About once a month there is an F3A aerobatic competition held at different clubs throughout Scotland. In these Comps there are a number of different Schedules you can fly for the different pilots’ abilities. These Schedules range  from very basic to really quite complicated. The easiest is the Sportsman, then the Standard, then the FAI which is the P07 schedule and finally the F07.

This was a competition which was held at Glenrothes which is over in Fife. This picture was mainly just to show you the kind of aircraft you can see at a comp.

Please come along to these events as you can fly as long as you provide proof of insurance.

People may think that to compete you need a posh, fancy, expensive aeroplane to stand a chance. Well that’s only partly true. In the Sportsman your bog-standard trainer could probably do it. For the Standard though you are looking at a low wing aircraft that has enough power to go vertically for a short period of time. Something like an Acrowot would do absolutely fine. Actually to be honest I used to fly an Acrowot in the P05 class as I had nothing else. I didn’t stand a chance flying it against large 2m pattern ships specifically designed to be overpowered and to fly well in every possible attitude but you can learn an awful lot about how to set up and fly models well just by going along. And remember, its the taking part that counts, not the winning. Hey right!

If you want a good, relatively inexpensive aircraft to take part with I highly recommend the Flair Swallow EX90. I’ve had one of these for a long time and they fly extremely well for their size and price with only a few problems with them. The biggest problem with them is the undercarriage mounting plate is nowhere near strong enough, so if you buy one reinforce that plate while you’re building it. The only other problem I’ve found with it was the elevator linkage. The system used by the kit can allow too much slop if not built carefully. To power the Swallow you really need some sort of 120 four-stroke up front. It is best to have a pumped engine, either four-stroke or two stroke, as some of the manoeuvres are very demanding on a normal exhaust-pressured fuel system. Also, if you get a four-stroke it gives you prop-braking in the downlines so that you have more time to do any required rolls in the downline.