Landing Direction

[Jerry Budd]

Hi Joe,

If you're referring to me, I'll take that as a compliment (of sorts!).  <VBG>

But unless I happen to be fortunate enough to improve my standing in 
Masters at the Nats this year (over last years placing) I won't be 
moving anywhere anytime soon.  <sorry!>

Maybe an explanation is in order since I know this is an issue with 
some, and I don't think my situation is that much different than many 
others who've been at this awhile.  I'm talking about the "is Masters 
a destination class or should it be a stopping point while en route 
to FAI?" question.

</WARNING/> - It's going to take a few words to put this into proper 
context, so bear with me (or you can skip ahead to the answer at the 
bottom now).

My first pattern contest was at the 1979 Nats in Lincoln.  I'd never 
been to any type of competition involving model airplanes before, let 
alone a pattern contest.  In fact, I'd never even physically seen 
another pattern plane prior to then.  I flew Novice class, followed 
Joe Bridi in the flight order, and was followed by Bill Thomas (the 
lines weren't separated by class back then, which while intimidating 
to a rank beginner, was really a wonderful thing).  I managed to NOT 
finish last in spite of being completely unable to do an outside loop 
(I violated the active runway TWICE!).  But I knew every pilot in 
Masters (the top class at the time, equivalent to FAI now) from all 
the magazine articles I'd read about the Nats, the Team Trials, the 
WC's, etc.  I was like a kid in a candy store.  I had a great time, 
and I was hooked.  Big time.

I flew in a couple of contests in Lincoln, Hastings, and Omaha, NE 
the next couple of years while I finished college but wasn't able to 
do much due to the time constraints of engineering school.  I started 
competing in earnest after getting out of college in 1982 and moving 
to California to work for NASA.  It took 7 years to work my way up 
through the classes to where I felt I was ready to give FAI a shot. 
In that time I won maybe 5 contests total.  Nothing came easy, but 
then most worthwhile things don't.

I flew FAI from 1989 to 1998 and perpetually finished in the middle 
of the pack at local meets, the Nats, and a couple of team trials 
(1991 & 1993).  This was at a time when most of the US Team and about 
a 1/3 of the US pilots in the TOC were the typical "field" in FAI at 
our average west coast contest.  To be honest it was brutal to fly 
with these guys because of the quality of the top pilots, and overall 
depth of the field (probably the only group to rival it was the "Ohio 
gang" during the same time frame).  I remember trying to claw my way 
into 5th place at a local contest (out of a field of 9 or 10) just to 
get one of the required 5 top half finishes to qualify for the team 
selection contest (this was 1990).  The top five finishers at that 
contest (not necessarily in order) were Chip Hyde, Steve Helms, Steve 
Rojecki, George Manning, and Don Weitz.  All five of them flew in the 
1992 TOC.  Two time Nats Masters Champ Pete Callas (1983 & 1984) was 
somewhere in the bottom half with me.  This was a tough crowd.  In 10 
years of flying FAI I won 2 local contests, both during the world 
championships when the US Team wasn't around to beat the crap out of 
me and everyone else at that contest.  In hindsight, I had more fun 
at those two contests than I did at all the others combined, and it 
wasn't because I won, it was because I was competitive vs the field 
for a change.

When FAI added multiple patterns, some with maneuvers I can't even do 
(like the rolling circle) and didn't have the time to learn, I 
decided to re-evaluate the situation.  My conclusion was that I 
should consider moving back to Masters and see if it would help 
restore the "competitive spirit" that had been missing for so long. 
In 1999 I started flying the new Masters pattern and soon learned 
that I could be reasonably competitive at it with a limited amount of 
practice.  Now while competitive, I still wasn't winning contests. 
In fact, I placed second more times than I care to think about. 
Since 1993 I've only won 5 contests (in any class), and all of those 
were in Masters since last years Nats (I went an amazing 11 years 
between wins).

The important thing is this:  I'm having fun again and I think I'd 
kinda like to keep it that way for a while.  Maybe someday I'll 
consider moving back up to FAI, but right now I can't think of a 
compelling reason to do so.

</WARNING OFF/>

So here's the answer to the question I posed at the top of this 
rather lengthy dialogue:

Masters class provides an avenue where the casual competitor pilot 
can be competitive without the demands imposed in flying FAI.

C/Ya at the Nats?

Thx, Jerry


>From: "Joe Lachowski" <jlachow at hotmail.com>
>To: discussion at nsrca.org
>Subject: Re: Landing Direction
>Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:55:55 -0400
>
>And then there are some Masters pilots who should be flying FAI<G>.

-- 
___________
Jerry Budd
Budd Engineering
(661) 722-5669 Voice/Fax
(661) 435-0358 Cell Phone
mailto:jerry at buddengineering.com
http://www.buddengineering.com
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