Part 1 - Overview
By Gordon Penner, FAA Gold Seal CFI, 3-Time MCFI-Aerobatic, Past President IAC Chapter 34 (Ohio), B767 Captain, SAFE Bronze member
Aerobatics is just one of many great tools for self – expansion as well as well as self – expression. Learning and practicing aerobatics expands who you are as a person.
Strategic Vision
Over my years of instructing, I have learned to look for the big picture view, or strategic view, of a thing first before digging into the details. 
The first strategic idea in aerobatics, as said by 1972 World Champion Charlie Hillard in the EAA video “Getting Started in Aerobatics,” is “…where to look and when.” Looking in the right place at the right time during each maneuver is the key to making them easier to fly. Practice this even when just walking through the sequence on the ramp, doing the ‘aerobatic dance,’ or what we sometimes call ‘hand-batics.’
When at the contest also note the landmarks that are a few miles away from the box. They can be used for alignment and positioning. In upright flight you can hardly see the box below you.
John Morrissey (right), the famed aerobatic coach who also had a lovely tour of North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun and missile facilities, brings up the second strategic idea as he talks about how to look. He calls this “Deep Focus.” As we will see later, ideas 1 and 2 go together in aerobatics, especially in the aileron roll (meaning the Slow Roll - more on this later).
The third strategic idea is that, mathematically, the roll is the thing. As John Morrissey pointed out in his excellent February 2012 Sport Aerobatics article, “The Roll,” aileron roll (Slow Roll) quality directly affects 25%-30% of the K - factors, and indirectly affects 50% to 80% of the K - factors. A pilot would do well to get on top of this most frustrating of maneuvers.
(See also John Morrissey’s upcoming March/April safety issue of Sport Aerobatics magazine concerning a Pitts emergency he had.)
The fourth strategic idea, and one of the most important, is for the Sportsman pilot to mentally prepare themselves to “take a break” during a sequence. Mathematically it is better to take a break, and take the small penalty, than it is to fly a truncated maneuver that scores badly. A score for a badly flown maneuver, multiplied by the K factor for that maneuver, hurts way worse than taking the penalty points for an interruption.
The same is true for taking an ‘out’ penalty. The break penalty and the out penalty are the same in Sportsman.
That low penalty value for outs and breaks was intentionally designed into the category “way back when” to enhance learning and to enhance safety. The flying of a chopped-up maneuver by new (and by not so new) pilots, in an attempt to stay in bounds, is what frequently causes unsafe flying. Beware, and be ready to “take a break.” Your flying will not only be safer, but you will also score higher.
Depending on your aircraft, or if you are flying with a safety pilot, you may even want to ‘schedule’ that interruption. Taking a planned break may allow longer down lines and higher entry speeds in the individual maneuvers, giving higher scores.
When I was getting initial aerobatic training, we stayed in the middle of the speed range. When I started competing in the 150hp Decathlon I was told to get into the yellow arc as much as possible. They said the airplane presents so much better when flown faster, and they were right. My scores went up. Since I didn’t have the horsepower, longer down lines facilitated my higher speeds and better standings.
Obviously, you should not exceed the airspeed redline, but there is an old joke that says “…. the airspeed redline is not a limit…IT IS A GOAL!!!”
Where to Look and When/Deep Focus
As an instructor I have seen that a pilots’ flying gets better the further away they focus from the airplane. It is not natural for us, however, and we must be taught to do it.
There is a physiological reason why that is. The eyes at rest will go to what is called Infinity Focus.
The eyes naturally focus on a spot about 30-60 feet in front of you. This automatic tendency ‘detunes’ your center, detailed vision core and brings peripheral vision detection to a higher level. This enables you to more easily detect predators as your peripheral vision is better for detecting motion. We are all just antelopes trying to get a drink at the lion – infested water hole. Peripheral vision is probably a good thing in that situation, but it pulls us away from John Morrissey’s “Deep Focus.”
Morrissey maintains that a “…clear and distinct focus to the furthest point ahead of the aircraft’s flight path must be maintained. I refer to this as Deep Focus…” In level flight he wants pilots to be focused on a spot 20 miles away. “When vertical down I want them to pick out blades of grass. This is the beginning of situational awareness in all axes of flight.”
If they are not consciously looking to a spot on the horizon, they cannot make the tip of the nose draw British Aerobatic Champion Alan Cassidy’s “Sacred Circle” when doing a Slow Roll (Aileron Roll).
More on the Slow Roll later.
Now let us get into box entry and sequence analysis.
Box Entry
Yes, Dorothy, the box entry and the wing-wags ARE a maneuver. New people tend to come into the box in a low energy manner, straight at the box, with half-hearted wing-wags. No, no, NO! Bad dog! Come in fast, loud, strong, and snappy! Make a good first impression. As competitor Larry Connor said, “…fly it like you stole it!”
Make each wing – wag 45 degrees of bank minimum and pause between each one. Otherwise,
I recommend putting a base leg very close to the downwind edge of the box, then turning and diving onto the X – axis. On the base leg you can see the box off to the side of the aircraft. If coming straight at the box the nose covers the box, so you won’t know when to begin your dive accurately.
