Pattern Sanity Check - esp for new pattern pilots

[ronlock at comcast.net]

Well Said, quite true!
Ron Lockhart
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All - 
As always, this list is a premier source of information on all things pattern. Great info here on a great range of topics. 
But... a dinner conversation w/ a dear, long-time pattern friend brings up a point to remember-- someone used to use this tag line for all his posts -- "My current plane is better than my last one, and my next plane will be better than this one"
To me that means that especially as we start out in pattern, we don't NEED (and may not be able to afford to get at first) : 
   the latest design airframe
   the latest version of the hottest motor
   digital servos
   PCM 10 + Channel radio
   laser incidence meter
   a building table that's flat to 0.000 mm over its 2 meter length. 
And in fact, in the new pilot's first season the $$ for much / most of this stuff could probably be better spent on lots of fuel... and learning boring things like wings level, straight lines, and round loops

Gathering / moving to most of this stuff should happen as the new pattern pilot's flying skills and experience warrant, and as our skills -- and desire and commitment --  grow. 
We all have something of the perfectionist in us, but we don't want to stifle the lurking new pattern guy that reads all this stuff and then looks at his Hangar 9 Cap232 (or watever he's planning to use to compete this season) and decide that it'll never work and he'll be wasting his time and money.
I guess the message is - a lot of the discussion here IS relevant to the new pattern pilot, but some isn't -YET- and the pattern pilot shouldn't feel put down, incapable, inadequate if he doesn't meet the ALL building and flying standards expressed on this list. 
Just my $.02
Rick
AMA L727
NSRCA 2972
District 1 VP 
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