Team Trials

[Dennis Cone]

Don't take this as a personal attack but you reflect the vary reason we have
the indifference to pattern that most sport fliers have. It has become the
trend today that if it is not an ARF then it is too much trouble to build. I
for one will never have anyone other than myself build my planes and will
never own an ARF. We need to make sure we never rescind from the basics of
building. This is where the understanding of building,  and the
understanding of how an airplane works come from. I really don't care what
type of engine a person uses and I try to emphasize the importance of
building from at least a kit to my students so they will understand these
basics. While it is valuable to provide an ARF type kit to the folks who do
not understand how to build or do not want to, it is also important to make
sure we do not dilute this sport with too many ARF'S. We are a group of
precision builders and fliers and the level of competition we enjoy reflects
this. Jim, you sound like a sport flier. Perhaps I am off in LA-LA land but
this is how I see it.

Dennis Cone


-----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On
Behalf Of JOddino
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 6:03 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Team Trials

Hi Dean,
You triggered me with that, "aim it at the ARFer...".  I'm not sure how to
react now that I am an ARFer.  Even worse I'm an ARFer with gas engines.  I
can tell you a couple of things, I am more enthused now than I have been for
a long time.  I'm even going to a SCAT contest this weekend.  I heard they
have 40 pre-registered.  I see a trend that allows many folks to become top
rate pilots at a relatively low cost of time and money.  In fact it is so
low an investment ($400 for the plane and $550 for the engine) I am
comfortable flying it at Sepulveda Basin.  The DA50 is great.  No messing
with the needles after you find the settings, no fooling with tuned pipes,
headers, bearings, glow plugs and drivers, starters, etc.  No worrying about
weight or noise.  All you do is charge the batteries and fill the tank and
fly.  And the plane is easy to fly with its excess thrust and higher drag.
I'm so happy I took the next step and bought a Composite-ARF 2.6M Extra and
a DA100.  You couldn't come close to building a nicer airframe for $1240,
it's even painted in the mold.  I've always wanted a perfectly straight
airframe and this is as close as I will ever have.
I'd be inclined to somehow embrace the ARFs and ARFers because they are here
to stay.  You will have a difficult time to get people to put in the effort
to compete in pattern unless they can buy an ARF and look good flying it in
very little time.
Maybe I'm just getting lazy or realize I don't have that much time left but
I don't see me ever building another pattern plane unless it is an ARF.
My thought of the day.
Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dean Pappas" <d.pappas at kodeos.com>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: Team Trials


Hi George,
That was a real part of my non-argument with Bob H. (remember he's one of
us)
An Academy is supposed to be a place dedicated to education and excellence.
Wanna fix it? Then we need to educate.
Write a good technical article, submit it to any mag, aim it at the ARFer,
and uplift him just one little bit.
Teach him a tiny little something at the field (without his figuring out
that he's being
dragged out of the great big "lowest common denominator".
The only difference between what I just said, and the world-view that I (and
many of you)
held up until a short while ago, is that the AMA and the house organ isn't
doing it for us.
They won't hinder us either! Any magazine will gratefully accept good
technical stuff,
especially if it is written so as to connect with the majority.
You know, there are less widely read magazines that eschew the lowest common
denominator!
I'll stop there before being accused of a sales pitch.

Less bewildered and more resolved,
Dean


-----Original Message-----
From: GeorgeF. [mailto:av8tor at flash.net]
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 12:13 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Team Trials



>Hi Tony, Hi All,
>
>Tony, when you said that, "AMA didn't even think it important enough to
>cover in Model Aviation...", something inside me twinged. So I called dear
>friend Bob Hunt(the editor at MA) and asked him if there was to be even
>cursory coverage. Realize that the man I'm talking to is a World Champion
>in Control-Line Aerobatics, and still a competitor ... His voice saddened
>and he told me that the policy at MA is that no team trials are covered,
>lest they all have to be covered. Every time something about competition
>is covered, droves of readers write in to complain. After every December
>issue (the NATs coverage issue) they are barraged with complaints about
>the the waste of magazine space. World championships might get coverage,
>if they happen in the U.S.! The mediocre have censored coverage of
>excellence. Don't hassle Bob, he is one of us!
>
>O.K., for homework, everyone go (re)read Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451".
>
>Bewildered,
>     Dean Pappas


Isn't part of the AMA's mission to promote all forms of Model
Aviation?  Isn't competition part of Model Aviation?   Seems like by not
covering competition you're not promoting and advancement of model
aviation.  In this case everyone looses from the hard core competitor to
the sport flier and the park fliers.....

George


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