Letter to the Editor:
If you’re not a member, you’re missing a lot!
Reggie, thanks for all the time and attention you put into Sport Aerobatics.
I’d like to add my feedback to the, hopefully legion, responses you’re getting regarding some recent how-to-fly articles.
John Morrissey’s “The Five Sequential Steps to Competition Aerobatics” (January 2014) has been pinned within view of my office chair since before I had even flown my airplane. What a wonderful blueprint! I’m using it to plan this project.
“Seeing the Perfect Maneuvers” by Dave Watson (March 2015) is a great breakdown of the competition (comp) turn, and his inclusion of things like his “big eyes mode” allowed me to start solidifying the beginnings of awareness that I’d felt creep into my practice but hadn’t yet made sense of. (This article also made me realize my elevator trim doesn’t have enough nose-down authority!)
Gordon Penner’s February 2015 article on the Sportsman sequence contained great detail on the roll, loop, and comp turn I’ll need to start learning the basics. His intro to Alan’s “sacred circle” and John’s “deep focus” gems were the perfect amount of coaching detail to get me started without having to read every treatise on the subject first. (Though I already have Alan’s Better Aerobatics, and it waits patiently for me to get to it.)
I attended my first competition yesterday (Wildwood Acroblast) as a volunteer and had a great time. I hope to make Kathy Jaffe my first flying competition, with more on the calendar next year as I can carve out more full weekends. And I’m excited to take the Pitts to Oshkosh this year!
Thanks again,
Glen Becker, IAC 436957
