[haste232]

Greetings fellow IMACers. Although I was not able to attend the Canandian Nats due to last minute family issues, I did manage to go to the WAC or full scale World Aerobatic Championship, August 20-29 in Silverstone, England, site of the annual British F1. I would like to share the experience with my fellow IMAC flyers.

Tragically, as some of you may know, an American pilot was killed on the third day of the contest. I was not there to witness the event, but apparently she was doing a stall turn, and never pulled out at the bottom and crashed close to the flight line. The contest was postponed and restarted for August 24, 25, 28, 29, for a total of 6 days of flying instead of the planned 10 days. Unfortunately we left during the weekend, not knowing if the contest was going to continue.

The contest is open to the public and no entry fees except the last 2 days when the free style is held. For those of us interested in scale aerobatics, its an eye opening experience. Its also unique to see aerobatic planes spinning in the air above while race cars are going around the track below.

There were 60 pilots from around the world. The pilots flew from 9 AM to noon and again from 2 PM to 6 or 7 PM. There was some delay for low clouds. It was one pilot at a time and each fly one sequence only. There were lots of Caps, Sukhois 26 and 31’s, some Extras, including the new 330SC, and a few Edges, Sbachs. Sorry Jim D, no Yaks. The level of difficulty is somewhere between the IMAC advance and unlimited sequence. There were some very tough sequence manoeuvres like hammer with 1 1/4 negative snap up, ¼ roll down and push to a 45 down line and 2 of 4 pt. roll. One of my favourites was Immelman with 2 point roll at the bottom, half inside loop, on top, 1 1/4 positive snap to knife edge and opposite 3/4 roll. A lot pilots had trouble maintaining level flight and dropped on the knife edge, except the Sukhois with the big engines and the new Extras. A full scale Sukhoi 31 executing this manouvre, engine at full bore, is a sight that must been seen and heard to be truly appreciated. And when they come down on a down line heading just in front of the stands and throttle up to pull out, I got goose bumps..ooooooooohh. You call see the entire known sequence on the WAC website under videos. http://www.wac2009.com/video/videos.html

If I didn’t know better, it was just like our IMAC contests in many ways. There were few there except the pilots, judges, mechanics and people running the contest. I think most people only come for the free style on the last day. Sometimes I was the only person in the stands during the known rounds. Once in the air, whether its 40% or 100%, they look the same size to the naked eye. And they make the same mistakes, rollers that are not level, snaps that over or under rotate, hammers that are too wide etc.

There were some surprising differences. When these guys snap, there’s more pitch than a Roy Halladay fast ball. The planes pitch 20-30 degrees and continue to move forward with the nose pitched for at least another 50 ft before any roll is seen. The box is very tight, 1000 meters, so the lines between manoeuvres is very short, and the air space control they demonstrate is very impressive., especially on outside rolling circles. The spins are totally different from scale aerobatics, because of the size and momentum, the planes continue to go forward during the spin, and there is a great deal of pitch and yaw Lastly, if you think a 150cc on cannisters with a two blade is loud, a full size Sukhoi with its rotary engine at full throttle will send chills down your spine, besides, you can hear it in the next town.

Here are some pictures, Cheers.

Tsai Chen

[bigguy]

Congratulations! Great article Tsai!

I just added that link to my favourites!
Sounds like our version of Scale Aerobatics is very close but yet not totally the same.I wondered where the heck you were this summer!

Ralph

[Ray B]

Thanks for the report Tsai.

[bigguy]

Tsai,

Do you have any more pictures?

[haste232]

Hi Ralph, I got lots but this site only lets me post 4 at a time.
Tsai

[paul svec]

Hi Tsai,

never mind those airplanes.....can you do me a favor? Could you ask Svetlana if she will marry me?...
And if she insists,she can bring her SU 26 with her...I think Al could build a hangar for it and get her to practice at 400.

Paul

[50%300SFlyer]

Originally Posted by paul svec

Hi Tsai,

never mind those airplanes.....can you do me a favor? Could you ask Svetlana if she will marry me?...
And if she insists,she can bring her SU 26 with her...I think Al could build a hangar for it and get her to practice at 400.

Paul

I thought you were already married Paul?!?!...

[Randy Brown]

Whats your point

Originally Posted by 50%300SFlyer

I thought you were already married Paul?!?!...

[Bob Hudson]

I have also seen full scale aerobatics ( flown the way it should be ).

I have maintained for a number of years that the spin and snap criteria IMAC is teaching at the seminars, and forcing us to judge them that way, is totally incorrect. Full Scale planes don't fly like that.

This "instant snap" with barely any visible indication of pitch is NOT the way a full scale, nor a scale model aerobatic plane should perform the snap.

"where's the pitch" I say.

The same goes for spins. Let me see the nose go up, then the nose drops and a wing tip falls.

It would be good to hear the comments from a few of the "upper echelon" in IMAC after they attended such an event as this. I think it may be an eye opener for them.

Anyway, I'm off the soapbox now

Originally Posted by haste232

There were some surprising differences. When these guys snap, there’s more pitch than a Roy Halladay fast ball. The planes pitch 20-30 degrees and continue to move forward with the nose pitched for at least another 50 ft before any roll is seen.

The box is very tight, 1000 meters, so the lines between manoeuvres is very short, and the air space control they demonstrate is very impressive., especially on outside rolling circles.

The spins are totally different from scale aerobatics, because of the size and momentum, the planes continue to go forward during the spin, and there is a great deal of pitch and yaw.

Lastly, if you think a 150cc on cannisters with a two blade is loud, a full size Sukhoi with its rotary engine at full throttle will send chills down your spine, besides, you can hear it in the next town.

Cheers.

Tsai Chen

[Tyler P]

I completely agree! lol. My spins at the Nats were all of the nose up/stall/drop in variety. I got scored pretty low on them.

Can't say much on the snaps. I was in basic.

Originally Posted by Bob Hudson

I have also seen full scale aerobatics ( flown the way it should be ).

I have maintained for a number of years that the spin and snap criteria IMAC is teaching at the seminars, and forcing us to judge them that way, is totally incorrect. Full Scale planes don't fly like that.

This "instant snap" with barely any visible indication of pitch is NOT the way a full scale, nor a scale model aerobatic plane should perform the snap.

"where's the pitch" I say.

The same goes for spins. Let me see the nose go up, then the nose drops and a wing tip falls.

It would be good to hear the comments from a few of the "upper echelon" in IMAC after they attended such an event as this. I think it may be an eye opener for them.

Anyway, I'm off the soapbox now