Hi, garywi. I found myself in the same boat as you when I solo'd a couple of years ago. I was interested in learning aerobatics and improving my piloting skills, but there didn't seem to be a whole bunch of additional information out there for what comes next.

Fortunately for me, I fly at a club where we have several decent pattern flyers who practice a good deal. I would often take breaks from flying my sport planes so I could watch them practicing their pattern manuevers with their graceful 2m pattern ships.

I wasn't so much concerned with competing at pattern events, I just wanted to learn the various manuevers and flying techniques that they focus on. I also didn't intend on spending $2500 for a composite 2m pattern ARF or $2200 for a Futaba 14MZ. I found out that you can learn and practice pattern flying with regular sport plane airframes and equipment, and it's every bit as fun as it looks.

After a little bit of hunting around on the web, I discovered the website for the National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics:

http://www.nsrca.org/scheduleA.htm

The schedule of pattern manuevers at the NSRCA is a great place to start. Print off a copy of the Sportmsman Pattern schedule for a list of manuevers to learn. If you see a manuever you're not familiar with, simply visit http://www.masportaviator.com and check out their "Flight Term Definitions" glossary link on the home page of the Sport Aviator web site. Sport Aviator will provide you with a basic definition and diagram of manuevers like the snap roll, spin, stall turn, and most other Sportsman-class pattern manuevers.

Practice, practice, practice is the key to getting better at some of the most basic manuevers. Just practicing inside and outside loops takes a good long while until they finally come out nice and round. Flying inverted for extended periods of time is also a really good skill builder. Trying flying entire circuits around your field while your plane is inverted. Once you're comfortable with that, try flying inverted figure eights. When I can finally fly smooth circular loops and I can consistently fly smooth figure eights while inverted, it will put me ahead of 90% of the guys that I fly with regarding aerobatic skill. These basic manuevers require practice to do well.

If you decide you really enjoy this type of flying and you want to compete, that'd be great. The important thing to remember, though, is to have fun flying and try not to practice so much that it feels like a chore instead of a hobby. You don't need a fancy plane or fancy equipment, a Goldberg Tiger 2 with a .46 ball bearing engine and basic 4-channel radio will allow you to learn the whole Sportsman pattern schedule.

Good luck and good flying!