This past season for family reasons I did not get to compete so this next season I plan to compete as much as possible and here is what I did to improve myself to get ready for basic.

I asked my oldest daughter to video tape me as often as possible. This was a huge help. I thought my lines were OK and all but after seeing the videos I could very easily see the rotations issues I was having, the lines not being completely straight and the starting and end points on my loops not being in the same place. I practiced flat turns using rudder only both upright and inverted and in wind to get better on rudder control and learned to hover a nose heavy airplane to get better with all around stick control.

Now I know there is nothing like having an experienced pilot next to you but this is not possible at my club since we have no one that flies IMAC.

Next I practiced on a 4* 60. Yep, that's what I said. When I got everything looking right on the 4* then I went a tried it on my Gene Soucy Extra from Great Planes, My CG Sukhoi and my WH Ultimate. What a difference in the way it looked with the better planes.

I found I like the Extra and the Ultimate for rolling and snap maneuvers, and the Sukhoi for everything else. I'm partital to my Sukhoi so that is probably going to be my plane of choice for this year but I have to get used to the fact that it tends to over-rotate on snaps and rolls although this could be a control throw problem.

I have been flying the 2006 sequences on a sim since they came out and they are not that hard. I plan to get out this weekend with the Sukhoi and fly them to see how it does.