freeair

Guys, do you have to start doing IMAC in Basic or can you start comps in Sportsman ?

Silent-AV8R

You can certainly start in Sportsman if you want. I do not recommend it and there is no reason not to start in Basic. There is much to learn and while the sequence may seem simple if you have never flown competitive aerobatics then it can be a bit overwhelming.

I will caveat that by saying that if you have been flying pattern for instance then maybe starting in a higher class would be OK, but even then the Unknown can be a real task first time out. Why not fly one contest in Basic. If you win, then move up, if not, then I guess it was not a bad place to start.

flatspinjim

My Feedback: (3)

I agree. I got into IMAC this year and saw the basic sequence and thought it was too easy. A friend that flies advanced told me to fly it a few times and he would judge it. It wasn't nearly as easy as I thought!
I've gone to 3 contests this year and have done better at each contest, but it's been a learning curve for sure. Next year I'll move up to sportsman, but I'm glad I started in basic.

prgonzalez

I completely agree. I told one experienced pattern pilot that I wanted to start aerobatic competition using my Giles 202. He test flew my plane and gave me some input. After seeing my own airplane doing so good on the sky, I started to practice the basic maneuvers. I had a big dissapointment of my own performance because it is not as easy as I saw it. Same airplane but different pilot.

At the end of the day my lesson was, competition flying is not equal to sport flying.

flatspinjim

My Feedback: (3)

Amazing how hard it is to do a freaking loop!

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

One of my IMAC "instructors" is an old pattern guy so he had me doing three loops in succession, try that with them all in the same place, same size and same line. It's a humbling experience... lol

freeair

i do understand what you guys are talkng about regarding the Basic versus Sportsman. this is my sons idea to try Sportsman firstly as he seems to feel the Basic IMAC is what it says [ basic ] he has watched a few IMAC Comps. i must admit his flying skills are excellent not just aero models but also Helis, he can perform certain manouvers that some in the high class of IMAC struggle to do such as rolling circles in a figure 8 and knife edges in oval. i will tell him to give the basic a go firstly then go up from there.

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

This is my first year in IMAC also. My first contest was in Basic and I'm glad I did. The next contest I jumped up to Sportsman, where you get your feet wet in unknowns. I didn't do as good, but had fun nun the less. I'll be in Sportsman for a while now!! There is sooo many things that a guy needs to work on throughout a sequence, I think at least the first contest he should go through Basic.

Silent-AV8R

I have never understood the desire to fly at a higher level than your skills are at. Flying anything above Basic until you have solidly learned the fundamentals of flying straight lines and the proper geometry is foolish. Everybody wants to "move up" . It is like the 30 handicap in golf who insists on playing from the back (pro) tee box. It is frustrating for him and painful for those who are playing with him, sort of like the judges who have to watch a guy who is in over his head wander around stumbling through the sequence.

I still think that until you are solidly in the top 25% of the class you are flying that you still clearly have things to learn and should stay in that class until you learn them.

Silent-AV8R

But can he fly a straight line and can he fly the correct geometry and place roll elements properly and so on? As far as his skill goes, it sounds like he is a very talented sport pilot, but flying with precision is a whole other world. And the upper class IMAC guys may struggle with rolling circles in a figure 8 and knife edge ovals, but that is OK because neither one of those are precision aerobatic figures that are flown in any IMAC contest.

swk550

My Feedback: (76)

I got into IMAC two years ago. Prior to that I flew Pattern and got up to the Masters level. I flew my first contest as a Sportsman and next year I moved up to intermediate. Big Mistake. I was not prepared to fly the unknowns. Yes I can practice the knowns and do fairly well. For the unknowns, I still have trouble reading the diagrams and translating the stick simulations to the actual maneuvers.

I agree with all the comments and start in basic and only move up as your skills improve.

Montague

Ok, I'll throw in one experience the other way. I never flew Basic, I jumped right into Sportsman. Sure, I placed last at the first few contests I flew in, I expected that, and it didn't bother me. But I didn't fly so badly that it was a mistake. I'm still not in any danger of winning a contest, but that's fine.

But before I did that, I did fly the Basic and Sportsman sequences a bit and talked and flew with some guys with IMAC experience, so I had a pretty realistic idea of where I was and what I was getting into. Would I have won or come close had I flown Basic? I doubt it, but I didn't care about that either.

Personally, I wanted to try the unknowns. If Basic had unknowns, I might have started there, it just sounded like a fun challenge. Also, Basic has no snaprolls and very little inverted flight or negative G. Sportsman adds those in. In my sport flying, those were things I did, but not often, so Sportsman was a challenge, a "push" of my skills enough to be interesting.

Anyway, my flying keeps getting better, and I have more fun in sportsman than I would in Basic.

The key thing, I think, is WHY you want to fly IMAC. I do it for fun, I do it to be challenged and to fly better. I don't care if I fly better than or worse than anyone else, I don't care if I win. Basic was boring to me, so I skipped it, and it was the right decision for me. I don't fly many contests either, and I don't take IMAC "seriously". For me, it's about having fun doing something that isn't easy.

Sure, the safe advice is to start with Basic, but there may be reasons why starting with Sportsman makes sense for some people.

sweetpea01

My Feedback: (10)

Biggest reason to start Basic. You fly it once........you like it you do well you move up. You start in Sportsman, you get your arse handed to you and struggle you cannot move down without approval and sometimes that is not given.

rodney tanner

Interesting thread.
I flew in IMAC contests from 1999 to 2001, starting in Basic and moving up to Sportsman, then flew Pattern up to Advanced until I moved back to IMAC this year (AW 32% Extra 260 - DA 100L). I practiced the Intermediate schedule, quickly realized that I was not going to be competitive, switched to Sportsman and felt much more comfortable, although I miss the inverted snaps.

I flew in my first IMAC contest, in seven years, last weekend and placed forth - OK, next to last out of five ;-) The Unknowns were not a problem, I had a good caller and the actual maneuvers are the same family as the Knowns. The problem was getting zeroed constantly on a "simple" thing we learn in Basic: stall into spin entries. That alone cost me a place. More practice will improve my stall entries and hopefully eliminate the zero scores, but the experience told me that I have much to relearn before thinking about moving up Intermediate.

It's easy to see Basic as a the easy stuff but, as I have just learned, you can never take anything, any flying skill, for granted.