Sportsman revisited / Growing Pattern

Wed Jan 12 19:08:12 AKST 2005

Pete,
 Yeah, where do you live? I'm in New Milford CT. I drive to ME, MA and NJ
for contests - they don't have pattern contests in CT (yet). This means
packing up the truck, (I bought a new truck to carry my pattern planes to
contests - I'm not rich, just determined) waking up at 4AM and driving for
3-4 hours. I drove back and forth to two day contests. Hey, if it was easy,
it wouldn't be fun. You are absolutely correct about the planes. As long as
you have enough power to come out of a vertical roll straight, and make it
over the top - you're good to go in Intermediate. Sportsman is a lot less
demanding.You should have no problem with the Excelleron. There is some
pre-conceived notion that you need the "best" of everything to fly pattern.
Maybe in the higher classes this is somewhat true, but the reality is you
need to fly the plane! Practice, practice, practice. You'll do fine - just
go to a contest!
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: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 10:41 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: RE: Sportsman revisited / Growing Pattern

  Pete –

  EXCELLENT! Thanks for sharing!

  Where do you live?

  I’m in NJ; a flying buddy is in south central PA – are we getting close at
all???

  Keep the faith!

  Rick Wallace

  -----Original Message-----
  From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]
On Behalf Of Pete Cosky
  Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 8:31 PM
  To: discussion at nsrca.org
  Subject: RE: Sportsman revisited / Growing Pattern

  If your interested in a perspective from someone who wants to fly pattern
but doesn’t….I’ll give you one.

  The Sportsman sequence is fine the way it is. I’m a pretty good sport
pilot and struggled with flying a straight line for quite sometime. That is
the toughest part to learn and it takes some doing, especially where I fly
as it’s windy all time. I forgot what a rudder was until I tried to fly a
straight line.

  I thought about flying pattern back in early 80’s but got out of RC for
about 15 years. Back then local clubs were more active and you heard about
meets within a reasonable distance. Now the closest meet to me is four hours
away and no one locally seems too excited about doing anything.

  John is very correct that the NSRCA needs a higher profile. My friend
Buddy is the one responsible for me being interested in pattern again AND
the one who told me about the NSRCA. I’ve read a couple K Factors and the
ones I saw were nice if you wanted to know who competed where and how they
did. What does that offer someone who wants to know about gear or
construction or flying techniques? One did have a nice how to on building a
coupler for split elevators. I also have to ask why there isn’t a higher
profile in Model Aviation. Whey isn’t there an aerobatics article every
month with an ad for the NSRCA on the page? Have I joined? No. Why? What is
the incentive? If I can get to a meet and wind up liking it will I join>?
Undoubtedly.

  If you want to see pattern grow then you have to find a way to get it
closer to those who you want to attract. I for one don’t mind taking a trip,
but I am not going to travel 4 to 6 hours one way to see if I like
something. Other than the time, I am also on call 24/7. I’m sure there are a
lot of others that would go if there was something closer to them. I tried
getting some guys together who were interested in pattern from the PA, OH,
WV area together at my local field and only one showed out of six.

  My local club was down to 46 members a few years ago. We got a young guy
in as president who got an article in the paper and put up a web site and a
nice sign right next to the road and grew to 92 members in a two year span.
All I heard from the new members was “We didn’t know you guys were here” and
“I’d have given up if it weren’t for having someone show me how to fly”.

  As has been mentioned before here and on RCU; there is a very real
misconception that you NEED a 2M plane to compete. I bought two myself and
they fly a whole lot better than my KAOS did, but they weren’t warranted for
either the Sportsman or Intermediate sequences. Because of Bob Pastorello’s
thread on RCU I just bought an Excelleron 90 and I’m sure it will be just as
capable in the lower classes as anything else.

  As for me right now I have a Sequel, a Prophecy, an Excelleron and a
Javelin II and am hoping I can make a meet this year. If I can’t I’ll keep
burning fuel and practicing because I enjoy the challenge.

  Just my $.02

  Pete Cosky (a confirmed pattern junkie)

  -----Original Message-----

  From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]

  On Behalf Of John Pavlick

  Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 8:28 PM

  To: discussion at nsrca.org

  Subject: Sportsman revisited / Growing Pattern

  Guys,

   Here are some (more) ideas regarding Sportsman and new pattern pilots. If
you're sick of this then don't read, but if not... The two obvious threats
to membership in the NSRCA are: 1. Losing current members. 2. NOT finding
new ones.

  I can add some insight into problem #2 -

  Before we condemn the current Sportsman pattern and invest time trying to
build a new one, give this some thought. If you want to increase interest in
pattern, the first thing that needs to be done is make the NSRCA a little
bit more noticeable to the aero-modeling community in general. I can't speak
for all of the country, but in my area (CT) almost no one has heard of
pattern. Seriously. About 15 years ago this wasn't the case, but right now,
that's how it is. When I do meet a pattern flyer they're usually older than
me and remember the good old days but can't find anyone to fly with or any
contests to go to. It took me a while to find out about you guys and I was
LOOKING. The LHS owner thought pattern was some type of racing. Everyone is
either flying Park Flyers or 3D. Luckily I got a hold of a K-Factor and a D1
contest schedule or I would still be flying my Kaos at the baseball field.
The Pattern Primers are a VERY GOOD THING!!! We need more of them, or
something like them. A lot of people are a little bit afraid to go to a
"real" contest. Remember, pattern still has a certain aura surrounding it
that intimidates beginners. When you leave your first Pattern Primer, you
know where you stand. You either go home and practice or you give up. Maybe
there needs to be a follow-up of some kind if someone doesn't come back. Get
enough information from Pattern Primer entrants so that someone can call
them if they don't show up at any more contests. Extra work yes, but this
might provide some answers. Right now we're guessing at a lot of things. I
honestly don't think the Sportsman schedule is at fault. Could it be better?
Maybe. Does it need to be? Maybe not. Since we don't need to submit any rule
changes until September (is this correct?) why don't we use the time to
gather some more information. Maybe put some more of those poles up on RCU.
Ask the general public what they think about the Sportsman schedule and
entering a pattern contest. They're the ones we're trying to attract. In the
meantime, anyone who is working with people that plan on attending their
first contest this season, try to assess their progress and what is giving
them the most trouble. Then we'll have some real life answers instead of
guessing. I don't think there's any ONE thing that we can do to improve
things immediately. It is a complicated problem, but as with anything
complicated it can usually be broken down into small elements. Fix as many
as possible. It won't happen overnight but it WILL happen if we work
together. I don't want to see pattern disappear from the AMA rule book and I
don't think anyone else does either. Sportsman is the seed that keeps
pattern alive. OK so it's not the prettiest thing to watch sometimes, but we
all have to start somewhere.

  As far as problem #1 - I think I've already invited enough criticism. I'll
leave that to someone higher up on the food chain...

  John Pavlick

  http://www.idseng.com

  ---

  Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.

  Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).

  Version: 6.0.516 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/1/03

  =================================================

  To access the email archives for this list, go to
http://lists.f3aus/pipermail/nsrca-discussion/

  To be removed from this list, go to http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm

  and follow the instructions.

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.516 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/1/03
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.f3a.us/pipermail/nsrca-discussion/attachments/20050113/dcccce21/attachment.html