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Thread: US Team Training Program/Sport Aerobatics
Message: US Team Training Program/Sport Aerobatics
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From: cks at sos.net (Carlys Sjoholm)
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 16:43:20 UTC
Greetings: Below is an advance copy of the U.S. Aerobatic Team News column scheduled to appear in the February issue of Sport Aerobatics. Carlys Sjoholm Executive Secretary _________________________ U.S. AEROBATIC TEAM NEWS: New Individual Pilot Training Program by Carlys Sjoholm U.S. Aerobatic Foundation Executive Secretary Objective: To provide scheduling flexibility and financial incentive to Team Pilots to report to the Team Trainer with perfected individual technique, determination and execution of any necessary aircraft modifications, a developed and tested individual Freestyle, and critiqued exposure to both the Freestyle and the Known Compulsory sequences. "When I took the job this year as Team Trainer my goal was to try to create a system which would put our program back on a competitive track. I felt that we had to reverse the non-competitive trend, which began in 1990, and then move back into a competitive position." Team Trainer/Delegate John Morrissey explained, "The individual training program was designed to provide qualified training by people experienced in international competition and in the aircraft our pilots are flying. The training needed to be available on a flexible and timely basis to assist our Team prior to the main training camps which begin in late May. It is a financial and training incentive which allows our pilots to get on line early." The individual training program initiated this season by the U.S. Aerobatic Foundation Board of Directors was an attempt to design the best possible solution to meet these goals and to make the U.S. Aerobatic Team a strong force in the international arena once again. >From an historical perspective, John explained, "When the U.S. was extremely competitive in international competition, we had not only talented pilots, but clearly superior airplanes. When the Pitts entered the international arena, it was a world-beater. We refined the biplane design with the Weeks Solution and the Weeks Special, and then pioneered competitive monoplanes with Leo Loudenslager's and Henry Haigh's monoplanes. The Russians were competing in the Yak 50. The French were still in the CAP 21 phase. The English had nothing and the Germans had only old Zlins." That is no longer the case. There's no arguing the fact that the French and Russians have recently pulled ahead of the United States competitively. In the case of the Russians, competition aerobatics is their pilots' state job. They have the benefit of the formidable Sukhoi Design Bureau's engineering expertise. Their team has only one type of aircraft to service and maintain, and one technique to learn. Thorough year-round training is provided in multiple camps. The French are heavily subsidized through their aero club system, as well as their Air Force. They fly only two types of aerobatic aircraft (the latest versions of the CAP and an occasional Extra), making parts, maintenance, and training much simpler. The United States no longer has the hardware advantage. The French and Russians have now combined excellent, well-trained pilots with great airplanes provided by one of their national aircraft manufacturers. The situation in the United States is very different. In an ideal world, we, too, would provide training camps throughout the year. We would supply the team members with superior aircraft and keep it to one or two silhouettes. However, our society does not allow these luxuries. Our team members each have careers they must maintain. They have families and private lives to lead. As John Morrissey commented, "If I scheduled four training camps from, say, November to Memorial Day, we would lose most of our good people. It would require someone who was out of work, very wealthy, or in a position to take a sabbatical. It just is not practical." Our pilots must supply their own competition aircraft. At the WAC '94 in Hungary, there were nine different types of planes on the U.S. Team, with nine different sets of maintenance challenges, nine different techniques to teach, and nine distinct silhouettes to critique. There are six silhouettes on the 1996 Team: Extra, CAP 231 and 231 EX, Texas Hurricane, Pitts Super Stinker, and Staudacher. Challenge #1: Since there will be six different aircraft types on the 1996 U.S. Team, a larger training staff was needed to provide the pilots with access to trainers who are experienced in their particular aircraft. Solution: Allot our pilots a specific amount of funding to use for training/critiquing sessions with a qualified trainer of his or her choice (approved by the U.S. Aerobatic Foundation Board of Directors and the Team Trainer). The trainer/critiquer must be knowledgeable of international aerobatic competition by virtue of having been a trainer, a competitor, or a judge. John Morrissey would provide a set of guidelines of specific issues to be considered at each session, and the independent trainer would be obligated to submit a summary report to Morrissey following the session. Challenge #2: Pilots must arrive at the official training camps with their aircraft properly serviced and modified to meet the demands of rigorous Unlimited aerobatic flights. Solution: By providing the incentive to train early with individual trainers, any aircraft