I can understand your point very well. I was competing against such aircraft at the now defuct Cactus Classic held in Mesa one year, in basic at my 2nd contest. However, such an assumption can be dangerous, especially with the introduction of unknown sequences.

Simply owning and flying a large aircraft as that doesn't imply any skill whatsoever, especially in a contest environment. Basic is intended to be a class in which competition is not the emphasis, but rather learning. Some people that fly in Basic sometimes get too competitive, and that's a shame, because most people in Basic are just trying to learn their way around a contest.

Some of those people may buy over their head and get pretty flustered when flying in front of people. I've seen it happen myself, while calling for a rather wealthy man that was flying a giant scale Extra in his first contest. I almost had to land the plane for him he was so rattled at the end of his sequences.

Basic has it's place, and it's my opinion that we should not delegate to people what they can and can't fly in this class. I believe the spirit of the Basic class has been corrupted by overly-competitive people, and that can be intimidating to people just trying to learn the contest scene, no matter what they chose to fly. I think we should be steering the Basic class back to what it was developed for, the Basics, and not so much as competition.

We should also remember what it is that causes IMAC to be such a big hit on the contest scene. The rules allow the greatest freedom to use nearly unlimited variations of equipment, from huge engines and wingspans, to nifty electronics. No other competition circuit among RC has such freedom. If we start restricting it, beyond the sound issue, we'll all lose.

Thanks,

Erich