Davilduk

Yes you are right, there are no appearance points awarded for arf's. That isn't a big deal in intermediate as the point spreads are usually pretty big and so many folks fly arfs. It did cost me a 2nc place in P-40 when I beat an advanced flier on flying points but he beat me by afew on appearace. We were both flying Brodak .40 pathfinders but his a kit and mine an arf. That really doesn't matter to me though since I was just tring to get back to compeative flying as fast as I could. I went thru 5 planes this year to do that. 3 I killed, a fist vector .40 / brodak 40 in stock kit config, and a second vector 40 with a control system more to what I used to fly and an aerotiger .36. No way I could have done that with building the planes. I would probably have barely made it past the killing airplane phase and hten only if I had monocoted the planes, no way for me with a dope finish. Also I do not repair arfs. If I kill it, an all were easily fixable, I give it away to a flier who would like the plane. This helps the sport alot. It gets planes to fliers who would normally maybe not be ready for that level plane or not be able to get it themselves and lets them fly something at a higher level than what they normally fly. This was done for me when I was a kid 11 or 12 years old and a stunt flier in his 20's gave me a nobler he had crashed and nocked the front off. No way I cold build a plane like that then, I was not able to even fix it. But it had a shine! I worked on it, and tried to repair it and kept it in my shop for years as s inspiration. One guy I gave a pathfinder to could only fly an inside loop when I gave him the broken plane. He killed it a month later.. learning a square 8! Same gu it turned out got the second pathfinder (last one I killed) from me and learned the rest of the pattern this year. No way it would have happened with his ringmaster and that was all he thoght he could fly. He bought my Brodak 40 and vector 40 from me at the end of the season. He is going to compete in intermediate next year and is probably done killing airplanes now. The palne was fully trimmed and ran very well. Just by giving awy and not rebuilding those planes another flier has in one year moved all the way to competative flier. Its a tradition in CL stunt that has stood the test of decades of sucess.


bob