The perfect pattern

you left out one maneuver somewhere

takeoff & level flight
reverse wing over
inside rounds
inverted
outside rounds
inside squares
outside squares
triangles
horizontal 8's
horizontal square 8's
vertical 8's
hourglass
overhead 8's
cloverleaf
landing

total of 15 which is 600 points. adding pattern and appearance results in a max of 645 points, used to be 650 when we had starting points, and when the appearance was 40 points max was 670.

Have seen scores reported in the 580's at local events but the real criteria is the nats where the score is lower.

I'll have to look it up, but I was considering moving up to Advanced afterwards. Then I haven't had a chance to make a decent ride or get practice in tyhe 2 years since.

1. Starting k = 1
2. Take-off k = 2
3. Reverse wing-over k = 8
4. Three inside loops k = 6
5. Inverted laps (2 laps) k = 2
6. Three outside loops k = 6
7. Two inside square loops k = 12
8. Two outside square loops k = 12
9. Two inside triangular loops k = 14
10. Two horizontal eights k = 7
11. Two square horizontal eights k = 18
12. Two vertical eights k = 10
13. Hourglass k = 10
14. Two overhead figure eights k = 10
15. Four-leaf clover k = 8
16. Landing k = 5

As per section IV of FAI sporting code.

Thus, for World Championships the total of points one might have would be 1310 for each judge. As it is recommended to have 5 judges for this type of competition, in this case of five judges, the highest and lowest scores for each flight will be discarded and only the three middle scores will be counted, thus the flight result will be the sum of the three intermediates which would mean 1310 x 3 = 3930 points.

For reference, the best flight from Han Xinping at the 2002 WCC in Germany was 3063,5.

Regards to all,

Eduardo
www.aeromodelos.net

Yeah, but that's metric...

Tim

The highest score I ever personally saw was my own, at a contest in LA in the early 90s - 595. It was an OK flight, but it was hardly the best flight I ever saw. I haven't kept track, but Bob Baron's 560 at the 96 NATs may be the highest NATs score in recent years - it's certainly the highest I recall. It was a very good flight, but I thought he had flown better flights earlier in the week.

As far as the flight I saw that was the best ever - that's pretty difficult. I've seen a lot of stunt flights over the years, from all the best pilots. I'll have to give it some thought.

HOWEVER, I did see Paul Walker fly a 610. The judges were "HIGH" I thought it was a 608.....lol

Ted however flew the best patteren I ever saw at the 2000 NW regonials flying his Chilizer he scored 585 I think. I thought it was perfect.

Scott

The best, or at least most impressive flight I ever saw is easy. Paul Walker flying the chartruse and pink Impact (OK, he says it's red and yellow) at the NW Regional CL Champs a few years ago (at Roseburg, I think). The sky was black with clouds, the wind was humming and Paul flew the cleanest and most impressive pattern I've ever seen in much less that optimal conditions. I don't remember the score, but who cares.

I have it on tape too.

I've flown a number of 650s.

For some reason I never saw those numbers on the scoreboard but, you know, things can get lost in the translation!

Best flight I ever saw for the conditions was Walker's winning flight at the last Lincoln nats. the winds were howling everywhere except, apparently, where Paul's Impact was at any given point in time and space.

Only standing ovation I can recall at a stunt playground.

Bob Baron flew the most consistently outstanding patterns I ever saw over an entire comp ... and it wasn't at the '96 Nats. Back at the '81 team trials he pretty much wiped the board for however many rounds we flew to qualify. I also saw Bob fly some mediocre stuff over the years with some pretty sub-optimal airframes. When he had a good one though it was Katy bar the door.

Should add that the sub-optimal airframes I referred to were always very non-traditional and outside the envelope types which he, nonetheless, flew competitively ... just not to the level he did with the Avanti's, etc.

The most beautiful patterns I've seen were pretty much all flown by Billy Werwage. Some may not have been "rule book perfect" but when it comes to painting pretty pictures from take off to touch down pretty much nobody has ever done it as well as Billy.

If I could fly like any of those, I'd have to pick Bill. "Stunt as Art" again.

I would have put Baron/81 Team Trials on the short list of top performances - better than the '96 NATs, and certainly more dominant than the 96 NATs. He was touchable in '96 (although nobody managed it). He was completely untouchable in 81.

Let's say the other names on my short list read like a who's who of stunt history, and one or two people that you wouldn't expect.

Brett,

I didn't know you were there! What were you, twelve years old? Yeah, he kicked everyone's butt.

Did't fly, I watched. That was my third year of contest flying, and the first time I saw all the big-shots at once. I was 20 - and it was two years before I moved out here.