When I wing over and dive onto the X – axis it looks just like those old WW2 movies of dive bombers peeling off to begin their bomb run.
The dive needs to be steep enough where you can see the whole box over the nose throughout the dive and the wing – wags.
Treat the box entry like maneuver number 1A. When you practice the whole sequence include the box entry as well. Also, set up your box entry so that your aircraft is exactly at the speed and altitude desired for the pull up into the first printed maneuver (Maneuver 1B). That takes some practice.
Sequence Analysis
IAC President Emeritus Doug Bartlett (right), who was a US Intermediate National Aerobatic Champion, ran excellent seminars for IAC chapters on sequences years ago. One great point he brought up was that a pilot should know approximately how much altitude gain or loss occurs in each maneuver.
You should know these numbers for your aircraft, using your technique and your entry speeds. You could then use these numbers to analyze a sequence, starting from the last maneuver and working backwards. This would allow you to know the minimum entry altitude at each point in the sequence.
Safety is enhanced as well by knowing the beginning altitudes at key points in the sequence. For example, in this years’ sequence it would be a good idea to know how high you need to be at the beginning of maneuver #8, the 1-1/4 spin. That way you can finish maneuver #10 without going low. Some call this a ‘gate.’ Have an altitude minimum for this gate, and don’t even think about beginning the spin unless you are at your ‘gate’ altitude or higher.
In the example to the left, I will do an analysis with some generic numbers for a high drag/low horsepower aircraft.
#10, the Half Cuban 8, will lose approximately 200’. Let us say that you will lose 300’ in #9, the Pull-Pull Humpty Bump with the ¼ roll on the down line. You’re going to lose 1000’ minimum in the spin. That is 1500 feet of altitude loss total.
Since the bottom altitude for the Sportsman category is 1500’ AGL, going backwards the ‘gate’ altitude for beginning the spin is 3000’ AGL.
The key to this sequence, and the limiting factor overall, is maneuvers #4 and #5 (pictured to the right), the Immelmann and Slow Roll.
The Slow Roll is called the Aileron Roll (#5) in the Aresti system, but that is a misnomer. It is not flown in an arcing flight path, like the Bob Hoover 1g version or the zero g Primary Roll version. Both of those rolls are coordinated rolls as well.
No, this roll is flown where the CGT, or Center of Gravity Track, makes a straight horizontal or 45-degree line. You must not pitch up first. That straight flight path requires top rudder in knife edge flight, enough push in inverted flight to hold the line, and this maneuver is definitely NOT coordinated.
The Slow Roll is also a real struggle for low horsepower/high drag aircraft. Higher speeds are needed for these aircraft to show well in this roll. In reality, the Citabria needs higher speeds to be able to do the Slow Roll at all!
The Slow Roll comes right after the Immelmann, which means a super – slow airspeed for entry. For those aircraft that do not have the horsepower to get back up to a good rolling speed that shows well, I am going to recommend a scheduled break between maneuvers #4 and #5.
Referring back to John Morrissey’s third strategic idea, roll quality affects a lot of the scores. The Slow Roll portions in maneuvers #3, #9, and #10 are done downhill, achieving enough speed to do them well. The Slow Roll segment at the end of the Immelmann suffers under the judges pens and will be better with any extra speed you can put into it. But the big difference to your score will be how well you do maneuver #5. As said earlier, the Citabria will not be able to do the Slow Roll at all (with a score above zero) if deficient in speed.
Think also of the other advantages a scheduled break after the Immelmann could give you. You could perform maneuvers #1 through #4 all at lower altitudes. Your loop would not have to be flown in the stratosphere to keep maneuver #10 from going low. It would be like flying two separate, higher airspeed, sequences.
You could hold the down line from maneuver #2, the Hammerhead, longer, feeding more energy into #3, the Wedge or Shark Tooth. Low horsepower/high drag aircraft will have trouble showing a vertical up line at the beginning of maneuver #3, and showing a radius across the top, unless they enter at a fast enough airspeed.
The 45-degree down line in maneuver #3 could now be held longer to provide a higher entry speed into the Immelmann. Have enough airspeed so you don’t sink during the half roll. 
I had Emerson Stewart, Chief Instructor of Stewarts Aircraft Service, airshow pilot, and my boss, fly this sequence in his 1971 150 hp Citabria. This is also his airshow airplane. He strongly recommends the scheduled break between maneuvers #4 and #5. He was not able to finish maneuver #10 at 1500’ AGL unless he started maneuver #1 at an altitude where oxygen masks might be required.
Brian Jones, a west coast aerobatic CFI and competitor, test flew the middle portion of this sequence in his Great Lakes. He also recommends a break between maneuvers #4 and #5 for safety’s sake, and also feels that higher overall scores will also result.
Scheduling that break, and flying two half sequences faster, larger, and lower will also help with your presentation score. Recently, the presentation score changed. Its point total has doubled. A bad presentation, maybe too high up and too far away, will bring your overall score down.
