Team Trials

[Tony Stillman]

Eric:

WHAT GOT YOU SO UPSET??  I did not direct this at you, and you should not be so sensitive to think that this was about you!  It was about the policy of your boss, not you.  You have always been a supporter of pattern and your columns show that.  They have been informative and well written.  You have done a great job with it.  That is not the issue here.  You should be the one upset at AMA for not contacting you to ask YOU to cover it for them!  

The F3A Team is the AMA representitive team, and should be supported by the AMA Magazine, IMHO.  To make a blanket statement that it was not important enough is kinda hard for me to take!

So, before you draw a line in the sand, make sure you know who your supporters are, because I am one of them!

My comment was a factual statement that was made to Bob Noll by Model Aviation editor Bob Hunt.  Bob Noll was on the way to the F3A Team Selection contest to be a judge.  Bob Noll told Ron Van Putte that "it is not important enough to cover in Model Aviation."  



Tony Stillman
Radio South
3702 N. Pace Blvd.
Pensacola, FL 32505
1-800-962-7802
www.radiosouthrc.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Henderson,Eric 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Cc: eric.henderson at comcast.net 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 11:34 AM
  Subject: RE: Team Trials


  Ref  "AMA didn't even think it important enough to cover in Model Aviation...Tony Stillman"

  I would be surprised if any of you did not know that I was at my number-1 son's wedding this weekend. My son scheduled this event not knowing when the team trails would be held. If not for the wedding I would have been there working in the judging "chair", camera in hand.

  The above remark caused me pain. Anyone who has been in pattern for more than two years will know how much I did for the USA team before they went to Ireland, including donating my column fee. Also I covered the event at my own expense. (There are no expenses or free lunches for columnists from the AMA/MA or the NSRCA).

  For the record - This year, not one person has contacted me in my capacity as the precision aerobatics columnist for the purpose of any team trials coverage. No one has sent me any information, pilot lists, equipment or photos. I would willingly have promoted the event and caused as much hype as I could generate.

  And yet here we are with an all too familiar tactic of putting the blame of disinterest on the amorphous AMA and/or MA, and by association even myself! We are actually accused of paying no attention to the team trials. [This is certainly can not readily be seen as a good will gesture. All it did was offend and look like an poor attempt to cast a bad light in an open forum.]

  MA does not have a policy to cover anything competitive other than the Nationals. (I guess that there has to be room for other magazines to cover events as well). I know that they may not even cover world championships in the future. 

  This leaves it up to all of the columnists to do the job in their 1500 words or so every two months. Bob Hunt encourages me to design my own content and style. I can and would include team trial synopses. I would just love to have the input, especially if contacted in advance of my due dates. There is no embargo on competition information content within a column.

  In my column, by design, I cover the issues and items that might excite and attract new pattern pilots. If you want more tech and deep stuff I immediately point you at the NSRCA and the K-Factor. Looking at it from an AMA editors point of view you can see that the NSRCA will have it , (team trials etc) covered and that it is really a SIG item and a segment of that SIG - FAI class etc.

  Open request to Tony, et al. - I would request that you contact me direct if you want any coverage or support.  I know that you normally have more wisdom and tact than your note displayed and it was probably a quickly dashed "reply". However, nobody, least of all a dedicated columnist, likes to be "set up". Please make it easy for me to maintain my positive attitude and approach to pattern and the NSRCA.

  Regards,

  Eric Henderson
  AMA District-2 AVP - South Jersey
  Columnist - Model Aviation
  Precision Aerobatics.





  -----Original Message-----
  From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On Behalf Of Patternrules at aol.com
  Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 11:06 AM
  To: discussion at nsrca.org
  Subject: Re: Team Trials


  That's sad Tony, hopefully Eric will do something in his column.

  Steve Maxwell 
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