This subject comes up on a fairly regular cycle. Some have actually done something about it, like mentioned above with the Ring Master events. There have been efforts to reenact the Mirror Meet pattern which by all accounts if a very demanding pattern. (Perhaps the Tulsa guys can offer some comments about this or whoever else has worked to resurrect the Mirror Meet pattern.) In 1954, the successor to Air Trails published a two page article filled with diagrams of several dozen maneuvers suggested by some of the top fliers of that time. Some of those maneuvers were eventually selected by George Aldrich when he devised the pattern as we now know it. As mentioned above, there are many more ideas for "neat sounding" tricks that have been put forward.
As neat as the idea sounds to have a "free style" event, the maneuvers still become not much more than a series of loops and/or sudden turns (as in squares, or triangles or some other multi-sided shapes in various sequences placed on various parts of our hemisphere. Yes, there can be some very imaginative figures conjured up, but they are still loops and sudden turns which pretty well describes our current pattern which is flown essentially in a two dimensional medium that is a bit warped so that it looks like the surface of a hemisphere.
Now, if one were to get really creative, why not come up with maneuvers that really place a premium on pilot ability as well as model capabilities. For instance, do a vertical eight under a 60 degree elevation. Or get more points by getting that vertical eight is even less than 60 degrees. Or more simply put, do the entire pattern within a set of 30 degree and 60 degree parameters insetead of the current pattern which is defined with 45 and 90 degree parameters. (This one would really separate the really good flying combinations since few really come close to flying all of our current 45/90 degree pattern now.) Several in the past have come up with maneuver diagrams that could be flown that really place a challenge to the plane/pilot combination. The demands could be established that go beyond current "typical" stunt model design. Maybe this could be a good thing, but there does not seem to be much appetite for it.
These ideas are to be encouraged, But nothing much happens as there does not seem to be much interest for someone or a group to get together and draft some ideas and then run an event (contest?) using those ideas. It could start out by just using present designs, but if a quantum leap in performance would be required to perform to the new rules, then new designs and new construction techniques would be required. It seems our community is not too interested in actually doing something about it other than writing about it and expect someone else to initiate something.
Keith
Topic: Free Style (Read 2878 times)
