adding interest and complexity to Sportsman ... again and again and

[Paul Horan]

I agree with Keith on the difficulty level.  Sportsman is meant to be an entry level class and all kinds of planes and skill levels exist.
>From what I have seen, about 1/3 or so of the new Sportsman pilots have a rough time keeping heading parallel to the runway. 
To keep them interested it is critical that they can complete the sequence.  
For that first contest it takes some determination to flying in front of the judges and everyone else - to badly mess up when you feel
that everyone is watching can take a lot out of the experience.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Keith Black 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 11:59 PM
  Subject: Re: adding interest and complexity to Sportsman ... again and again and 


  Being not too far removed from Sportsman myself I have to agree that the sportsman pattern is about right in difficulty, just a little short unless it's flown twice. Without flying it twice the sportsman guys really get the short end of the stick. If you make it any more difficult then it will be too hard for the newbie. Even with the current sportsman pattern when I began I sometimes REALLY needed the box exits, especially after the two loops. And as far as two rolls go, that's WAY too difficult for sportsman. That maneuver scared the bejeepers out of for the longest time in Intermediate (especially when I lost track of my rolls, with the sun in my face, over the trees in Temple!). 

  One good thing about the current sportsman pattern is it's easier to get new guys to consider trying the pattern when they see how "simple" it is. Of course, they quickly find out that even though the maneuvers are simple it's not at all easy for the uninitiated pattern flyer to keep the plane on track through the maneuvers. Then they ALL say the same thing... "WOW! That's harder than it looks!".

  I think the Sportsman pattern is about right, just a little short. 

  Keith Black
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Dean Pappas 
    To: discussion at nsrca.org 
    Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 2:57 PM
    Subject: RE: adding interest and complexity to Sportsman ... again and again and 


    Hey George,
    When the wind blows, even a little bit, the present Sportsman schedule overtaxes both the concentration and skill of the entry level pilot.
    A certain amount of this is good, 'cause all real learning is painful, but this is a trap that the event has fallen into at least four times in my recollection.

    We keep changing schedules to maintain interest, and that's good.
    When we revise the schedules, we keep adding interest: that sounds good, but what we really almost always ended up doing was adding a tiny bit of complexity until ...
    We have to add a new class to the all-important bottom of the pyramid.
    Want to know how many times it's happened? Once it was called Novice, then we called it Pre-Novice, then the schedules all changed,
    and we called it Novice again, then we changed the name to Sportsman, and added Turnaround.
    I like the schedule Don proposes, but I'd rather have the Sportsmen fly two short schedules with a "holy cow!, let me get back from the next county." break between the schedules.
    Some Sportsmen go without a breath for a whole schedule. Okay that's a slight exageration.
    I have used the out-of-box time between those two schedules to coach, calm, and teach the incoming pilots. It's terribly useful.

    Oh yes, 3 rolls is infinitely more useful for teaching "elevator timing" than 2.  You can fake it for 2, but the 3rd one requires that the plane be under control after 2.
    Hey Ron van Putte ... you out there?
    Tell the man about the time the Earth shook in Lake Charles!

    Regards,
    Dean Pappas 
    Sr. Design Engineer 
    Kodeos Communications 
    111 Corporate Blvd. 
    South Plainfield, N.J. 07080 
    (908) 222-7817 phone 
    (908) 222-2392 fax 
    d.pappas at kodeos.com 

      -----Original Message-----
      From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On Behalf Of George Kennie
      Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 2:37 PM
      To: discussion at nsrca.org
      Subject: [SPAM] Re: [SPAM] Re: [SPAM] Re: Annex proposal - development


      I too find Don Ramsey's sequence very stimulating. 
      Reminds me that I have always felt that the poor guys in Sportsman sometimes appear to be getting the short end of the stick regarding the schedule.Many contests that I have attended have them flying the sequence twice because the routine is so very short. I would like to see their schedule slightly modified to give them a little longer sequence and a little additional stimulation. 
      I would propose something like the following. 
      1.T.O.                                                                           U 
      2.Free Pass.                                                                   D 
      3.Straight Flight Out.                              C                      U 
      4.Procedure Turn.                                   T 
      5.Straight Flight Back.                             C                      D 
      6.1/2 Reverse Cuban Eight                       T 
      7.Immelman Turn.                                    C                      U 
      8.Split S.                                                  T 
      9.2 Loops.                                               C                      U 
      10.Exit The Box.                                                               U 
      11.Enter The Box.                                                             D 
      12.Non-Rolling Triangular Loop                C                      U 
      13.Humpty Bump 1/2 roll up                      T 
      14.One 2-Point Roll                                  C                      D 
      15.1/2 Cuban Eight.                                   T 
      16.Non-Rolling Cobra.                              C                     U 
      17.Stall Turn.                                             T 
      18.2 Rolls.                                                 C                      D 
      19.Exit The Box. 
      20.Landing.                                                C                      U 

      C= Center,T=Turnaround, U= Upwind, D=Downwind. 

      My rationale is that this is the point that we need to encourage this 
      class of fliers to work on their down elevator timing by introducing 
      2 rolls.This shouldn't be too much for them to handle as they are 
      currently doing a 2 point roll. Also the 2 loops will sharpen their 
      precision by making them work harder at presentation placement. 
      The Procedure Turn will teach them something that will be required, 
      and the Humpty should present no major problems as they are already 
      doing a 1/2 Reverse Cuban.They should be learning the Stall Turn and 
      the Triangular Loop will further strengthen their centering skills.There are 
      seven maneuvers before taking a breather and seven more to complete 
      the sequence. 
      Now these fellows can fly ONE sequence like the rest of us and the 
      time required should be no longer than the time required to fly a double 
      schedule. 

      Sportsman pilots out there, let me know what you think. 
      Georgie 
      P.S.I wonder if there are any Sportsman guys monitoring this list?? 
       
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