Does Pattern competition cost too much?

[John Pavlick]

Yeah, all good points. There are lots of reasons. Basically we got blind
sided. I think everyone thought patttern would just stay at the top all on
it's own. In my neck of the woods, where there are a lot of new generation
pilots (ARFs and electrics ONLY) almost nobody has even heard of pattern.
Some think it's some kind of expensive racing event. Others think we're
still flying loud, 150 MPH rocket ships with retracts. Not much IMAC stuff
either. It's really kind of a no-mans land up here. Really, we need some
exposure. I think we're making some positive effort in this direction, maybe
even more so now than in the past, but there's still a long way to go.
People need to know who we are and what we're about. OK, the good stuff. Not
the rules interpretations and loopholes. Save that for later. To sum up
pattern flying in one sentence: We're about helping each other to fly our
best. That's really what it all comes down to. Why else would you practice
with someone who flies in yor class, and let them borrow your airplane if
they need it to possibly beat you at a contest? What's wrong with us (I
guess that's what some people might say)? Keep in mind, pattern flying is
not for everyone. Some people just can't drive a long way to 2-day contests.
That's a problem. Some guys can only spend 1 day on a weekend flying. That's
another problem. Some people have a hard time being judged and still others
don't like to lose. Oh well. As long as we let as many people know who we
are, what we're doing, why we're doing it and where the contests are, I
think the rest will fall into place.

John Pavlick
http://www.idseng.com

 -----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On
Behalf Of Keith Black
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 12:12 AM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Does Pattern competition cost too much?


  I think the reasons IMAC is so popular are:

  1. The huge amount of exposure the IMAC type of planes get in virtually
every magazine.

  2. The big hoopla over TOC.

  3. Freestyle provides impressive video clips for the uninitiated to ogle
over (even though that's not primarily what IMAC is about, the average guy
doesn't know that).

  4. Huge availability of really cool looking planes.

  5. Ego factor. It's more in vogue and seems much cooler than pattern. Even
the basic pilots seem to have the 40% planes, and it makes them feel special
to show them off to their friends.

  All the other things that have been discussed, friendly people, too
serious, rules, pattern being expensive, etc. are Red Herrings.

  My opinion.

  Keith Black


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