Pre-Registered for First Contest

[AcroGimp]

So I pre-registered for the Happiness is Delano contest, Aug 29-31 at KDLO. Planning on Sportsman in the 150hp 7KCAB Citabria with inverted systems.

I located a chute (still looking for a second one to share the fun) and have talked to a local acro instructor about a couple mini-camps at the permanent box in Borrego Springs (L08) to get ready to compete (my last practice was about a year ago in the Extra 300L).

Found a series of Youtubes showing 7KCAB's and a 7ECA working through the Sportsman sequence in 2012 and 2013 so it can be done.

Also planning on the Borrego Akrofest contest in October.

As the training/practice progresses I'll drop updates here and on my blog.

'Gimp

 

[somorris]

Good luck John!

 

[whifferdill]

Found a series of Youtubes showing 7KCAB's and a 7ECA working through the Sportsman sequence in 2012 and 2013 so it can be done.

Hell, it can be more than done, it can be won. Have fun!

 

[AcroGimp]

Hell, it can be more than done, it can be won. Have fun!

So how does one get that razor crisp start/stop on your pitch and roll inputs? Do you go slightly past center at the start and stop? Your videos are such inspiration.

'Gimp

 

[whifferdill]

So how does one get that razor crisp start/stop on your pitch and roll inputs? Do you go slightly past center at the start and stop? Your videos are such inspiration.

'Gimp

Very generous. The wings follow the stick. Center the stick like hitting a brick wall, and the wings will match. Gotta keep a loose grip on the stick, and your arm free of tension that can cause recoil and bobbling the roll stops. Like everything else, just takes a little dedicated practice.

 

[AcroGimp]

Very generous. The wings follow the stick. Center the stick like hitting a brick wall, and the wings will match. Gotta keep a loose grip on the stick, and your arm free of tension that can cause recoil and bobbling the roll stops. Like everything else, just takes a little dedicated practice.

Following up then, it would be a more 'digital' input, move rapidly to full or desired deflection, digital stop, then back to center as quickly as possible then a 'digital' stop. I'll work on that some and see if I can get even close to your level of performance.

Thanks!

'Gimp

 

[whifferdill]

Following up then, it would be a more 'digital' input, move rapidly to full or desired deflection, digital stop, then back to center as quickly as possible then a 'digital' stop. I'll work on that some and see if I can get even close to your level of performance.

Thanks!

'Gimp

Regarding aileron application, you don't need to jam the ailerons IN as rapidly as possible. Just make it a quick, but smooth acceleration of the stick. But in removing the aileron, if you whip the stick as fast as possible back to the exact center without going over and back, it will really make your rolls pop from the ground - especially point rolls.

 

[AcroGimp]

Bought my first parachute, Aerobatic Harness Softie Mini from a gentlemen in Maine, should be here Thursday. Already set my headset up with a chin strap.

I am working up a training syllabus using Alan Cassidy's excellent 'Better Aerobatics' to get to learn the Citabria and plan on a couple mini-camps with a local acro instructor/advanced competitor/regional judge to get the Sportsman dialed-in.

Planning on Delano in August, Borrego in October and maybe even the Tequila Cup in Marana AZ in November. Nice thing about living in SoCal is there are a ton of regional contests.

Getting kind of excited....

'Gimp

 

[bnt83]

Good luck!

 

[MachFly]

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[AcroGimp]

Chute arrived today and looks to be in great shape, I went ahead and set the strap length for my fit, and it is off to the rigger next week for inspection and repack.

First acro flight in the Citabria will be next weekend with first minicamp with coach the following weekend if schedules allow.

I have never had convenient access to an acro capable plane (the Extra was 200 miles away), planning on 2 flights per week until the Delano contest in late August - should allow for ~16-18 hrs of practice, somewhere between 80 and 100 runs through the Sportsman sequence.

Really looking forward to this experience.

'Gimp

 

[whifferdill]

...planning on 2 flights per week until the Delano contest in late August - should allow for ~16-18 hrs of practice, somewhere between 80 and 100 runs through the Sportsman sequence.

Holy crap man that's a lot of runs! It probably took me two years to fly 100 sequence runs. Just keep in mind that you're much better off flying few sequence runs in front of a good ground critiquer than many by yourself. The key is to get good critiquing as you're starting out, so that the practice flights you do make on your own will not simply be you practicing bad mistakes. And keep in mind that practice is not necessarily about burning out with lots and lots of sequence flights. Being competent with a wide variety of individual figures is the most important thing. Then adapting to flying any particular sequence of figures will be easy. Fly the sequences a little, but don't burn out on them. Be sure you spend a good bit of time flying individual figures so you can focus on the quality of the individual figures without your brain having to keep up with the sequence. If you do nothing but fly sequences, I think this may be at the expense of focusing more attention on the quality and precision of each figure. It's a building block process.