Conclusions
1. Sportsman’s place in the aerobatic universe
I love aerobatics and what it represents. I also love the Sportsman category. It is designed for learning as well as fun. There is no money in aerobatics unless you are an airshow pilot or run a flight school. We don’t do it for the money, do we?
There is a dividing line between Sportsman and the higher categories. Intermediate and higher usually requires a specialty - built airplane. Intermediate is where snap rolls and rolling turns appear. There are more inverted segments in Intermediate.
Also, if the Unlimited and Advanced categories move up in difficulty, Intermediate moves up also. That way the gap between Intermediate and Advanced won’t get too great.
Sportsman, on the other hand, must stay at the same level of difficulty. It is the highest category where a person can place well with a jack-of-all-trades aircraft, like a 150hp Decathlon, an Acrosport, an RV-8, or a Citabria. Sportsman can be, and must be allowed to be, a lifetime home for those pilots with these types of aircraft that do not want to ‘move up.’ Unlike other sports there is no ‘move up’ requirement in our sport, as moving up requires a purchase of a more capable airplane.
How can Sportsman be a home both to those that don’t want to move up and to those who do? By having the pilot select their level of participation. First, there is no Unknown flight in Sportsman. In its place is the rule that whatever sequence is flown on the second flight is to also be flown also on the third flight.
A new person can fly the Known, the Known, and the Known. A more experienced person can fly the Known, then a Freestyle, then the same Freestyle. Those with limited time and money can just practice the Known sequence. Those with more time and money can practice the Known sequence and a Freestyle sequence.
Please, for those of you with more capable airplanes, don’t campaign to make the Sportsman Known ‘more interesting.’ You may be forcing your low horsepower/high drag compatriots out of competing. Instead, develop and fly a freestyle.
Developing a freestyle is also a good idea for winning. Fly the maneuvers that are good for your airplane and stay away from those that are not. For example, there is no requirement in the Sportsman Freestyle for a full loop. The Loop suffers heavily under the judges' pens. Leave it ‘the heck’ out of your Freestyle.
The Decathlon, for example, likes lines and angles.
If you are new and want a Freestyle, but don’t feel you know enough to create one, just ask other pilots for one of theirs. Chances are more than good they’ll say ‘yes!’ I’ll give you all of my old ones if you ask me, all of which could meet the present years’ requirements with little modification. A good chapter activity might be to have everyone involved in developing a few Freestyles that all new members could use
2. How aerobatics affects you
Aerobatics is just one of many great tools for self – expansion as well as well as self – expression. Learning and practicing aerobatics expands who you are as a person. It changes how you see the world; it changes how you learn, how you see yourself, and how you move forward thereafter.
The French Connection aerobatic team members also taught aerobatics. They believed in the above idea. They would state that if you came to learn aerobatics and all you learned was how to do the maneuvers, then you got gypped.
The ‘Left Brain/Right Brain” thinking model in popular culture is a huge oversimplification, but the overarching ideas will help with this discussion. The left brain is supposed to be the more analytical side, and the right brain is supposed to be the more creative and pattern recognition side. Some people are naturally more left-brain dominant, and some are considered more right-brain dominant.
Both sides of the brain are operating together, but each person tends to ‘lean’ one way or the other. Moreover, their work, their hobbies, and their friends tend to be similar in character to their dominant brain side. People are drawn to pick those operations and activities that fall into the brain side where they are comfortable, and it their ‘go-to’ way of thinking and operating. People tend to shy away from operations and activities that are ‘not in their wheelhouse.’
Embrace that and let it be difficult. But most of all, let it change you.
Enjoy, and Fly Safe!!!
Articles in the "2023 Sportsman Sequence" Series
Flying the 2023 Sportsman Sequence by Gordon Penner, In the Loop January 2023
Flying the Wedge by Gordon Penner, In the Loop February 2023
Flying the Immelman, by Gordon Penner, In the Loop March 2023
Flying the Loop, by Gordon Penner, Sport Aerobatics December 2019
Flying the Half Cuban, by Gordon Penner, In the Loop May 2023
Flying the Humpty Bump, by Gordon Penner, In the Loop June 2023
Flying the Competition Roll, by Gordon Penner, In the Loop July 2023
Flying the Hammerhead, by Gordon Penner, In the Loop August 2023
Flying the Spin, by Gordon Penner, In the Loop September 2023
Flying the Aerobatic Turn, by Gordon Penner, In the Loop October 2023
Online Resources:
Introduction to Aresti, by Brian Howard, www.iac.org/aerobatic-figures
More articles on typical Sportsman category figures
Half Cubans, Accurate 45-degree downlines, by Giles Henderson, Sport Aerobatics June 2011, pg. 28
Aerobatic Trim Part 1, by Gordon Penner, Sport Aerobatics September 2020
Aerobatic Trim Part 2, by Gordon Penner, In the Loop October 2020
VIDEO
A brief discussion of the Aresti Symbols
by Gordon Penner, MCFI-Aerobatic and FAA Gold Seal CFI
This is a detailed explanation of the Immelman to competition judging standards.
By Gordon Penner, MCFI-A, FAA Gold Seal instructor with Jeff Granger, Intermediate competitor, Extra 300.
