[NSRCA-discussion] Natural Progression

[mike mueller]

 Good points Tim. Whats all the fuss about? The way I see things is it ain't broke. I like the current system. Mike

twtaylor <twtaylor at ftc-i.net> wrote:                In an effort to break apart the two subjects we’ve been talking about the last few days I offer the following.
   
  Since the dawn of man we’ve had a competitive side (At least that’s what RVP told me he was there after all). Some are more competitive than others and that’s fine. Since our sport has developed over the years we’ve made major changes along with many minor ones. Given man’s thirst for ever increasing challenge we’ve come from old school pattern through what seemed like a decade fight over going to turn around. We lost a fair amount of pilots during that time yet the sport survived. We picked up some new pilots and that’s a good thing. Then the TOC came along to decide the best of the best. It started with Pattern planes, and then someone decided to add a 10% bonus for using a scale airplane. From that day forward Pattern was divided and IMAC was born. Many of our former pattern fliers joined the IMAC ranks. I don’t pretend to know why, they just did. That diluted Pattern and no longer did we see contests with 50+ contestants. I for one am glad we don’t get 50 plus pilots
 anymore as that creates a nightmare contest. 
   
    I returned to Pattern after a decade lay off and can honestly say the level of competition, airframes, engines, and radios has increased at an exponential rate. I think the current fliers are more dedicated to the sport than ever. The flying skills across the board have come up in every class by an order of magnitude larger than I ever thought possible. I asked myself why this was.
   
    After thinking for a year or more and talking with those that have been in the trenches since going to turn around I’ve formed an opinion about why. Right or wrong here it is.
   
    FAI drives everything we do.  Don’t think so? Let me explain.
   
    The guys at the top of the game have nowhere to go, FAI is it. To keep those guys interested and to separate the players from the wannabe’s they had to make the sequence progressively harder. Those that won all the time can easily become bored and move on to something else. For a case in point, one only needs to look at the amount of top pattern fliers that jumped ship to IMAC.
   
    Let’s look at our sport from top to bottom. We’ve made FAI so difficult to keep the top guys happy we’ve out stripped the ability, or perceived ability, of masses to fly that class. Some might say this is a good thing. Harder keeps the numbers low and from top to bottom a better overall flier.
   
    Masters became the top class for guys that didn’t think they could, or just didn’t want to fly FAI, yet masters flew the old FAI schedule for a time.  So now we had to make Masters hard enough to keep those pilots happy and interested. Seems we did the exact same thing for Masters that we did for FAI.
   
    Now were on the classes that we hope will lead fliers into the upper classes through a natural progression. Let’s look back a few years and see what we really did. We’ve made every class with the exception of the lowest class harder. I don’t see any real problem with that. If we look back at what FAI flew the first year, that schedule isn’t any harder than the current Advance schedule.
   
    So what does that tell us? It tells me the level of flying has moved up by leaps and bounds. I think it’s a good thing.
   
     The question I have is this. Are we to continue to develop two distinct top classes when they should or could be channeled into one? Are we so afraid of what FAI flies that many master pilots are just happy to remain in Masters and never try FAI? If so then this discussion is a moot one. Is the jump from Advance to Masters not as hard? Does it not require the same level of dedication to join the ranks of the cream of the crop? If you’re not willing to put forth the effort to try to crawl your way to the top, then like me, you’ll end up being just a guy out having fun.  Nothing wrong with that either. A zero in FAI is the same as a Zero in Masters.
    
   
  Tim
    

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