[NSRCA-discussion] ** Klipped to repost ** Equipment costandpartiicpation --

[Thomas D. Simes]

On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:23:09 -0500
"Grow Pattern" <pattern4u at comcast.net> wrote:

> This is the group that is still missing in pattern. They were the ones
> that attracted new members. They were reachable and certainly not
> intimidating. It may well not be the schedules. IMAC, with more
> difficulty schedules attracted a large new following because you could
> fly your CURRENT plane in their classes. There are now plenty of
> pattern ARF's but the same thing is not happening, at least not yet.
> 
> If we knew why we could probably fix it.

I think being able to fly your current plane is a key for attracting new
pilots.  Yea, I know - you can fly anything that fits in a 2M box, but
peer pressure can be a big deal.  While some folks would relish the
challenge of using an Ultra Stick (or P-51) to whip someone flying the
latest mega-buck machine, I would venture to guess that most people
wouldn't even get the Ultra Stick out of the truck at a pattern
competition.  Why?  Well, stating the obvious it's a competition and the
Ultra Stick is perceived as not being competitive so most pilots would
be embarrassed to even give pattern a try with it.

In my opinion that's what we need to fix.  Our glacial rule change
process and our collective propensity to obsess over details make this
a tough nut to crack. For at least those two reasons I think the most
effective way to fix this is from the bottom up, one club at a time (as
Terry Terrenoire's post points out) rather than from a national level
down.

A couple of ideas:

What if clubs hosted "one design" pattern primers, cleverly disguised
as "contests".  SSCA has shown that this approach is very popular and it
helps level the playing field - who wins is much more about what kind of
pilot you are because everyone is flying essentially the same (low cost)
gear.  A few possibilities I can think of would be the Tower Kaos
ARF, the Sig Somethin' Extra, or the CG Tigers.  All are very good
flyers and would be inexpensive to set up. 

Another idea is perhaps some kind of simple handicapping system to make
sport planes like the Ultra Stick competitive in local Sportsman events.
How popular would golf be without handicaps?

To be clear, I'm not advocating either approach be codified in national
rules, they are just some ideas that could be tried out at a club level
to help encourage participation.  Once we get them to try it, they will
likely be hooked!

Tom
 
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   "Z-80 system stack overflow.  Shut 'er down Scotty, the system's
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Thomas D. Simes                                 simestd at netexpress.com 
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