Aresti Aerobatic System Simplified

The fundamental structure of the Aresti Aerobatic sequence system
Aerobatic figures are made up by combining basic and complementary manoeuvres which are grouped into eight basic "families" (1-8) and one complementary "family" (9) in the CIVA catalogue. Each manoeuvre is depicted by its Aresti symbol.
Power and Glider aerobatic figures are in separate catalogues - the latter differs in many details from the power version.

Family 1   Lines and Angles - Horizontal, 45° & vertical line variations.
Family 2   Turns & Rolling Turns 90°-360° turns erect & inverted, with optional rolls.
Family 3   Combinations of Lines - more of family 1.
Family 4   (no longer used)
Family 5   Stall Turns - the four possible variations.
Family 6   Tail Slides - the eight possible variations.
Family 7   Loops and Eights - Round/square/octagonal loops, split-'S' & 8's.
Family 8   Combinations of Lines, Angles & Loops, Humpty bumps, Cubans and variations
Family 9   Rolls Slow, 2-point, 4-point, 8-point, flicks and spins


Understanding the Aresti notation
The simplest basic figure in the catalogue is the very first - Family 1, line 1, column 1, usually shortened to 1.1.1 and shown as figure-1 below. This is drawn as a solid line (denoting erect flight) with a black dot at one end and a short line at right angles at the other, denoting the beginning and end respectively of the figure. To this must be added one or more rolls from Family 9. Slow rolls are drawn as an arc half way along the line, concave to the direction of flight and with an arrow-head denoting direction, or as a triangle with a short line at the apex for flick / snap rolls. The number above the dot refers to the figure number in the sequence.

 

 

Judging 1

 

 

 

a)  1.1.1

b) 1.1.1 + 9.1.3.4

c) 1.1.1 + 9.9.3.4

 

 
In each case above the (same) basic figure has a difficulty or 'k' factor of 2. The 'k' factor of the complementary figure (the roll) is added to this to produce a total 'K' for the complete figure thus:

 

Figure

'k'

Total 'K'

a) 

1.1.1

2

2

b) 

1.1.1 + 9.1.3.4

2 + 8

10

c) 

1.1.1 + 9.9.3.4

2 + 11

13

Therefore a judge’s mark of 8 for figure (b) would give a contestant a score of 80 (8 x 10) from that judge for that figure; a mark of 7 for figure (c) would give a score of 91 (7 x 13).


Inverted and so-called negative 'G' flight is represented by a pecked or dashed line (in red if possible):

 

 

Judging 2

 

 

 

a) 1.1.2

b) 1.1.3 + 9.1.3.2

 

The total 'k' factors are added together to produce a total 'K' for the sequence. This may vary in value between (roughly) 60K for the Beginners sequence to over 400K for an Unlimited program. Part of the challenge for pilots at different levels is the task of designing their own "Free" sequence to an exact total 'K'.

The 'k' factor for every basic and complimentary figure in the Catalogue is derived by a logical set of rules from a series of base values. Discussion of this is outside the scope of these notes but it is all explained in the FAI Aerobatic Catalogue ('Part II - Method of Evaluation').