Aresti Notation (aerobatic symbols), Part 2: the 2012 Standard Known sequence

G-SKNT is now out of the air for a few weeks for her annual inspection, so for now I’ll have to be content with mental preparation and study, along with some general cross-country flying in the C152 or PA28 on occasion. This is no bad thing actually, as it now means I have some time to sit down and work out where my concentration should lie in terms of training, writing and contacting people with regard to gaining some assistance with the project (if you’re interested in helping out in any way, please have a look at the ‘can you help‘ page).

Anyway, yesterday the BAeA released what will be next year’s Known competition sequences across the board. I’ll be entering myself at ‘Standard’ level, so for me this is the sequence I need to learn and practice:

The Sequence:

1. P-loop 
2. Half cuban
3. Stall turn
4. Goldfish
5. 180° aerobatic turn
6. 45° climb
7. 1 turn precision spin
8. Immelman (half loop/half roll)
9. Split-S (half roll/half loop)
10. 4-point hesitation roll

Aresti Notation (aerobatic symbols), Part 1: the 2011 Standard Known sequence

First published in 1960,  José Luis de Aresti’s ‘Sistema Aresti’ provided a simple and efficient means of writing down and demonstrating a sequence of aerobatic maneuvers on paper. The system breaks down each maneuver into basic lines and curves and as such provides a relatively easy to understand, pictorial view of the way a sequence is to be flown. It was adopted for official use by the FAI in 1961.

There are some truly excellent resources available online that go into detail about the Aresti Catalog (the included link list being far from exhaustive), but for the purposes of the site here, I’m going to be providing a few posts talking about the basic symbols and the maneuvers attached to them, starting here with a simple introduction to the symbology that is used in the ’2011 Standard Known Sequence’ video now up on the Videos tab (go and watch it if you haven’t already).

I’ll be going into detail about some of the maneuvers soon, but for now, this is what was flown:

The sequence was the one that constituted the ‘Standard Known’ for the 2011 British competition season. I’ll go into more detail about how aerobatic competitions actually work and what’s required from the pilots in yet another article at a later date.

A couple of initial points I should just clarify, are that each maneuver is started from straight and level flight, and in competition the beginning of the sequence is indicated by the pilot giving three ‘wing rocks’ before or partly during an initial dive to gain the airspeed necessary to fly the first maneuver (not shown in the video).

The sequence:

1. 45° climb
2. 1½ turn precision spin - the aircraft is brought to the stall with power off, before full rudder input is introduced to start autorotation. Recovery is initiated after 1 ½ rotations and with the aircraft flying vertically downwards when power is re-introduced.
3. Full aileron roll straight into a half cuban
4. ‘Humpty bump’ - a vertical up-line with a tight half loop into a vertical down-line
5. Immelman (half loop/half roll)
6. 90° aerobatic turn - not a conventional turn
7. Split-S (half roll/half loop)
8. Stall turn, with a ¼ roll on the down-line - everybody’s favourite, also known as a ‘hammerhead’. A vertical up-line until the point of stall, when full rudder input initiates a rotation around the wingtip into a vertical down-line.
9. Reverse half cuban
10. Loop

Useful links:

BAeA judging and Aresti notation

Slope Aerobatics Aresti Tutorial

BruceAir PDF