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ACRO E-mail Archive Thread: [IAC] 1988 knowns & ?'s

Thread: [IAC] 1988 knowns & ?'s

Message: Re: [IAC] 1988 knowns & ?'s

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From: DSowder at aol.com

Date: Thu, 27 Nov 1997 16:58:11 UTC

Message:

  are so common at contests....Paul, yes that's a 1 turn inverted spin, but
since it's entered inverted and exited upright, it results in a 180 deg.
change in direction. That's a problem for me, as I am sort of planning to
advance to Advanced in '98, and my inverted spins seem to result in an
indeterminate change in direction.

I used to scan the contest results in Sport Aerobatics, hoping to find
non-Pitts aircraft just for the sake of diversity. Rooting for the underdog,
you know. Now that I fly a Pitts, I know why they are so well represented.
There is no bias against Baby Lakes', Acrodusters, T-Crafts, Skybolts, etc.
It's just that when you get beyond Sportsman, performance begins to count,
and the Pitts is the most bang for the buck. Ya gotta face it...a 180 HP
Pitts is not much bigger or heavier than a 65 HP Baby Lakes, but it's worlds
different in performance. On the other hand, a good pilot could win
Intermediate in a Decathlon (or a T-Craft, Skybolt, etc.). But he'd win
easier in a Pitts, and could fly the same plane on into Advanced.

About 90% of the Pitts S-1's seen at contests are homebuilts, licensed
Experimental. There are some RV-4's competing in the lower categories, and
I've seen one acquit itself pretty well in Unlimited (!). Obviously we're
seeing more and more Yaks, Sukhois, Extras, and the like, which is fine. But
nothing flies like a Pitts. You can get a pretty good S-1S for $25K and the
best one in the world for 40. And add 3 gallons after each competion flight.
The price is right!

In the meantime, show up at the next contest in your Baby Lakes. It will fly
Sportsman (or Basic) just fine. If you want to fly Intermediate you'll have
to add a secondary seat belt.

Doug Sowder