Pattern Sanity Check - esp for new pattern pilots

[John Pavlick]

Rick,
 Right on. Remember, I met none of these requirements last year: Super Kaos
Jr w/ O.S. 40FSR, Hitec radio (standard servos / FM receiver / no radio
mixing used). OK, I do have a good building table. I had enough fun to come
back this year - you know what I've got now: Focus / 9ZAP etc. Oh yeah, and
I've been practicing a lot. Let's see what happens now.
John Pavlick
http://www.idseng.com


  -----Original Message-----
  From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On
Behalf Of Rick Wallace
  Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 12:17 PM
  To: discussion at nsrca.org
  Subject: Pattern Sanity Check - esp for new pattern pilots


  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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