When aerobatic competition first began there was no universal standard for describing an aerobatic sequence. Pilots used either their own shorthand notation, or simply described what they planned to fly using words. This was, of course, problematic for both pilots and judges, especially as the sport spread across the globe and language differences added further barriers to communication.

Notational systems for aerobatic maneuvers were first used in the 1920s. Then, in 1961, Spanish aviator Colonel José Luis Aresti published a catalog of aerobatic maneuvers, the Sistema Aerocryptographica Aresti. After its initial use throughout Spain, the Aerobatics Commission (CIVA) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), elected to use the catalog at the World Aerobatic Championships held in Bilbao, Spain in 1964. Those symbolic notations for aerobatic figures have been used for drawing aerobatic sequences ever since.