I've never competed in Pattern but am practicing mostly on Real Flight right now the sportsman routine because of the weather. I realize it's not the same but just to get the routine in my head and used to the maneuvers.

Anyway, I have a question about getting off track from left to right. I imagine a parallel line to the runway as my flight line for me to enter and exit the maneuvers. I'm trying to visualize 60 degrees left, right and up as the boundaries of the box.

My questions are these:

1) If you execute a maneuver accurately, but it is not parallel to the runway but on another 'line', but the maneuver itself is accurate on another 'line', are points taken off?

2) If you get 'off line' are you allowed to get back on line after exiting the box before entering it for the next maneuver, and do you have to do a half reverse cuban eight in order to do so?

3) I prefer to practice with my line low to the ground to see what I'm doing better. I realize this makes it more difficult in actual flight but is this allowed in competition.

4) Are the sizes of the circles and 1/4 and 1/2 circles, as long as consistent from one move to the next, allowed to be large circles?

I'm looking at [link=http://nsrca.us/documents/judging/currentamaschedules/PPT_Sportsman2007.pdf]this[/link] as a guide.

Thanks in advance.

I'll do my best to answer these.

1) Yes, you will be deducted points as you are not holding the line. This would fall under the 1pt per 15 degrees. Also, if you were coming in too much, it would make the maneuver at the end very difficult as you would be "shriking" the box.

2) Once you exit the box you can do ANYTHING you want to turn around. If you need to move way in or out, a 180 degree horizontal turn can be the best method. If you are close to your line the 1/2 reverse cuban works well to position yourself, just adjust your postion on the way up or down with some rudder. The one thing I NEVER recommend as a turn around is a 1/2 cuban eight. This REALLY shrinks the time you hav eto get set for your next maneuver as you will end up much closer to center than when you start, whereas the 1/2 reverse the opposite is true. When you are out of the box, take the time to get EXACTLY where you want to be, wings level at the altitude you want so that you arent at a disadvantage when you enter the box.

3) You can fly as low as you want. HOWEVER, it took a LONG time, but I finally learned my lesson. I used to LOVE to fly low, and when you do it right, it looks great. However, minor altitude changes are MUCH easier to detect low. For example. If you do a slow roll 10' off the deck, and you lose 3' of altitude, it is VERY obvious. If you do the same thing at 100', it is almost inperceptible. So, the moral is, fly at a higher base altitude. This also gets you out of a lot of turbulance problems low. 100 - 150' are good base altitudes.

4) As long as the radii are consistent, it doenst matter how tight or lose you make them. Remember though, pulls at the top are MUCH easier to make tighter than the ones at the bottom as you have gravity helping, so you need to be careful with this. Most people doing a square loop with make big radii at the bottom, but seem to always make tight ones at the top, even though they are pulling the same amount of elevator, because your speed is usually reduced and gravity is helping.


Hope this helps,

Arch

Is there an easy way to judge 60 degrees up, right and left? I'm thinking if one keeps their body perpendicular to the line that turning the head up and to the left and right as far as it'll go with eyes pointed straight ahead would be about 60 degrees since I seem to be able to go a little past 45 doing it myself.

I dont know if there is an easy way to do that. I have gotten the "feel" of it over time, and dont think about it now. Maybe marking it out and putting cones on the other side of the runway would be an easy way if you can't paint box lines at your field. Or mark it off and see if you can find references with trees or something. I wouldnt worry about the 60 degree vertical box. You have to be right on top of you to get anywhere near that. It is a lot higher than you think. I don't think it really gets enforced at all unless you end up right on top of yourself. If you are flying at ~150m in front of you which is the ideal place to be, getting to 60 degrees vertically in sportsman is nearly impossible.

Arch

Up or down; you can use the 'nazi rule'..

Stand up straight. Raise your arm to a 90 degrees angle in front of you. Now raise it to 180 degrees (straight up). Now devide the room between that into 3 parts.'

About exiting the box; check the rulebook for the competition you're flying in. For instance, here in the Neterlands, the starters programme allows you to exit and enter the box, but doesn't allow you to do 'everything you please' there. If you would, for instance, use a stall-turn there, your next figure will be scored a zero. Only turns and half cuban eights are allowed. This is offcourse a local rule, not something internationally applied, just to remind you that the only thing which can tell you what is or is not allowed, is the specific rulebook for that competition.

More in general, it shouldn't be about what is or is not allowed, it should be what you should strive for. You should strive to keep line, even if your programme or competition doesn't require this. You should strive to use only legit turn around figures.

Not because your current competition requires it, but because the top level requires it, and one should strive to reach that level

Cappaj1, here in the States Sportsman has 2 "out of the box" excursions and as Arch points out you can do any maneuver you need to get back in position. It's true that you should always strive to maintain the line, but that's going to take a while.
Also, be aware that you can use the free turnarounds to adjust the size of the box. The second segment of the Sportsman pattern (two point roll, half cuban, cobra without rolls, immelman, 45 degree downline on center) gets pretty rushed if you're in too close. If you use your turnaround to move out the box gets bigger. The third set of manuevers isn't so compressed, so you can move in a little to where you can see them better.

Even Intermediate has a chance to correct your line. The humpty bump with options can be flown to move you in, out, or to maintain the same line without losing points.

In our district you can do whatever you want when you are out of the box. I was advised to stick with some basic maneuvers (or 180* turns), just so I don't confuse the judges into thinking I'm still in the box.

Another thing that I learned later (and is pretty important) is once you finish the sequence, don't do any fancy turn-arounds - just make a deliberate turn and get in the landing pattern. Often we are flying with two flight lines competing at once, and dilly-dallying after your sequence can be hazardous if it interferes with the other flight line.

1/2 Reverse Cuban 8 will keep you on your current line, with some small rudder corrections if need be, and give you the maximum amount of space to setup for the next portion of the sequence. The Humpty Bump has become my favorite for adjusting my line a in/out, but I wouldn't bother trying to learn a new maneuver just for that. A Stall Turn ideally should be executed into the wind, so using it to adjust your line isn't the best idea (it also offers minimum correction if done properly, and doing an ugly stall turn for your turn around could subconsciously affect the judges).

I'm sure my mentor would say to stick with the 1/2 reverse cuban or a 180* turn