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Aerobatic Contest Results: Coalinga Western Showdown June 2-3, 2017

Gash

Well Known Member
I just returned from the Western Showdown aerobatic contest in Coalinga, California. There was a great turnout with some very full categories. We had 16 pilots in Sportsman (15 competing and 1 for the patch). The weather was perfect and we all had a blast! I had the only RV there...hoping for more soon! I'm getting many comments from people who would really like to see more RVs flying in contests. There's lots of untapped opportunity here for competition, fun, and good old pilot camaraderie.

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Congratulations, Karl!

With the recent successes of RV pilots in IAC competition I think the ball is rolling and more and more will be showing up. Dave Schmitz attended our RV Aerobatic Clinic at Rome, GA this Spring. Dave flew in his first contest this weekend at Salem, IL and posted a terrific score of 83%!

The excuses are falling by the wayside:

The RV is too speedy and can't stay in the box. FALSE
You will over-G the airplane. FALSE
Other pilots look down on RVs. FALSE
It's not much fun. FALSE, FALSE, FALSE!
The RV's aren't competitive. FALSE (see proof below...)



RV-4 pilot, Bill McLean accepting second place trophy, Sportsman category, from IAC President Mike Heuer at the IAC US National Aerobatic Competition, 2016.


The IAC is actively pursuing RV pilots and making every effort to include us in competition. The 6-month free membership offer is still out there.

I'll be giving a forum presentation at the IAC Pavilion at AirVenture, on Friday, July 28th, 10 AM on "What to Expect at your First Contest". I hope some of you that are sitting on the fence will come watch. Here's a schedule of all the forums at the IAC Pavilion.

Congratulations to Karl and Dave for their outstanding showings this weekend.

The Bear Creek Bash contest is at Rome, GA next weekend. I'll be there and sure would like to see a few of you there as well. Here's the schedule of all contests. Find one near you and get some ground above you!
 
RVs & acro

Great showing Karl, and I'll be at the contest next weekend in Rome, GA.
Bill McLean
RV-4 slider
lower AL
 
Thanks Ron.

I'm heading home from my first IAC contest today. This has been a fantastic experience! I'd like to thank Ron for hosting the rv clinic in Rome, which helped me prepare for this weekend. I'd also like to give a shout out to the people of IAC local 61 that hosted the salem regional contest. They were very helpful and welcoming.
As Ron stated above, we can be very competitive in these contest with our RV's. I was able to score well in sportsman with my RV8, which has no inverted fuel or oil, 170hp O-360 and a catto FP prop. I still have lots of room for improvement before I feel the need for better equipment. Its fun learning the capabilities of these machines
 
Thanks Ron.

I'm heading home from my first IAC contest today. This has been a fantastic experience! I'd like to thank Ron for hosting the rv clinic in Rome, which helped me prepare for this weekend. I'd also like to give a shout out to the people of IAC local 61 that hosted the salem regional contest. They were very helpful and welcoming.
As Ron stated above, we can be very competitive in these contest with our RV's. I was able to score well in sportsman with my RV8, which has no inverted fuel or oil, 170hp O-360 and a catto FP prop. I still have lots of room for improvement before I feel the need for better equipment. Its fun learning the capabilities of these machines

I should have mentioned Dave's aircraft "limitations". His is a great example of what can be done with a bone-stock RV. There are some maneuvers in the Sportsman Known sequence that may cause a carbureted engine to stumble. While power is immediately regained once positive G is established, this is not an ideal occurrence. I suggested that Dave develop a FREE sequence which would avoid those maneuvers which cause engine stumble. He went home after the clinic and developed a FREE sequence and sent it to me for comment. I made a few minor suggestions.

NOTE: At an IAC competition each pilot usually flies three sequences. The first is a KNOWN sequence which is published at the start of each competition season. At the Sportsman level of competition the pilot may fly the KNOWN sequence for all three flights ..OR.. he may develop his own FREE sequence which must have the same difficulty (K) factor as the KNOWN sequence. The FREE sequence is flown on the 2nd and 3rd contest flights. Dave didn't have a lot of time to develop a FREE sequence and practice it much prior to the contest so I'm not sure if he did fly it. (Do tell, Dave.)



Dave Schmitz at the RV Aerobatic Clinic, Rome, GA.
 
I had limited time to practice/develop my free program before this weekend, so I choose to fly the known 3 times. interesting thing is the figures that my carb setup gives me problems with, were not the ones I lost big points on. So I have no excuses and just need to keep practicing.
 
Karl and Schmitty,

Congratulations to you both!!!! That is awesome news. I'm glad to hear you guys are having FUN! And I'm also glad that you are sharing it with us here showing the Vans community and the IAC what these wonderful airplanes are capable of.

I also am planning on competing at the Bear Creek Bash this coming weekend. I know of at least three RVs that will be competing at Rome; myself in Sportsman and Ron and Bill in Intermediate. Any others??? Even if not competing, I invite you all to come out and watch and see what it's all about. Come support your fellow RVers!
 
Thanks guys. Good discussion on the Free sequences. I flew the Known 3 times in a row, and wish I wouldn't have. I need to come up with a good Free so that I can score better. I think the judges get tired of watching the same sequence over and over. I'm playing around with Open Aero and then experimenting with those ideas when I practice. Nothing really grabs me yet. I will share when I come up with something good.
 
Thanks guys. Good discussion on the Free sequences. I flew the Known 3 times in a row, and wish I wouldn't have. I need to come up with a good Free so that I can score better. I think the judges get tired of watching the same sequence over and over. I'm playing around with Open Aero and then experimenting with those ideas when I practice. Nothing really grabs me yet. I will share when I come up with something good.

Karl,

A great place to start when developing a FREE sequence is the file of KNOWN sequences on the IAC web site. If you develop a sequence, first make sure it conforms to all the requirements in chapter 6 of the IAC Official Contest Rules:

Sportsman
  • Family 7 At least one figure from 7.2.1 thru 7.2.4, or 7.4.1 thru 7.4.6
  • Family 8 At least one figure
  • Family 9 Aileron Rolls At least one from any subfamily 9.1 thru 9.8
  • Family 9 Spins At least one from either 9.11 or 9.12
  • Maximum of 12 figures.
  • Same "K" factor as the current known sequence.

Second step: Fly the sequence several times to make sure you can keep it in the box and have sufficient altitude to complete the sequence without a break.

Third step: Share your sequence with others and solicit their comments. Revise and re-fly as needed.

Finally: Submit your sequence to an IAC judge for his signature.


Here is the Sportsman FREE sequence I used last year:



For those who would like to play with sequences here is the link to the OpenAero sequence development software. Have fun!
 
I'm trying to get off so I can come up check out the Rv's in action. Recently purchased a -7 and would like to start getting involved with some light acro. I wish the best of luck to all competing and hopefully Ill see you on Friday.
 
Congrats!

Congrats, Gash!

Great flying, good to see an RV-8 do so well. Keep up the competitive aerobatics.

Cheers,

Trigger
 
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