I finally settled on a compromise and purchased a still / video hybrid, the Panasonic TZ7 / ZS3. Takes excellent still photos and the HD video is quite impressive for it's size.
It's light like I wanted, has a wide angle lens and I can also use it for photography.
I took it for a fly this morning and have uploaded the video in HD here:
YouTube - Victa Airtourer - Aerobatics
Obviously I need to find a better mount to minimise the vibration. Other than that I'm very happy with the outcome
..... except maybe for a couple of the the off-axis loops.
Let me know what you think.
Cheers
Ozzi