servicing problems or modification needs can be detected, attended to, and tested well before the group training sessions. Thus, efficient use of the training resources at the camps is ensured, with a minimum of down time. Challenge #3: Each pilot should arrive at spring training camp with a developed and tested Freestyle program which can be further refined at the camp. Solution: Again, the incentive to train early, with a specific set of guidelines, ensures that the pilots have addressed the issue early, worked to create a competitive Freestyle sequence and developed some proficiency in the execution of it. Challenge #4: Critiqued exposure to the Known Compulsory and the Freestyle prior to the official training camps allows more efficient use of training time and resources, and allows concentration on the Unknown program. Solution: Same as above. The individual trainers, in following John Morrissey's guidelines of critical issues, will have drilled their students in these areas, resulting in pilots who are generally better prepared than ever before to understand and work on the refinements of technique and style in preparation for competition in the international arena. Challenge #5: The European system in which the U.S. Team must compete in the World Aerobatic Championships is different from the American style. The French and Russians have been setting the standard for excellence the European judges are accustomed to seeing. Our pilots must know how to conform to a system in which they are only seen once every two years. Remember that the international pilots are seen once a year by the same judges as they compete in the European Championships as well as the World Aerobatic Championships. Solution: By offering the opportunity for our pilots to train with European trainers/critiquers, such as Xavier de Lapparent or Sergei Boriak, they will gain the insight into the European style the majority of WAC judges are accustomed to seeing. We are individuals competing against a system; we must learn to intelligently work within it. John noted there has been some "heat" from a few IAC members about using non-American critiquers to train our pilots. The question seems to be: What's the matter with our talented trainers and critiquers? According to John, "There's nothing wrong with us, but we're individuals competing against a system. Basically, I'm trying to do two things at once: catch up, but move through that phase to a phase in which we're self-sufficient in both trainers and aircraft." The Foundation Board is wholeheartedly supportive of John Morrissey in his new approach to training of the 1996 Team. President Paul Erdmann said, "We have great confidence in John's abilities as a trainer and in his judgment of how to best prepare the 1996 U.S. Team for the formidable challenges awaiting us in Oklahoma City." How is the program working so far? According to John Morrissey, "The pilots feel good about it. I am very hopeful. I really won't know until I see how things look during the early spring review. If they have been working on the Known and Free, if their aircraft are in shape, if the pilots are in G-tolerance, then we will have made good progress toward achieving our goals." Team Pilot and U.S. Aerobatic Foundation Director Phil Knight trained twice with Xavier de Lapparent last fall; one six day session along with Mike Goulian, Matt Chapman, and John Lillberg, and once for three days without his team mates. Diane Hakala also brought Xavier out to Phoenix in November for a six day session. Phil described that first session as a "very rigorous workout". The four pilots each got in a minimum of three flights a day, each flight being of 20 to 30 minutes duration. "Xavier is an outstanding critiquer. I gained a lot of knowledge from the time spent with him," claimed Phil. The other pilots also felt the time spent with the 1994 World Champion was an extremely valuable experience. The other pilots are scheduling training sessions with American and European critiquers over the next several months. Sergei Boriak and U.S. Judge Alan Geringer, for example, have been engaged by Patty Wagstaff and Phil Knight, respectively. Robert Armstrong is exploring the possibility of traveling to Russia to train there. "I am trying to create a system which is not dependent upon personalities, but to provide more training and exposure to what is considered the norm in the international arena," John Morrissey said. "It has never been my intention to use French and Russian trainers and aircraft as the final solution to U.S. Team success. But I feel it is a necessary interim step until we can, hopefully, get some American aircraft firms on-line. Maybe someone like Stuart Horn at Aviat, or Richard Giles at AkroTech, or Bill Zivko at Zivko Aeronautics could produce a superior American aerobatic aircraft if they had access to the resources that Extra, CAP, and Sukhoi have (national engineering data, wind tunnel testing, and other such expertise). I think the days are gone when someone can go out behind the barn and build one for the Gipper to win a World Aerobatic Championship." In early March, John Morrissey will meet with the team pilots for the first assessment of their flying since the U.S. Nationals. That's when we'll know whether the U.S. Aerobatic Foundation's financial investment in this new individual training theory has produced good, sound results. Following that, the Team will be ready to hit it hard at the traditional two week spring training camp in Oklahoma during the last two weeks in May. - END -