ORIGINAL: dick Hanson
It is obvious - IMAC is an equipment race -too bad
Anybody who does not pony up for a 40 %model and transport need not apply.
Sour grapes?
No-just tired of seeing the fun knocked out of the event.
It is very obvious to even the newer flier that larger planes are easier to fly and fly well.
The cost of the latest /largest stuf is not a big deal to the hard core competitors.
The really proficient may even have a sponsership that takes a lot of the sting out of it.
Pattern did the same thing -evolving into a perceived need for very expensive planes and engines.
Marketing of products for the hobby helps drive this "need".
The old "move up" thing is all part of the plan.
Same thing with autos - The market people want you to spend as much as they can convince you to part with.
$60,000 for a grocery getter --
I built planes for TOC starting in the 1970's-into the 1990's- not all that expensive then but the desire to really provide a show for the crowd at the TOC really ramped up the cost and size. With that new equipment available to anyone, IMAC made a mad dash into the same size type stuff and the market was happy to provide even newer bits n pieces .
It happens in all motorsports.
Try to field even the cheapest dragster-on gasoline -
The "rice burners" have created a new sub class on drag racing -and simply ignore the NHRA classes.
The 2006 patterns promise to be even more involved than the 2005.
As CD for our events -getting good judges has become harder each year.
It all goes right to the heart of the problem - trying to make the event a more technically complicated playground which challanges the core group and excites (hopefully) the potential new IMAC participant.
A progressive skill event -it aint anymore. It is far more complicated than full scale aerobatics and the inclusion of the judged free style further complicates an event .
If you are a hard core competitor --none of this will bother you .
Dick--- I hear ya! CD-ing an IMAC event must be a major PITA what with known, unknown, and freestyle and don't forget Minimac. I haven't competed in IMAC for almost 10 years and am excited and also somewhat miffed at what I see has happened in 10 years. I had been flying AMA pattern for several years before I first got into IMAC so being competitive in Advanced wasn't all that difficult. I was flying Goldberg ultimates and Sukois. IMAC served as a great way for flyers to get into competition aerobatics without having to ante up for a full blown pattern rig. At that time the complaint was that Pattern (AMA/FAI) was too expensive.
Enter the TOC and similar events with manufacturers responding to the competitors demand for the biggest and best. What a great 10 years it has been for powerplant and airframe development. When I attended my first TOC in 1988 the big dogs were using glow motors with mechanical devices to link them together allowing more than one engine to turn the prop. Very few used gas; and for good reason gas motors were heavy and wimpy. Along came 3W and all that changed---for the better. Now we have amazing choice of light, powerful gas motors from 1-4 cylinders. Same with airframes; once we had the motors, airframes followed and of course Chinese airframes made all this more accessible.
This obviously was a major shot in the arm for IMAC where basically unrestricted airframe size and weight led to a major runup in aircraft cost and complexity. Problems attendant to this cost spiral were "fixed" with minimac. NOT!!
Meanwhile Pattern stuck to FAI guidelines and to its 5 Kg weight limit. Equipment cost has increased in Pattern despite the weight limit; but at a reasonable rate. A mere drop in the bucket compared to equipment cost increase in IMAC (with no end in sight).
Yes, we do it for fun! Motorsports have always been expensive and competition always pushes us in the direction of well.... being competitive. I find more fun when I win than when I lose; so do all of us.
I guess what I am saying, after trying to put it in the perspective of the changes of the past 10 or so years, is that it looks like a time when we might put the brakes on a bit and consider a weight limit, at least in the basic through advanced classes. The unlimited class should be UNLIMITED and a stepping stone to TOC level events. By doing so we would encourage manufacturers to make lighter stuff and I would not have to buy and tow a trailer to contests! Hows about 22 lb (10 Kg)? I think there is an event in Europe called FAI X where that limit is used so the target weight similarities would encourage manufacturers even more. I DON'T WANT A TRAILER!
Bob G