Ever try to decipcher the sanskrit-like diagrams you may have seen in the cockpits of a number of aerobatic aircraft? Unless you've been trained to understand the intricacies of "reading Aresti" it probably seemed all greek to you.

The man who organized the means by which aerobatic pilots have come to plan and fly aerobatics was a Spanish flyer by the name of Jose Aresti, and we regret to note that this aerobatic icon has "gone west," passing away November 18th.

Jose Louis de Aresti Aguirre, a member of the International Aerobatic Club (IAC) Hall of Fame, passed away on November 18 in Madrid, Spain at the age of 84. Born in Bilbao, Spain, he began flying in the 1930's and was an aerobatic flight instructor in the Spanish Air Force during World War II, providing them their first aerobatic flight manual. Aresti went on to found several pilot training schools after the war and became active in the airshow circuit around Europe flying the Bucker Jungmeister.

Very active in the early years of CIVA as the Delegate of Spain -- which would host the WAC at Bilbao in 1964 -- his work on an aerobatic catalogue is what he became most known for. It was in 1964 that the "Aresti Aerocryptographic System" was introduced and approved by CIVA. At the time, some 3,000 maneuvers were catalogued along with difficulty coefficients (we know as K-factors today) and was used up until 1987. He was highly instrumental in obtaining government support for aerobatic flying in Spain which led to very successful aerobatic teams from Spain at WAC.

President of CIVA in 1968-1969 and its President of Honour up until his death, he was awarded the FAI Silver and Gold Medals for his work on the catalogue. He brought a professional standard to the cataloguing of aerobatic figures and provided a "shorthand" that was used internationally for decades --- thereby touching the lives of thousands of aerobatic pilots --- by enabling a competitor to easily diagram his or her aerobatic figures and sequences regardless of their native language.

Mr. Aresti's work touched the lives of thousands of aerobatic pilots around the world.

FMI: www.fai.org/aerobatics