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Yep, they MUST grade only what they see. Sometimes a perfect figure may appear imperfect. Other times an imperfect figure may appear perfect. Perfect figures do often appear perfect as well. :) Pilots must get a feel for these things. There's an entire sub-discipline in this sport related to...

Yeah, unlike almost every other possible figure in the book, there are no clearly defined criteria for exactly how to make deductions on a loop. Everyone has to adapt their own method, being consistent with everyone as possible. I can attest that being a line judge is hard work, not only to see...

Roundness of looping segments, accurate 45 degree attitude lines, equal line lengths before and after a roll on a 45 line, rolling the airplane at a constant flight path/heading/roll rate, constant bank angle/turn rate/altitude during turns, a level flight path starting and ending each figure...

A skilled low-level aerobatic pilot in a high-powered, high performance aerobatic airplane (inverted fuel of course) might pull that off. I guarantee you everyone else would be dead if they tried that. They wouldn't even come close to making it. If you ever get a chance to get some aerobatic...

True rudder yaw/roll coupling exists in most of the airplanes we fly, but in the situation described here where you're banked 90 degrees at low airspeed and low altitude, a boot full of rudder and slightly hamfisted use of the stick could very well cause the pilot to do a 3/4 snap and crash into...

Nah, that won't pull the nose off heading unless you continue to pull for too long after you start the roll. You can cheat the nose up just a little at the start of the roll to help maintain altitude during the roll without it being too noticeable - assuming you're flying in front of judges...

Could be you're not getting the nose high enough through inverted, but another very common reason for losing altitude and dishing the roll (pulling the nose off heading) is not holding forward pressure for long enough after rolling through wings level inverted. You need to hold that forward...

Yep at first, even -3G is very uncomfortable. But newbies shouldn't let that sway them if they have an interest in continuing acro. You develop a tolerance to G (positive and negative), and though I'd never call negative G literally pleasurable, it gets to be not so bad. But it's a tolerance you...

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on aircraft characteristics. But if you find yourself in a flat spin in a non-aerobatic airplane, you are most likely now a test pilot and free to invent the best recovery procedure on the spot. :)

In aerobatic airplanes, a true flat spin requires high power. This produces a good bit of propwash over the tail surfaces even though the relative wind from the airplane's vertical trajectory is from below. Pulling power and neutralizing the controls works in most aerobatic airplanes as an...

All you have to do to recover a flat spin in a Pitts (and most aerobatic airplanes) is pull power and neutralize the controls - same as any other type of spin. There is a specific type of emergency spin recovery training for aerobatic pilots to enable them to recover any unintentional spin...

Rolling doesn't do anything to help get the nose pitched away from the ground. All it would do is change your heading and tilt the wing's lift vector such that you are reducing the rate at which the nose can be pitched away from the ground. In critical pullout situations, you want all the lift...

Airshow pilots typically don't do low level Split-S's. It's just not very impressive and is unnecessarily risky for surface level acro. You'll never see Sean Tucker or Rob Holland do a split S down to the deck. Airshow pilots doing low level acro have altitude "gates" for various maneuvers in...

Not clear what you mean by "off", but looked to me like he did the 1.5 roll from inverted to upright as planned, and then quickly banked left as if to either look for or evade Gary's oncoming flightpath, and then decided to go right, banking steeply, then pulled, and didn't pull out. I think he...

No. First, actual G-LOC (loss off consciousness) is extremely rare among experienced aerobatic pilots. Usually attributable to a pre-existing medical illness/condition/medication that would make flying irresponsible. Second, he was at the top of a loop. Nobody G-LOC's here. Just not possible to...

Not sure which video this "flight instructor" was watching, but it was nothing like that. There's a video out there from a more rearward viewing angle showing something not obvious from other videos from the side - that he pulled and started a right turn from a steep right bank a couple seconds...

I think this rudder flapping "dancing feet" stuff is mostly a way for tailwheel instructors to get transitioning trike pilots to wake up and move their feet with some dexterity. It doesn't mean tailwheel airplanes require a bunch of rudder flapping, despite the tales that get told. The better...

Hey I resemble that remark! I thought that was you - not too many orange Grummans around. I get along fine with the flight school crowd out there as long as I make the effort to communicate exactly what I'm doing, that I have them in sight, and won't be a factor.

Etemplet, you don't need to push. There are lots of ways to do aileron rolls. The easiest way is to pitch up a suitable amount with suitable airspeed, unload the elevator to 1G, and then apply full aileron with just enough rudder to counter adverse yaw. Freeze the elevator in that position. Hold...

Check out openaero.net if you haven't already. It's the Aresti sequence construction tool that most are using now.