It was that English chap what explained it all to me. Nick Middleton must have sensed my wonderment, and we gradually got into a discussion of the fine points of pattern flying. Nick Middleton Nick came from Oxford, England, six years ago and picked up pattern flying here. H e said that pattern flying is a process of executing a series of specific acrobatic maneuvers within an imaginary box in the sky. The flier is judged on each maneuver according to its difficulty.
Pilots can compete in various class levels of increased difficulty.
Classes begin with the lowest, Sportsman, and go to Intermediate, Advanced, Masters and F.A.I., which has international recognition. N ick said that they could fly any plane up to eleven pounds with a maximum two-meter wingspan. YS engines, while not exclusive, are believed to be among the most powerful and are very popular. All the planes have very expensive mufflers, as they are limited to a noise level of less than 94 db. Most planes have retracts.