Originally Posted by
rgburrill
Not trolling at all. How much "flying" is done in 3-D? Everything I've watched is a big engine pulling around a body. Watch some real competition flying like Red Bull - they do real flying.
Thinking that's your opinion, and although I do believe they are "really" flying as well, you did ask about 3D. A LOT of 3D would also include maneuvers done at the very slowest speeds, requiring a level of control that darn few ever master completely. We're not always talking about somebody practicing the hover (hard to do without electronic assistance, and many consider it boring to watch).
You think it's easy? You want REAL flying? Next time you're out flying, here a challenge for you, exercising a basic 3D skill. While coming in for a landing, add some power and up elevator, and hold your plane off the runway about 18" or so, the length of the runway. Then do a rudder turn and come back..... all without increasing your speed above landing speed, and never gaining more than 4' of altitude. With proper set up (yes, you get to figure that out too!), about any decent sport plane should be able to do that. Then come back and tell us 3D is all "big engine pulling around a body".
As a full scale pilot, I have terrific admiration for the way those guys handle those Red Bull planes (like flying back to an airport after dipping a wing tip in the Detroit River), and even more for the advances made in their construction. The power to weight ratios they get to play with, well the more you know about them, the more amazed you become. That said, I don't consider what they spend most of their time doing 3D flying, not the way I think of 3D anyway. -Al