[NSRCA-discussion] Roaming Nats.

Fri Apr 27 04:20:06 AKDT 2007

If there is anyone who knows about both the Nationals at Muncie and roaming 
Nationals it's Tony Stillman. I first met Tony in 1992, I think, at the 
Westover, MA Nat's. The AMA provided a open trailer and scoring support as 
far as I could see, and Tony seemed to live in it .

I was really a 401 pilot by experience, but entered 402. (Once you have 
flown 402 you tend to not want  to go back to 401, but I accept that is a 
personal choice.)  It was that time when we (the USA pattern world  were 
just getting into turnaround.

I had a bunch of "locals" with me who went on to fly pattern for many years. 
They also brought others into our sport. We were not competitive, to say the 
least, but we had a blast and wore our Nat's hats locally until they changed 
to a well thumbed "field/oil color"or simply  fell apart.

I could not have convinced them to enter unless it was within a hundred or 
so miles of our homes. (Daily drivable!) I doubt if I could have kept the 
"gang" interested in pattern planes if they had not either competed or had 
come along as mechanics. We were all spectators when we were not scaring the 
judges. :-)

To the AMA, the Nat's means all of the categories. To us, we tend to just 
think about only our own category. I have never liked SIGs striking out on 
their own and ignoring the AMA umbrella. In my mind it is not a nationals 
unless it is sanctioned and supported by the AMA.  However, if the AMA 
supported roaming Nationals we could make it work just the way we do now at 
the Muncie site.

I would love to see the pattern Nat's come to everyone.

Regards,

Eric.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tony Stillman" <tony at radiosouthrc.com>
To: "'NSRCA Mailing List'" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Roaming Nats.

> Actually, several SIGS, including NSRCA have expressed interest in moving
> their portion (pattern) of the NATS to another venue every other year or 
> so.
> AMA EC is pretty much in favor of allowing the SIGS to do that, and that 
> is
> also part of the discussions of my committee.  AMA would still handle the
> paperwork part, but the SIG would be responsible for all the rest.
>
> Tony Stillman, President
> Radio South
> 3702 N. Pace Blvd
> Pensacola, FL 32505
> 1-800-962-7802
> www.radiosouthrc.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
> [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of twtaylor
> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:59 PM
> To: 'NSRCA Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Roaming Nats.
>
> Logistics 2,000 miles away from your home base is a nightmare. Holding it 
> in
> one place allows the "Home base" to have everything needed on hand in an
> instant. The procedures don't change very much. If we moved the Nats 
> around
> we'd have to "re-invent the wheel" every year.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
> [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Pat Hewitt
> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:36 PM
> To: NSRCA Mailing List
> Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Roaming Nats.
>
> I know there must be a good reason that the Nats are always held in Muncy
> but
> WHY. If nothing else take it on the road every other year.
>
> Thanks
>
> Pat Hewitt
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> Received: 11:01 AM CDT, 04/26/2007
> From: "Tony Stillman" <tony at radiosouthrc.com>
> To: "'NSRCA Mailing List'" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Rule 8.1.1
>
> This is an interesting discussion.  I am currently the Chairman of the 
> NATS
> review committee, as established by AMA President Dave Brown.  We are
> currently reviewing all aspects of the NATS, as well as looking to what
> changes need to be made to ensure that the future of the NATS is 
> preserved.
> Lots of ideas have been floated, and I'm sure changes will be made.  While
> at the Ocala contest, I asked for input from any of the pilots there as to
> what they thought about the NATS.  Didn't get the first bit of info from
> anyone. maybe just too busy to talk..
>
>
>
> The rules that govern what events are flown at the NATS are pretty much
> influenced by rules proposals and what the SIGS want done.  The NSRCA 
> pretty
> much runs the NATS.  If the NSRCA wants to include Sportsman, they can
> probably do that.  The idea about that class was that it is an entry level
> class, and many pilots would move up before getting to the end of the
> season.  That is not usually the case in the rest of the classes.
>
>
>
> How about the idea of making the NATS into an event you have to qualify 
> for?
> Take figure skating for example.  You can't just walk up to the US 
> National
> Figure Skating Championships and plop down your skates and some money and
> compete.. You have to QUALIFY!  That means you compete locally and
> regionally to get the points to qualify to compete in the Championships. 
> It
> would sure make everyone that wanted to go to the NATS work a little 
> harder
> to attend local and regional events, that's for sure!  We could also do 
> the
> contest is a shorter amount of time, because we would probably limit the
> contestants to around 15-20 per class.
>
>
>
> Now don't get all worried that this is gonna happen, it is just one way of
> looking at how a NATS MIGHT be run..
>
>
>
> Tony Stillman, President
>
> Radio South
>
> 3702 N. Pace Blvd
>
> Pensacola, FL 32505
>
> 1-800-962-7802
>
> www.radiosouthrc.com
>
>
>
>  _____
>
> From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
> [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of
> Rcmaster199 at aol.com
> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 10:09 AM
> To: nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Rule 8.1.1
>
>
>
> This is a beef to be taken up with the AMA Contest Board and mostly with 
> AMA
> Nats Management. Airing your laundry on this list does no good to anybody
> and appears to be aggravating you.
>
>
>
> For the record, AMA is not excluding YOU. You may fly as you wish but you
> would have to fly at a higher level. If you can't fly at the higher level,
> you may want to reconsider what you wish for. For that matter, there are 
> no
> other qualifications I know of in any other event flown at the National
> Championship. You may pay your entry fee and enter any other event as 
> well.
> Point is AMA is not excluding YOU, so don't take it personally.
>
>
>
> THE National Championship has its set of rules that we all have to abide 
> by.
> As the old saying goes, "You can please some people most of the time....."
> In this case, the Nats rules ".....please most people most of the 
> time...."
>
>
>
> MattK
>
>
>
> In a message dated 4/26/2007 6:37:26 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> shineyobject at gmail.com writes:
>
> Keith - I'm so chilled you'd think I was a watermelon on ice, but I hope 
> my
> point is not lost amid my sarcasm. It simply isn't right to exclude equal
> paying, equal participating members from any activity sponsored by AMA.
>
>
>
>
>
>  _____
>
> See what's free at AOL.com <http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503> 
> .
>
>
>
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