Fw: moderator....

[mike mueller]

 I think pattern has to stand up on it's own. We don't need to tweak it. Bottom line is that if people want to do it fine if not then what could anyone do about it anyway? My opinion is that IMAC is in decline due to noise, high costs, and the fact that they are too large to handle easily enough. Pattern has lost numbers to IMAC in the past but I can see this reversing itself. The reason I think this will happen is because pattern is easier to participate in. We also lost numbers from guys who were stuck in a rut in pattern. They had advanced into a class were they were no longer competitive. They got frustrated and saw IMAC as a way out. They could enter it at a lower level and wolla there winning again! well they point out in time and are stuck in the same old place. Everything here is cyclical. IMAC is really cool and I am even building one right now so I'm not IMAC bashing here. I too have been flying in pattern since the early 60's and it's survived nicely and will continue to
 in my belief. Mike

Bill Glaze <billglaze at triad.rr.com> wrote:It's possible that the decline has been so steady, and relatively small, that it hasn't been until recently that long-time competitors have looked around and asked "where has everybody gone?" 
When I got back into pattern ~1991, I was surprised at the small size of contests, relative to what I had been used to around 1960.  I recall being the contest director in a contest held Summer of 1959.  It was about average for that time and place, (LARKS Club, Los Angeles Radio Kontrol Society) and had 144 contestants.  And, it was held at a place called Turlock, in central California. Look it up on a map; it's pretty obscure. 
We used to have more folks show up for club contests than now show up for open contests.  And, at that time, the closest thing to an ARF was a kit that had die-cut parts that you didn't have to cut out with a razor blade or X-Acto knife.  You actually had to.......gasp........build it.  And, still they came. 
As far as pattern not dying out, well, maybe.  But, I can remember when U-Control Speed was very big in my (then) area.  Now..........U-Control What? 
Folks on this list will come up with a lot of reasons for the above.  They each will, in all probability, be correct to some degree. 
The fact that the trend has yet to be reversed is not an excuse for accepting the status quo. 
The opinions above are mine alone.  The numbers and incidents quoted are facts, not imagination. 
Bill Glaze 
Del Rykert wrote: 
st1\:* {	BEHAVIOR: url(#default#ieooui)}st2\:* {	BEHAVIOR: url(#default#ieooui)}In some areas of the US it is on the wane. Clubs can't justify holding a contest if only a handful of contestants show up. Many clubs that used to hold pattern contest no longer do. >From that perspective the pattern scene isn't well. Just look at the NSRCA numbers and one can see the major decline.      Del K. Rykert 
     AMA - 8928 
     NSRCA - 473 
     Kb2joi - General   ----- Original Message -----
From: David Harmon
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 9:35 PM
Subject: RE: moderator....
  Jon….you just ain’t getting it…..Pattern is not going to die out….ever.

Regards 
DaveHarmon 
NSRCA 586 
K6XYZ at comcast.net 
Torrance, Ca. -----Original Message-----

From:discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org] On Behalf Of JonUhler 
Sent:Monday, October 13, 20039:21 PM 
To:discussion at nsrca.org 
Subject: Re: moderator.... 
Nope, not again...

I think pattern is a great tool for teaching pilots a lot about flying.  The short time that I spent practicing has taught me a lot.  It is so much more fun trying to learn to rudder correct than it is learning to hover.....I was teaching a young kid at our field the other day.  I never really taught the use of the rudder until I started flying pattern.  I just figured they would start using it someday, now I am trying to get people to mess around with it early in their training.






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