The intent of my prior post was to point out that the top placing pilots at the US NATs had a variety of aircraft designs and configurations available. In particular, the Allure in 3 configurations (Glow, single prop electric, and Contra) finished in the top 3 spots after the semifinals. And after the finals, a single prop electric Allure and a Contra Allure were in the top spots, ahead of a single prop bipe. Both unknown sequences contained a knife edge loop, knife edge vertical 8, and knife edge cuban 8. The first unknown sequence had 3 snaps and the second unknown sequence had 5 snaps. I would agree that I have flown more difficult unknown sequences, but, I would not characterize the unknowns that were flown as lacking difficult manuevers, or lacking maneuvers that would challenge the performance of the plane. I think it simply goes back to pilots choosing to fly what they are most comfortable with, and what they like the best. There were clearly some setup differences in the top 3 planes, and by my estimate, it was nothing more than a reflection of the flying style the pilots chose to use. To my eye, all 3 planes (Allure electric single prop, Allure Contra, Finals Touch glow) were wholly capable of the schedules and unknowns. If asked, Bryan would tell you each configuration of the Allure would perform very similarly with the proper setup.
After flying my Allure, Chip pointed out that he found the rudder to be very sensitive....that is something I have heard about virtually all of my models going back to the late 1980s. It is the way I prefer to fly, and I find it more "balanced" to use similar amounts of rudder and elevator in maneuvers that require integration of looping / rolling elements. I flew Mike Caglia's Finals Touch (same design as Chip flew in the finals), and hands down without question, it is the best pattern biplane I have ever flown, but my preference is still for a monoplane.
A brief comment on the noise testing at the recent US NATs. From the 2015 CIAM Plenary Meeting, effective May 1 2015, 5.1.2 specifies sound testing procedures. For models that fail a noise test and fail a retest "its entire model processing has failed." It would seem this new rule was not fully understood (as 2 planes that failed the noise test were flown), but, I believe it is clear enough how the score of zero was determined.