Sportsman revisited / Growing Pattern

Thu Jan 13 05:21:34 AKST 2005

I live North West of Pittsburgh and South East of Youngstown, OH almost dead center between the two. 

My friend Buddy was into pattern when he was down south in the Marines. He told me that the KAOS would be more than fine for Spotsman, but I didn't listen and bought his Prophecy off him. NOW I see that it wasn't needed but I loved the way the plane flew. If I knew then what I know now, I would have aved the money. My Javelin II with the YS 63FZ does everything I ask of it and does it well without being a speed demon......slow and steady.

Buddy was a bit let down when he moved home to find that there were no competitions within a reasonable driving distance. We keep trying to find time to go to a meet but as of yet haven't been able to get the shceduling worked out. 

I am palnning to make at least one meet this year, but you know what is said about the best laid plans of mice and men.

Barring that, my local field has a 550' runway. I'd love to get a some guys together there. The club website is www.beavercountymac.com and there is a link to a map.

Hope to meet up with some of you guys one of these days.

Pete Cosky
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Pavlick 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 11:05
  Subject: RE: Sportsman revisited / Growing Pattern

  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

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