Rules Changes----Advancement

[BUDDYonRC at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/8/2005 4:09:24 PM Central Standard Time,  
Rcmaster199 at aol.com writes:

 
I believe that this may open a different can of worms. It's true  that some 
guys attend contests simply for the fun and camaraderie of the  flying, but 
there is a whole nother set of troops that attends to compete. In  my opinion, 
this is the largest of the two, by wide margin. These folks want  to win, place 
or show and really try hard to do their best. The former  group may not care 
as much about doing its best; just being there is good  enough. But it is still 
an extremely important group nontheless.
 
It seems to me that there are a bunch of guys, (Masters in D3 is a good  
example) that are very good in their present class(most of us are quite evenly  
matched), and some of these may decide to drop down a class and park for a  
while. Taking that skill level down to Advanced could demoralize the Advanced  
level guys that want to really compete, and could actually have the exact  
opposite effect from that desired. I wouldn't want any Advanced competitor to  leave 
the sport because of an infusion of Masters class guys re-entering the  class
 
We agree on the fact that the points system is silly and  unenforceable.
 
Having said all that, I wouldn't be aversed to a trial run of such a  rule. 
Reconvene after the trial period was over and make a decision on its  
success--failure. Then make a final decision and have buy-in from the CB up  front to 
either make a change, or not. Having CB buy-in up front will  alleviate some of 
the acremonious debate we have seen in past issues. 
 
I recommend caution either way. This indeed is unchartered territory, at  
least in my 27 years, and demands careful thought. I like the fact that the  
committee is thinking in different and challenging ways to improve the sport  for 
everyone, eventhough THIS committee's charter is to build schedules  and not 
rules.
 
 
MattK
 
PS- one more thought on this: it may turn out that no self respecting  
Masters competitor will move down to Advanced, or Advanced down to  Intermediate. 
Then this suggested approach could work. Convincing the AMA CB  will be the trick
 
 
 
In a message dated 3/8/2005 4:20:51 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
patternrules at earthlink.net writes:

From:  Troy A. Newman 
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Sent: 3/8/2005 2:18:31 PM  
Subject: [SPAM] Rules changes Advancement


Buddy,
I have  been really quiet lately. I don't think the changes you are looking
at  are going to increase pattern participation. The weight and box limits
in  my opinion are good and don't need jacking with......

I know you and  Don are working hard at it. We on the sequence committee are
as well. I  don't think changing the box is going to help us. I really don't
think  changes to the weights or sizes is going to help us....

I want to  weigh in here so to speak on something that I feel will help
pattern grow  in changes to the rule book. I feel most changes to the rule
book are  going to make us more elite or a more secret way you have to do
things.  Guys that are even in our ranks don't read the rules so why make
them  even more specialized..and so on.

BUT there is a single set of things  in the book that I feel and others feel
need to be  addressed.

Advancement to the next class.

I think we should  just NIX all advancement rules. Let the pilot fly
whatever wants too and  when ever he wants too. Let him jump around if
needed. The reason its not  used. I have been from sea to shinning sea ATL
to CA and have never  actually heard anybody keeping track of their points.
The AMA says its up  to the pilot and they provide a little card to fill
out. I have been  flying pattern since 86 and have never seen one of the
cards! Its not  enforceable. There is no database to keep the records. It
takes too much  time and energy. We spend our time and energy in other
places more  rightfully so....So lets eliminate the advancement system.

Reason #2  is we don't have the numbers we once had to push people up to
another  class when they may not be ready. SO would we rather push a pilot
up to  the next class and maybe out by peer pressure...... or have him
staying  in the same class.

My opinion is I don't care if Dave Brown himself  came back and flew
Advanced. I think we could all benefit from him being  a the contest and
participating in the events.

Prime example I  witnessed two district Champions last season move up to the
next class  and neither one was ready to go. But they felt obligated to go
since they  won the D champs. The reality was that they went to enough
contests to  get the points. The reality also is they don't have the skills
they  needed to learn in the previous class.

Pattern is about perfection  and precision. I see our pattern ranks getting
smaller and smaller and  the skill sets getting weaker and weaker. The pilot
that survives the  Intermediate sequence for a couple years maybe even wins
some stuff  around locally then moves up. But the reality is just because he
won  everything locally with maybe 2-3-4 pilot doesn't mean he is now  ready
for the next show. The quality of flying in the lower classes seems  to be
lower that it has been in the past. Our numbers seem to be much  much lower
too. Pattern flying is about perfection and flying that  perfect sequence. I
think if we eliminate the advancement stuff over time  we will gain back
some of the old dogs for another run. And new pilots  that have not learned
the required skills can get them before moving on.  It has been brought up
that back in the old days pre-turnaround...a local  guy would dust off his
model and support he clubs local event. Maybe if  we let him fly whatever he
wants then we might get him to come back after  5-10 years off. This could
also could encourage new people. No pressure  to move up. Enjoy the
competition at  a level you are comfortable.  Right now we reward any margin
of success with more and more challenge.  Maybe this pushes people away.
Many people in their lives are content to  be right where they are. They
want to play and have fun with the  group...but are not comfortable up with
the next group. WE SHOULD NOT  TURN THEM AWAY!

Some pilots will never be ready for a jump from  Intermediate to advanced.
regardless of the current large steps between a  couple classes. I feel that
there are some career Intermediate pilots  like my father in-law Jerry. He
is one of the best pilots at his local  club. He is the man for test
flights, and advice among the crowd. But He  is happy and challenged with
Intermediate. He will continue to be happy  and challenged with it for a
long time to come. 

The cheer from  the crowd in the awards of the contest is always move
up...move up.  Especially in Sportsman.Is pushing people away...in my mind.
We need to  pat them on the back and say good job...not jump IN and get
eaten by the  sharks.

I think this defeats ourselves a little. 

If we let  someone jump around classes and he got in too deep he could
always come  back without AMA, DVP, and so on approval. Just fly what ever
class you  want to fly!

The question is would we rather have a guy sand bag a  little and still have
him at an event or call him a trophy hog and push  him out. This goes for
older more seasoned pilots as well. The guy is  getting up there a little in
years like my buddy Pastorello <picking  on you man I like to pick on Bob
because he fights back!>   and  flew at a very high level of competition but
now wants to not  practice all the time...maybe doesn't have the best model
for the  job....Let him move back from a masters to an advanced and fly
there. He  has a bunch of knowledge and can help people at the events.  Plus
sometimes he is even fun to fly with!

Would we rather have  him or Not?

This does a couple things. Keeps the pilots that can't  make it at the
higher level what ever the reason...and it also improves  the skills of the
lower classes.  A newer pilot will have to be more  prepared to win an event
and he will not readily jump to the next class  as there is nobody to fly
against in the current class. Competition is a  motivation factor. If a guy
is out there doing his two loops really  well...then it will inspire the
another pilot to "work on my two loops  because old Bob is going to kick my
butt when we get to the contest next  week."

For most people the biggest factor for them being here in  Pattern today is
they wanted to learn to fly better. But that success and  flying better
today pushes them into another class that is more difficult  yet. You know
Mark Martin is still running the Busch Series and he has  been a Cup
champion and Busch Champion before too. Even though many look  at the Busch
and Truck series as a kind of minor leagues to the Cup  cars.

Just some thoughts

TN


 



Another thing it will do is to let a person advance and get his feet wet in  
a higher class without preventing him to move back down if he finds he is not  
ready for the move to the higher class.
Buddy
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