Originally Posted by
time907356
I thought I'd add some first hand experience with gyro use in pattern. We host a beginners contest series at our club in SC, and early on, didn't monitor for gyro's. Then someone brought it to our attention that the guy winning Sportsman had an AS3X in his plane. We asked him to disable it before the next event, which he did, and his performance demonstrably and measurably diminished. There's no question that gyro's will improve scores, make flying sequences easier, and require lower pilot skill to perform well. .............
Did he keep coming back?
It seems to me everyone needs to ask themselves what their objectives are. Do you want to show that you can fly a crappy flying plane better than everyone else can fly their crappy plane, or do you want to out BUY, out BUILD, out TRIM and out PRACTICE the others and then after 75 flights feel you are ready for competition? And then after maybe three seasons you actually win a local contest. I've been there and done that and I hate to say it but the rewards are questionable.
I fly pattern with the objective of flying as well as I can but I'm never going to buy $6500 airframes and fly six flights a day six days a week. If I can buy something for $100 that makes my airplane better I'm all for it. It isn't going to initiate commands for you and it isn't going to automatically control sequencing. It will help make your crappy airplane less crappy or well trimmed airplane better in rough air. If you don't like those results stick with your old rules that allow any number of stabilization devices and schemes as long as they are not electronic.
Jim O