ORIGINAL: danamania

Interesting thread. I would like to see Pattern become a bit more accessible to those new to precision aerobatics. While I have aired some ideas on other threads, I would like to offer just one observation about the current Sportsman sequence after reflecting on my first contest experiences last year:<div></div><div>If the Sportsman is flying baseline within the correct range of distances needed to have enough lateral space in the box within which to fit the maneuvers, then the out-of-box turnarounds are potentially quite far away from the pilot. This is all well and good when one is experienced at executing these, however, for the new pattern pilot they can be quite anxiety provoking. Wind, diminished visibility, and/or a momentary disorientation can lead to a difficult to see and recover from attitude at a great distance. With the need to exit and re-enter the box twice during the sequence, it can add to anxiety and workload for the new competitor. Now I know that those are opportunities to re-position the plane for the next scored maneuvers, but scoring well pales in comparison to recovering one's model intact. This needless anxiety is something that I believe the experienced pilots may have lost touch with given their great experience. All it takes is one or two good scares at that distance to turn someone off to pattern competition (given that they truly are new to precision and not just a terrific pilot who has not yet competed after years of doing aerobatics). This observation is offered to promote understanding and is not an argument for either classic or turn-around, per se, just want to sensitize others as ways to include newcomers are discussed.<div></div></div>