Control Line Aerobatics 2015/03
Sam is a sharp young lady
by Bob Hunt [email protected]
In 1965 I attended the AMA Nats that were contested at Naval Air Station Willow Grove in Pennsylvania. I didn't compete; I went specifically to watch the Walker Trophy flyoff.
This flyoff features the Junior, Senior, and Open winners in Control Line (CL) Precision Aerobatics (Stunt). The winner of the flyoff is crowned the overall CL Aerobatics Champion and gets to take home the prestigious Walker Trophy for a year. Although the Open Stunt winner usually prevails, there have been several occasions where either the Junior Champion or the Senior Champion has won.
The three participants in the flyoff at the 1965 Nats were Open Champion Bob Gialdini, Senior Champion Gerry Cipra, and Junior Champion Dawn Cosmillo. Dawn was the only woman ever to win an official National CL Aerobatics championship up until that point, and she held that distinction until 1989.
At the 1989 Nats in Pasco, Washington, Sharon Garrison became the second woman to win the Junior CL Aerobatics event, flying in the Walker Trophy flyoff against Open winner Jimmy Casale and Senior winner Nat Gifford.
For the past few years the CL Stunt community has watched with pride and pleasure as a vibrant, energetic, friendly, and extremely enthusiastic young woman named Samantha Hines steadily moved up through the ranks. She started out flying in the unofficial Nats Beginner event and won that in 2013. This past year Sam, as she's known to the CL Aerobatics community, displayed a giant leap in flying ability and won the official Junior CL Precision Aerobatics event at the 2014 Nats in Muncie, Indiana, becoming only the third woman in the event's history to achieve that title.
I've watched Sam's progress and even coached her a little on how to perform square maneuvers. Her flying has steadily improved, but she made an astounding jump in piloting skill this year. Sam flew a non‑flap‑equipped model that I originally designed as a basic stunt trainer called the Hole Shot. At my suggestion she added an extra rib bay to each wing to slightly lower the wing loading and increase the airplane's aerobatic capability. She calls her new model the Long Shot.
Sam insisted on building her own airplane for the Nats and did a great job, but the resulting model was slightly heavier than ideal for its size. It had to be flown carefully to avoid stalling at the corners of the squares. It also could not easily fly rule‑book‑size maneuvers without a tendency to "mush," and required a deft touch at the handle to achieve a clean‑looking pattern.
Sam flew two very clean patterns to win the Junior crown over fellow competitor Ben Mills, and then went on to fly three more extremely clean patterns in the Walker Trophy flyoff against Open Champion David Fitzgerald. You could actually sense that Sam was flying her Long Shot to the edge of its capabilities, but stopped short of adding too much control and going "over the edge." She has become an adept and respected pilot.
Sam didn't outscore David, but I predict—and many others do too—that if she continues at her current rate of improvement and proficiency, it will not take long for her to capture that big trophy. In an outstanding display of good sportsmanship and camaraderie, David invited Sam to join him in the center of the circle to watch his last Walker Trophy flight from the pilot's perspective. She was thrilled, and you could also see her studying David's technique as he flew. She's a sharp young lady!
Reverse Wingover, Part II
I left off last time with an explanation of the reverse wingover, and I got to the most critical turn—from the first wingover element to when inverted flight is established. I hope that you have had time to "dry fly" that part of the maneuver and maybe have even tried it with your model at the field—and I hope you still have the model in one piece.
I suggested that this maneuver be started with your body positioned with your right shoulder facing upwind if you are right‑handed. Left‑handed pilots should reverse that orientation, starting with their left shoulder facing upwind.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