It's fairly infrequent that I actually fly full sequences. I'd guess maybe 10% of my time flying acro is spent flying a sequence card. I'm still practicing figures and having fun, just not burning out with a lot of pure sequence practice. You have to be adaptive if you hope to do well with Unknowns. I know these don't exist in Sportsman, but the adaptive skills are good to establish early on. Once you get that first contest under your belt, I'd recommend coming up with a Free sequence. This can really help your scores go up. I've helped folks with those. It can be a challenge to design one that flows well, scores well, uses all available points, and minimizes box position issues in a variety of wind conditions. But you have the ability to select a sequence of figures that best suits you and the plane you are flying.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[AcroGimp]

Holy crap man that's a lot of practicing! It probably took me two years to fly 100 sequence runs. Just keep in mind that you're much better off flying few sequence runs in front of a good ground critiquer than many by yourself. The key is to get good critiquing as you're starting out, so that the practice flights you do make on your own will not simply be you practicing bad mistakes. And keep in mind that practice is not necessarily about burning out with lots and lots of sequence flights. Being competent with a wide variety of individual figures is the most important thing. Then adapting to flying any particular sequence of figures will be easy. Fly the sequences a little, but don't burn out on them. Be sure you spend a good bit of time flying individual figures so you can focus on the quality of the individual figures without your brain having to keep up with the sequence. If you do nothing but fly sequences, I think this may be at the expense of focusing more attention on the quality and precision of each figure.

It's fairly infrequent that I actually fly full sequences. I'd guess maybe 10% of my time flying acro is spent flying a sequence card. I'm still practicing figures and having fun, just not burning out with a lot of pure sequence practice. You have to be adaptive if you hope to do well with Unknowns. I know these don't exist in Sportsman, but the adaptive skills are good to establish early on. Once you get that first contest under your belt, I'd recommend coming up with a Free sequence. This can really help your scores go up.

Good luck and have fun!

Perhaps I should have said that was the target.

When I was flying the Extra we would work on one figure, then run the sequence maybe 4-6 times, then do touch and goes, total time ~45 to an hour. I logged about 40 runs through the 2012 Sportsman over 7 or so hours of dedicated acro practice. We were literally on-top of MHV since the Class D was closed when we were flying so it was takeoff, climb to altitude, FOD/systems check, then fly hard.

I have had an unmarked practice area about 10 minutes from the Citabria's home field recommended to me by the local Yak guys. First few flights will be getting comfortable with the Citabria then moving on to individual figures then the whole sequence, with probably one in-aircraft and maybe 2 ground coaching minicamps early and then tons of practice. Not worried about burn-out, but if I start to feel it I'll mix it up - and I understand about individual figures, I'll include that into my plan.

I also record all my flights so I can go back and critique after the fact, with the coach when able but any time by myself - I think a GoPro or NFlight should be considered required equipment.

Thanks for the suggestions/info!

'Gimp

 

[AcroGimp]

Finally got to fly the Citabria in some acro and even though I was interrupted (more on that in a minute) it was a blast. Totally different experience than the Extra 300L, the plane does literally nothing to help, but very fun nonetheless.

During preflight we removed all the loose items and took the seat back upholstery out since I have a backpack chute.

Flew out to the practice area, did my FOD and inverted systems check, everything was good so I proceeded to climb for a bit more altitude and then began my planned list of figures. Started with a ballistic roll to the left, nice 30 degree pitch up/pull then grab as much roll as you can, and wait, and wait. Only slightly kidding, I am guessing about 90 degrees per second roll rate, compared to the 400 degrees per second the Extra will do, but it was still a ton of fun. Ended on altitude and heading so must have done something right.

Repeated with a ballistic roll to the right, and then used the smash to clmb up to 7500 feet (5000 AGL) for a spin.

Set it up for a 2 turn spin to the left, pulled power, slowed down, kicked in full rudder and the Citabria rolled over in a textbook spin entry and quickly settled into a stable and rapid spin. At 1.5 turns I put in anti-spin inputs and she popped right out although I over-rotated and went pretty negative on the downline.

This is where the interruption happened, I felt something 'bump' and suddenly had a piercing electronic noise over the intercom. I recovered to level flight, checked for controllability, glanced at the G meter, and then it sunk in. Yup, the ELT had popped out of it's tray mount, struck the back seat frame, and set itself off.

Aborted the rest of the session, alerted ATC that I was the one pinging and all was well, and took it back to the barn to reset the ELT and call it an abbreviated day. Owner has said he'll fab up a strap to keep the ELT in place. We were laughing so hard as I explained what happened I thought I was going pee myself.

Lesson learned.

Going back out Sunday and Wednesday then first mini-clinic with coach on Sunday the 15th.

Side note, it turns out that the aerobatic harness for my chute gives me a sweat pattern that looks like a villain from a Scooby-Doo episode...

'Gimp