Well, I soloed about a month ago and my take-offs and landings are getting pretty good. I am performing some aerobatics with my trainer (aileron rolls, loops, immelmans) but they are sloppy. I am not sure what to do to improve them. I know that trainers can perform aerobatics much better than I do them, since I have seen more experienced pilots fly the heck out of them. The question is: "How did you more experienced pilots learn aerobatics?". There are currently 9 trainees for 2 instructors in my club which keeps them pretty busy, so asking one of them is pretty much out. Should I keep experimenting until I figure it out? Should I buddy up to a more advanced flyer and ask for help? I would like to learn most if not all of the basic maneuvers before I move up to my second plane.

Regards,
Jerry

Three words. Practice, Practice, Practice. That's the only way to get better. When I learned to fly I would go out and fly full tanks of fuel practicing one particular maneuver until I started getting better at it. Same way with landings, go out and spent entire tanks of fuel shooting touch and gos. Another good thing to do is to ask more advanced pilots if you can stand next to them as they fly. That way you can watch what they are doing with the radio while the plane is in the air. Another good tool is take your radio (turned off of course), or an old buddy box, and sit in the pits and watch other pilots fly. While they are flying try moving the sticks of your radio to follow what they are doing in the air with their plane.

There are a few of the things that helped me. Hopefully others will have some tips as well.

Ken

What RCKen said. I enjoy taking a trainer the trainer out and shooting a tank or two of nothing but touch-n-go's. They can be very relaxing, especially after several flights of hard aerobatic practice.

Hoglfyer