Description
This manoeuvre consists of 2 inverted stationary 540º pirouettes, one in each direction with the minimum hesitation at the direction reversal. The manoeuvre should be entered from a stationary inverted hover and start and finish nose-in. Throughout the manoeuvre the model should retain consistent position and height.

Preparation
Fundamental to this manoeuvre is, of course, inverted hovering, so this is where to begin. It is important that you are able to comfortably hover your model inverted, tail-in, nose-in and side-on. If you are able to hover inverted in just one orientation, you now have the incentive to extend your skills to cover all positions. This is best achieved by entering inverted hovering from a half flip or half roll. Once settled in the hover in your comfortable orientation, use a small amount of tail control to yaw the model through about 45º, hold here for a few seconds before returning to the start position. Continue this practice with the aim of extending the pause length as much as possible before returning to the start. When a ‘pause’ period of about 10 seconds has been achieved try using the same exercise in the opposite direction. From here, try to extend the pirouette angle in stages, again in both directions through 360º. Try not to rush by using a high pirouette rate, but aim for a slow consistent pirouette with well-controlled steps.

You will notice from the description of the manoeuvre that the ‘Bounce’ is a pirouette reversal that occurs at the ‘tail-in’ position after the first 540º pirouette. Following the ‘Bounce’ the model must pirouette 540º in the opposite direction to finish nose-in to the pilot. Practice of the ‘Bounce’ section of the manoeuvre is important, as the judges will be looking for an accurate stop with minimum hesitation during the pirouette reversal.

Possible Problems
If you are having difficulty with inverted hovering and pirouetting, there is always a temptation to use a very fast pirouette rate to bring the model quickly to a familiar orientation. This will almost certainly lead to problems in this ‘Bounce’ manoeuvre since a 540º pirouette is required with nose-in start, tail-in bounce and nose-in finish. I would strongly recommend making every attempt to produce relatively slow, controlled inverted pirouettes in both directions. Care should be taken during initial practice to ensure you develop your inverted pirouettes in BOTH directions. We all have a ‘favourite’ pirouette direction, which is no problem until you have to reverse this as you do in this manoeuvre. I would recommend plenty of practice of the ‘bounce’ itself since it is at this changeover point that errors often become apparent. The pirouette changeover should be smooth but positive with no hesitation. Holding position and height throughout the manoeuvre is always a challenge, especially in a wind. For those of you with FAI style flying experience this manoeuvre may be one to go for.