The New IAC Legacy Category

At the IAC Spring Board Meeting on April 30-May 1, 2019 the Board of Directors approved a a motion to create a provisional "legacy" category. The new category is intended to provide a platform for former Advanced and Unlimited pilots who wish to compete while not discouraging lower category pilots by competing with Intermediate pilots in the Intermediate category at regional events. These Legacy pilots should not be regular Advanced and Unlimited pilots simply wishing to back up. 

Proposed Guildelines

  • Participating pilots in this new category cannot be competing in any other category besides Intermediate when competing in the Legacy caetgory at a contest and must declare at Registration that they are competing as the Legacy pilot.
  • The first flight for Legacy pilots will be considered a Qualification flight and as such, normal rules apply.
  • Intermediate sequence and flights (Known, Free, Unknown) and those sequences shall be flown and judged by current rules. Legacy pilots are encouraged to have a Free to showcase their talents and all current rules for creating an Intermediate Free shall apply.
  • The floor of the Legacy category box shall be 656’ AGL.
  • Due to the lower box limit than would normally be flown in Intermediate category, these Legacy flights will be flown concurrent and intermingled with the Advanced category flights or, if no Advanced category is being flown, they will compete as a standalone category.
  • For Scoring Director purposes, scoring results will be considered as a stand-alone event. (example: your contest is named "XYZ Aerobatic Challenge". Create  that contest. Close it and create a second contest titled, "XYZ Legacy Category")
  • During the test phase of this newly-proposed category, the Contest Director should request permission from the Sanctioning Committee to add the additional category to their contest. Use the "Supplemental / Waiver of Rules" area on the contest listing page to request adding the Legacy category.
  • This is intended to be a fun category designed to bring back our "legacy" pilots who no longer compete in Advanced or Unlimited, having reached the top of their game. As such, awards selected by the host chapters are encouraged to be fun, light-hearted and appropriate for the elders flying in this category; such as - walkers, canes, diapers, fake service animals, or any other award deemed appropriate by the Contest Director.

What happens next?

  • At the 2019 Fall Board Meeting, input from chapters and competitors, both pilots from the Legacy category and regular category pilots, will be gathered, participation will be tracked, and the administration of contests where the Legacy category was used will be reviewed. If it appears that this category is generating increased interest in sport aerobatics and increasing participation from the “old-timers”, permanent guidelines will be created with appropriate changes made to the Rule Book and the Policy & Procedures Manual as necessary.