About Aerobatics

Last Updated on Thursday, 05 March 2009 22:48 Written by Gaetano Bisaz Monday, 02 March 2009 22:15

Several aspects distinguish flying from many other things humans do on this planet. Foremost, flying means that we leave all bounds to earth and soar into the wild blue yonder. Flying alows the free movement in three dimensions, creating new and spectacular impressions for all our senses.

Flying is not given to us (-> "If god meant us to fly, he would given us wings..."), we had to conquer the air, liberating the secret of flying one at a time from human nature. The first flying machines where (if at all) hardly maneouverable, the pilot was actually more of a passenger than in control of things. With improvements in all areas of machinery and construction, the controllability of airplanes increased to a level, where its no longer the machine that sets boundaries. Nowadays its the skills of the pilots that define what the airplane does. Even tough even a straigth line is in fact an aerobatic figure, aerobatics is about changing flight paths in rapid succession. Be it at an airshow, or at a contest, aerobatics demands the highest of physical effort and mental strength. It is all about precision and concentration. If there would not be physical demands, measured in "g" or multiples of normal earth gravity, aerobatics would qualify as a mind-game.

Only special trained and certified pilots are able to let-loose the power and potential of their machines. And impressive these are! Gone are the days of the bamboo and wire airplanes. The current competition and airshow aircraft feature a huge amount of modern technology like carbon and highly modified engines. Their strength are beyond what human beeings can endure, yet they are at the same time fragile and sensitive to but the slightest movement of the control stick.

Competition aerobatics features four disciplines, or "programs" as we say. These are:

• Known program: A given sequence of figures must be flown to absolute precision. All figures must be presented in the correct order.
• Unknown program: Same as known, except that the program can not be trained before. Actually, the competitior sees the program just a day before he or she has to fly the sequence
• Free program: The competitor assembled his prefered figures and created a sequence. He will then fly this on front of the judges.
• Freestyle: All can be done, but for the highest class of competitors only: The unlimited pilots.

Yes, aside from the sequences, the competitors themselfs are divided into four classes. The first level is sportsman. Here are the newcommers to competition aerobatic flying. When they master the demands for their class they upgrade to intermediate level. More complex figures must be flown. After this step, the advanced category awaits competitive pilots. Already the demands to men and machine are very high. The former two categories can be flown with entry level airplanes and a small amount of training, advanced requires special purpose airplanes and much experience. If the pilot's hunger for complex sequences and physical exhaustion is not yet satisfied, the upgrade to unlimited is the natural choice. This is the highes league, few sports on and above earth require this combination of top physical shape, mental strength and the ability to deliver full concentration under conditions when untrained persons might already have fallen unconcious because of lack of fitness.

The impression that aerobatics is a mens sport is completely wrong. There are in fact many women fighting it for points in all categories, and they leave many male pilot back in the dust of lower ranks. Aerobatics is equally tough on all; its a true gender-equality proposers dream.

Aerobatics is the cream topping in flying! Most satisfying for pilots and spectators, with fine nuances visible for insiders, but just spectacular for the casual viewer, it offers something for everyone. Aerobatics has a top spot in manifestation of the fascination of flight.

The SAA, Swiss Aerobatic Association, is organising the yearly national championships, and, together with the aeroclub takes care that this sport is treated well by the authorities and all other stakeholders.

Keep 'em flying!