First Competition
 

Hey Gang,
I just completed the IMAC competition in Shawnee PA this weekend. I competed in basic and finshed 4th out of 8 pilots. I was pretty happy and lookng forward to getting my plane trimmed better and competing again!
Thanks for the help.
RickP

RE: First Competition
 

Congratulations, Rick!

RE: First Competition
 

What plane were you flying? Sorry I didn't put two and two together and introduce myself.

........Mark

RE: First Competition
 

Weren't you one of the other guys sharing Ch 52?

RE: First Competition
 

Yup,
One of the five - guess which one LOL. I had the yellow FC 330L... This one here. I think we did meet, weren't you the one of the three on 52 who stayed to fly later? To bad we didn't put it together. At least we know for next time ;)

RE: First Competition
 

Congrad Rick

I just put on my IMAC contest up here in Ontario two weekends ago and alot of new people showed up for the first time

Great to see so many smiles

RE: First Competition
 

Thats awesome Rick! How did you feel when you flew the first time? Were you nervous...

You competed with the new Fiberclassics right?;)



Steven

RE: First Competition
 

Congratulations and good luck

RE: First Competition
 

Steve,
Even though I flew a thousand times before, I was all dumb thumbs up there - no amount of practice will help you get past that. By the second day though I was fine with it, I few an awsome unknown, scored well with no zeros.
Yes, I flew the FC ;)

Thanks for all the well wishes guys - when is the next fly in????
RickP

RE: First Competition
 

Great going Rick. Really nice show for your first contest. From what I saw you only need to work on a few issues like I told you and you'll be kicking butt.

But you have to work on your calling man... [8D]
Calling a 'split S' while I was ready to pull for my 'half cuban' really made see red[sm=angry.gif] Thank god wasn't the unknown;):D

Congrats,

Stratos.-

RE: First Competition
 

Move up Stratos, And do a two turn spin man.
Great flying Rick hope to see you next year. but what if you flew a flat turn for the unknows?
Kevin

RE: First Competition
 

Stratos,
Truth be told, I'm glad you did't attempt it. You were at the bottom of your routine, If you rolled over and tried to come about your plane would have suffered from deceleration sickness. [:o]

BTW, IMAC doesn't call it a spit Ess, but a half roll followed by a half loop is that right?

Well, I'm thankfull that at least I understood what to do when my wife called it, Look at it this way - next time they can up the difficulty factor for you if I'm callin
;)
RickP

RE: First Competition
 

Rick,

When did they put the "unknown" sequence in bassic?

I flew my first contest two weeks ago in Randy Brown's contest and solidly secured Last Place flyin my PT-40! :D[sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif]

what a hoot I am totaly hooked and have just bought a GP 300S, 40 size and have a line on a CG 300L.

Can't wait for next season!

Jim Daly
Scale Aerobatics Guy!
MAAC # 14323

RE: First Competition
 

That was going to be my question too - what kind of sick CD puts Unknowns in the Basic class?

Anyway, IMAC does call it a Split Ess, but in the call sheet will spell it out so no one gets confused (like on the Pattern call sheets that I've seen)

Jim, you will really like the GP Extra. It's a sweet little bird that flies a nice sequence.

RE: First Competition
 

Guys,
I thought the unknown was standard for all classes? FWIW, it WAS pretty simple. No spins or hammerheads. Just a test of your improvising skills I guess. There was what was called a "slow roll" but since IMAC doesn't specify a roll rate, I just blasted it around and got a reasonable score. I didnt' have all the mixing in my plane yet so I didn't want to fool with doing it slow.
RickP

RE: First Competition
 

Okay, Well I loused it up for Stratos then and apparently I'm not the only one ;) He still wound up winning though - So I don't feel that bad :( I'll get it right from now on though!!!
RickP

RE: First Competition
 

You flew in basic and you flew unknowns?? I am a newbie at IMAC and wont start till next year but I didnt think that Basic pilots had to fly unknowns.

RE: First Competition
 

Come on you guys,

Flying an unknown in basic isn't such a terrible thing. The CD had announced his intentions
to give unknowns to all classes months in advance. I'm not sure what the imac rule says about that or even if there is a rule about it.

I think it's a good experience for the basic pilots to fly an unknown here and there. Other
than a reverse sharks tooth, a one turn spin and a 180 degree turn everything else was taken from the current basic sequence.

Of cource Kevin tried to mess me up by calling the 1 turn spin, a 2 turn spin (he was calling the sequence out loud for the judges to hear too) but I had flown the sequence in my head
about a dozen times and I knew what was next. Nice try Kevin[8D]

Stratos.-

RE: First Competition
 

I agree flying an unknown is a good idea and I know the judge can call for it in advance but in my district I dont think its done often at all.

RE: First Competition
 

I don't think an Unknown for Basic class is a good idea. Basic is for people who want to try their hand at an aerobatics contest, and their first contest doesn't need to include unknowns to confuse them even more. After they do a few contests, then they'll be ready to enjoy flying an unknown. Since a whole contest can be blown by one mis-maneuver during the Unknown, I don't think it is fair to subject the beginners to it. In the NW region we do no do an Unknown round for the Basic class; instead, we just do an extra Known round.

RE: First Competition
 

There is nothing confusing about an unknown in basic. To me flying the unknown is the highlight of the contest. Instead of just flying the same sequence again and again you get
to fly your unknown first thing in the morning along with the other classes.
Invaluable experience, in my opinion, one that makes you feel part of the rest of the imac group and not some sort of a misfit trying to get in.
And you are right, the unknown can blow your contest if you are not carefull, (as it did on my first contest when it dropped me from first to 4th) but what's so bad about that for basic pilots?
That's how imac works. You want to expose them to aerobatic flying right?

I know I learned my lesson since then and I now feel better prepared for the unknown
experience in the upper classes.
Also, in the 2 contests that I flew an unknown in basic, non of the basic pilots ever complained about it. Everyone seemed to have fun with it.
Again, I don't think it's as bad as you make it sound.

Take care,

Stratos.-

RE: First Competition
 

My whole plan was to fly IMAC just b/c of the freestyle, but I am getting the hang of this other stuff :) You know the Knowns and UnKnowns

RE: First Competition
 

Just for the record he said Kevin, and not Rick - so he can't blaim that one on me - I'm innocent here ;)

And Stratos is right, I throughly enjoyed my unknown. I would have felt robbed if we didn't get one, after all we are all trying to get ready for the next level - right?
RickP

RE: First Competition
 

Yeah, I was one of the three :-( , I flew after you that evening. I need to get a new transmitter module and few crystals for next season. Although I said that last year as well ;-) .

Glad you had a good time and hopefully next year you won't be as nervous. Great bunch of judges that are more than willing to share some insight into what we need to work on.

Nice plane by the way, liked your plane hauler as well.

What did you think of the freestyle?

RE: First Competition
 

Hey,
That frestyle was awsome! Plane hauler was borrowed, it's my old man's. It is a nice ride though! See ya at the next one....
RickP