This might get a little long.
Robin Lehman and I went to Germany
in 1998 to attend but not compete in the DMFV Akrocup.
Pretty much we were awed by what was going on there, 40% scale acro sailplanes competing in a very well organized format
which gave little ground to what IMACC was doing in the US
with power scale aerobatics. The judging, the rules were/are very well defined
and organized. Pilots ranged in age from 12-40+ The 12
year old boy competed with a very small Fox and was cheered and encouraged by
the adult competitors. It was an eye opener to what large scale aerobatic
sailplanes were capable of. I shot video of the whole event including several
routines. When we got home I produced a video in combination with our Elmira
aerotow and called it Ultimate scale Soaring. The
video is long out of circulation, but we were convinced that this would be the
next great sailplane event in the U.S....
It wasn't. Several attempts were made to organize similar events in the
U.S on a national level, not just a few folks looping and rolling at a LOCAL
VENUE.
Robin tried in vein to organize informal events at several established aerotow events. There was little interest,
and that in combination with the huge distances separating the few pilots
capable of even completing a routine with a sailplane, made it difficult.
Pete Goldsmith got involved with scale soaring along the way, met Robin
at one of these events and was excited about it. He felt the TOC crowd would be
a perfect audience for new blood, and certainly these pilots had the skills to
not only complete the routines but excel.
Continued…
Endless Mountain Models
http://www.scalesoaring.com
email:
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