I've never seen Bill Werwage fly. To bad, too. But some of the comments here bring up an interesting point. I've seen very accurate patterns flown, but the feeling was that they were just that: accurate. They came off as mechanical and souless with little style or flare. While we can talk about the rule book forever, in reality, the flight's that are most indelibly imprinted on my memory had a certain style or panache; an interpretation and an art to them. It may be due in part to the characteristics of a certain design that a particular pilot flies or perhaps the endless practice that top pilots subject themselves to so that they have long since stopped thinking about the maneuvers or the mechanics of the thing and are able to only concentrate on the grace of the presentation. With some pilots like PW, Don McClave, Ted or David, I don't even have to see the pilot to know who is flying...from across the field and behind a car. Much as I can usually recognize a brilliant and well known guitar player like Page, Howe or Kottke sight unseen, just by hearing a few notes. These virtuoso pilots lend a certain interpretation to the maneuvers that is quite individual and always beautiful.

But that us bottom dweller experts could develop that sort of style. Most of use are still trying to be semi-accurate.

I suppose I could have said Thom Yorke, Ken Andrews and Eric Johnson, but hey, they may be good, buth they're just kids.

Larry Carlton is still my favorite.

At the Nats, when I watched Paul Walker fly his IMPACT to the Championship, I was simply astounded.....words of Bob Hunt came to my mind (Stunt is a series of VIOLENT maneuvers) Simply amazing, often breathtaking, always accurate.

Not to diminish the accomplishments of others....there are several really, really good flyers in the US.

The best/most memorable single maneuver was a landing that Howard accomplished a couple of years ago...

See Ya

The first time I saw a Nationals finalist caliber flight was in 1964. I had flown in competition for just over a year. I was at the Air Force meet and saw this guy flying the most remarkable pattern I thought possible. I stood in awe as I watched. Dick Mathis was training the judges for that contest. Dick would later post the highest flight score at the Nats, and finished 4th because his airplane did not receive very many appearance points with its clear dope and tissue finish (like a FF ship - I thought it was gorgeous).

As has been mentioned earlier in this thread, when Bob Baron was at the Team Trials in the early 80's, there was no question he was the class of the field. (I ws the CD for the Team Trials during tht period.) I do not think that I have ever seen an individual dominate the field throughout a competition like he did in the 81 Team Trials. Also, I do not think anybody on the field questioned his scores or his place. He had it all together. Sizes, shapes, bottoms were all there. His corners were as good as anybody on the field. When he won the Nats in 66, his first flight in the finals round was certainly memorable in a positive way. (I was a judge at the 66 Nats.)

Bill Werwage has flown some very remarkable flights. When he is on, his flights could be used as a model for training films. His flights at the 2002 World Championships under the most adverse wind conditions I have seen were outstanding (I was not at the 03 Nats). Sizes, shapes and bottoms were all there. His corners were some of the best at the Championships. The wind he had to fly in on two of his three flights was as severe as any during the finals including the flights of several other competitors who were allowed to refly their officials when the wind blew lawn chairs across their circle. (There were not any more lawn chairs to blow away when Bill had to fly in similar or ever worse conditions.)

When Bob Hunt was placing at the Nats, getting on the team, winning the Nats and the World Championships (I was a judge when he won in 78), it was like watching a clinic. No major errors, anywhere.

Right at the top of my list is Bart Klapinski when he won the Nats in 67. It was all there. He flew the right sizes, shapes, bottoms and corners. Maybe I was still not very experienced in this game but his flying that year still remains in my mind as some of the best I have seen. (Just wait until he gets a serious stunt ship of his own for competition in the near future. He is still pretty good.)

The top of my list still goes to Les McDonald. When he won the World Championships in 82, there was simply none any better. He dominated the contest circle for several years. When he came out to fly, you knew you were going to see a show. Nice looking aiplane, matching flying outfit, not flashy, but he gave a totally professional presentation from the time the airplane came on to the circle until it landed. I think that all of the fliers mentioned here had (or have) the ability to make their rulebook or near rulebook size patterns looks smooth. In my opinion, the flights of Les McDonald in those years were a cut above and were the model of a 45 degree pattern made to look smooth and effortless with great corners and consistent bottoms. He made it fun to watch and he made it look easy.

Just my own unbiased opinion.

Bill Werwage who has the most consistantly accurate and beautifully flowing patterns of anyone

Les mcDonald was just awesome ,and near perfect at times.It was awe inspiring watching him

Paul Walker, many times but the most impressive flights I have ever seen from him were at the mid nineties Team Trials, I think it was 95,he had everything, corner bottoms ,near perfect engine runs, and a plane that was trimmed to absolute perfection.

Bob Hunt at the 77 Team Trials , he was just in Zone that was beyond anything I had seen from him

The BEAR ..Bob Gieseke, I was just blown away when I watched him crash his Nobler at the mid 70s Lake Charles NATs due to a Handle accident, he patched the plane up and came back to Put in a truly World Class performance.

Bob Barons early and mid 80s patterns were some of the best on the planet.

Regards

THAT flight has been burned into my brain as the standard by which all other flights must try to live up to.

Other ones of note - Jim Casale's early morning practice flights at the Nats in 1985. The practice flights were better than his officials - and he won!

Side note on the 1985 Nats - this was back in the days when virtually nobody practiced a lot before official flights began. There were a few days when you could be at Westover and there were only two pilots relentlessly putting up practice flight after practice flight - Jim Casale and Paul Walker. It made quite an impression on me as a 12-year old kid.