping some of our experts would chime in - I think we owe it to our newcomers to provide good advice and suggestions so they can improve. After 7-8 years of IMAC I am still learning and this is all about continuous improvement.

I also noticed folks flying too close in - several I had to give deadline "zeros" to because they came way too close in. Push it out and give yourself some space.

[BMG]

Bill:

Great words of advice.

I'm no "expert" but remember hearing the phrases "throttle management" and "stretch it out" from both Kent and Lee (my coaches) many many times before I figured out what they both really meant.

I find it very helpful to take the time to watch and listen to the top pilots when they are flying. Each pilot fly's different but you quickly begin to both hear (the engine) and see what the plane is doing. Then, the next challenge is to mimic both.

It is only when I started to slow things down did my scores improve and I started feeling more comfortable flying overall. There is now more time to focus on and make the subtle flight adjustments required. (I will leave that topic for another discussion.)

Brendan

[Bryan Mailloux]

I think more about pushing my maneuver more up wind to give some some time when doing the down wind maneuvers when it is breezy.

[LEE]

Yes it would be great to get quick feedback from the judges but often there just isn't time. I often will mention a few things to people as I see them after and also welcome ideas to help me as we'll. we are always learning no matter what level!

[LEE]

I too noticed many in intermediate down to basic pilots flying in way too close and going way too fast. Pushing things out, going bigger and slowing down will make everything more easy to adjust and make pretty!
As you move up in classes rudder becomes so important for maintenance of your line and wind correction. I encourage everyone to get really aggressive with yor rudder and make things level and square before you pull or push into any manoeuvres, your scores will improve dramatically.

[goneflyin]

Originally Posted by LEE

make things level and square before you pull or push into any manoeuvres, your scores will improve dramatically.

Wise words right here. Thanks Lee!

And not just for the beginner classes!!!

It's one of the hardest things to do well and consistently in aerobatics flown with the pilot standing on the ground.

The higher the airplane's altitude, more of the airplane's belly will be showing as you fly by.

The overwhelming tendency of most pilots, myself included, is to have the inboard wing tipped down a little. Causes all kinds of problems!!!

If you want to work on anything important in practicing, work on this.

The way to tell if your perception of 'wings level' is good, is fly by wings level and just pull back on the elevator alone to a vertical upline. If the plane doesn't go straight up, your wings weren't level... (could be a couple other reasons, but the wings level thing is the biggest)


Don

[Billpilotca]

Thanks to all of you for jumping in. I think these are all very helpful suggestions to many of us as we practice between contests. All good coaching tips from good flyers.

One thing I need to do more of is just fly horizontal wind corrected lines and get aggressive with the rudder (as Lee said). Also make sure wings are level (as Don said).

It is not a bad idea just to spend some good practice time just flying horizontal lines - upright and inverted. Flying a straight horizontal line is harder than many would think. Pulling or pushing up from a wings "not level" position will always send you off on the wrong tangent.

Also get out a true 45 degree triangle or make one out of some cardboard and learn how steep a true 45 is.

Also to get out and fly those unknowns that we all tried to fly last Sunday. I keep all the unknowns from the contests and I get them laminated once in a while. But I don't fly them as much as I should. I have noticed that the same maneuvers often reappear in other contests so it makes sense to spend time flying these unknowns and not just fly the known routine over and over again.

[bigguy]

All classes need to practice horizontal lines in the wind and staying out..(in reason) . Upper classes need to stay out as the lower classes learn to push it out. Find a line and hold it . Both directions. Upright then inverted. Rudder is your friend! LOL!