07 Aerobatics Contests
Description
This article is from the Aviation Aerobatics FAQ, by Dr. Guenther Eichhorn with numerous contributions by others.
07 Aerobatics Contests
The International Aerobatic Club (IAC) has over 6000 members. Probably
about 800 of these are active competition pilots. Competitions are
held locally throughout the US. There are two national competitions,
one in August in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and the other in September in
Dennison, Texas. In regional competitions there are usually between
30 and 60 competitors, in the national competitions there are usually
between 100 and 150 competitors. The regional competitions are3 held
on weekends, the national competitions last one week. There are five
categories of aerobatics competition: Basic (the beginners category),
Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced, and Unlimited.
Every competitor flies three sequences of aerobatics maneuvers, a
Known sequence, a Freestyle and an Unknown. A competition sequence is
composed of set of aerobatic maneuvers selected from a catalog of
allowed figures. The Known sequence is the same for each competitor
in a category. It is the same throughout a competition year, and
changes each year. The Freestyle is a sequence that each competitor
designs according to certain rules. The Unknown is selected by IAC
headquarters for each contest. The competitors receive these Unknowns
the day before they fly it and are not allowed to practice the
sequence.
The competition is flown in the aerobatics box (see above). Penalties
are assessed for flying outside the box. The number of points
deducted for each boundary infringement depends on the competition
category and is higher in the higher categories. The most severe
penalties are given for violiting the bottom of the box. For Basic
and Sportsman, a violation of the lower altitude limit zeroes the
complete flight. This is designed to enhance the safety of aerobatics
fling by enforcing safe altitudes during a contest.
The flying is judged by judges on the ground. There are specific
judging criteria for each figure. All allowed figures are specified
in a catalog. These aerobatic figures are the same world-wide. Each
figure is assigned a difficulty factor. The final score for each
figure is then calculated from the score that the judges give for each
figure (in the range of 0 - 10), multiplied by the difficulty
factor. The total score for a sequence is the sum of the scores for
each figure. To become a judge requires participation in a judges
school and assisting judges during several competitions. Each judge
has to complete a re-validation exam every year and needs to judge a
minimum anumber of competition flights in order to remain on the
current list of judges.
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