The finer points of pattern plane design is something that many of us would find very interesting but and maybe I'm wrong, would have a great trouble actually contributing to. Folks could give an opinion based on personal preference, but I would think most would have trouble documenting any serious data. That's not knocking the post by the way it's just reconfirming your statement that everyone has their own personal quirks when it comes to setting up- trimming, CG, incidence, throws and flying style etc. What suits you, doesn't necessarily suit another. It's not the airplane at fault, it's the person behind the sticks. I feel if people, myself included, really could get a grip of that we'd be seeing quite a different picture.

So why do we get so many new airplanes? Well the schedules change, evolve would be a better term and designs, in theory change to for fill these new demands. I say in theory. There is only pilot/designer that, in my opinion has truly evolved his planes and thats CPLR and the Alliance-Synergy-Oxalys sequence. The great majority of the others seen to come out with a completely new plane, every couple of years or so. Surely things aren't changing that fast... so why the new designs? Because it's good business.... and we, as (hobby) pilots like new planes, new toys and new reasons to blame our bad scores on an "out of date" design; And that's even better for business!

If any of the worlds top ten pilots where to turn up at your average pattern contest equipped with a 4 generation old airplane, how do you think they'd fare.They'd probably win... by a long margin! I saw something similar with my own eyes 2 years ago at the Norwegian Nationals. The multi time, ex champ coming out of hiding and bringing an old Wolfgang Matt designed airplane, 12 years old or so. The P-03 was never flown better during that event...The snaps (and remember this airplane was never designed to snap (of course it was, all airplanes are) where things of utter, jaw dropping beauty. When asked what made this old design snapped so well, I was told that, at first it didn't...I just work and worked on them. It's not the airplane that makes the maneuver, it's the pilot. Enough said.

Huummmm bummer! Now where the catalog of the latest, new and exciting airplanes!