[NSRCA-discussion] CB member RFC on Proposed Masters Sequence for 2009/2010

[Lance Van Nostrand]

I'm on the contest board and there are more active pattern pilots on it now 
than ever before.  The recent change to 2 year cycles also happened with a 
breakup of contest boards.  Our board is exclusively to approve pattern. 
Can't get much more focused than that.  The process is cumbersome and I 
can't say I endorse it, but I'm going to work with it so the board support 
pattern and the collective wishes of the NSRCA.

The timeline is in the AMA CB Procedures doc, which I have in front of me 
right now.  There are many steps but the critical ones are simple:
Basic (initial) Proposals submitted by Sept 30
Dec 15, prelim votes by CB cast (1st cut to see which proposals are properly 
formed and should continue)
Mar 1, Cross proposal deadline (alternate proposals accepted to achieve an 
approved initial proposal)
May 15, Final ballots sent to CB and final vote is completed
Jan 1, new rules take effect.

>From this you can see that the process takes about 1 year and 3 months. 
Proposals in this Sept (07) take effect Jan 09.

This is the "normal" cycle, but there are off cycle proposals of type 
safety, emergency, urgent or interpretation.  I don't know about the board, 
but I'm totally open to any and all proposals as the workload to read, take 
the pulse of my district and vote/comment is far less than keeping up with 
this list!

Comment on sequences:
*All sequences have squeezes and rough spots.  The more we worry about them 
the harder it is to change sequences when we want to.  Fly them as best you 
can and try to do better than the next guy.

*Masters should never conciously trend to easier sequences.  Sure one may be 
easier than the last, but this shouldn't trend.  It should be held at a 
constant difficulty at least, and other classes are stepping stones to it. 
The jump from Advanced to Masters last time was not enough as we beat that 
to death on the list.  Now we've swung the other way.  Shouldn't we balance 
the steps, not change the target difficulty level?.  Now let me take this a 
bit farther (maybe too far) The Masters sequence we flew a few years ago 
with YS120SCs were the same difficulty as the current sequences we now fly 
with 1.60 2 strokes and improved supercharged 4 strokes.  Airplane design 
has improved and so have the computer radios.  We used to have coreless 
servos, now digital.  Consider that maybe we should have harder sequences if 
we want to compare ourselves to our predecessors.

*I think the current feeling is that Sports, Int, Adv should change less 
frequently than Masters since designing building blocks is much harder than 
single sequences and many pilots move up after a few years.  What I've heard 
as the goal is to change the stepping classes no faster than every 4 years, 
but change Masters every 2.

*Let's not reorient the sequences to accommodate a new technology.

I do not want to form my opinion in a vacuum so feel free to comment.
--Lance

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Atwood" <atwoodm at paragon-inc.com>
To: "NSRCA Mailing List" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 12:20 PM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Proposed Masters Sequence for 2009/2010


> Ron (RVP),  Can you lay out for all of us the chronology of what has to
> happen to get a new sequence in?
>
> I think this would be enlightening to most as to what a PITA it is 
> calendar
> time wise.
>
> I.e. To put the process in place that Ed is suggesting, I think would put 
> a
> new sequence out at least 4 years from the "start" of creating it.
>
> So I'd be curious to see the timeline..
>
> "We need a new sequence..." - Day 1
>
> Form a committee - x weeks or months
>
> Create sequence - X Months
>
> Review by NSRCA Board/put out for survey - X Months
>
> Blah blah blah...
>
> AND THEN...work backwards for the AMA process...
>
> Submission to the AMA for the 20XX year rules has to occur years before it
> goes into effect (prelim vote, changes, final vote, publication, etc etc)
>
> I think Ron has a feel for the required process, but I'd love to hear what
> the beginning to "in effect" time lag is for a new sequence under the AMA
> rules process.
>
> -M
>
>
> On 7/26/07 11:59 AM, "Ed Alt" <ed_alt at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Doug:
>> I agree that we should not have a panel of non-enthusiasts in charge of 
>> the
>> actual sequence design. I don't think I stated my point too well.  The 
>> SIG
>> does contain the best source of knowledge to construct sequences.  Given 
>> the
>> right structure to how the committee is formed and how their work 
>> overseen
>> is what is criitical.  I don't think NSRCA has this process quite right 
>> yet.
>>   This isn't meant to criticize anyone, but I think that more thought has 
>> to
>> be put into how we manage the process in the future.
>>
>> It seems to me that the Sequence Committee work should first pass muster
>> with the NSRCA board, who should review it to make sure that it certain
>> criteria are met, not whether personally like it or not.  What is that
>> criteria?  That needs to be better defined.  It appears to take the form 
>> of
>> tribal knowledge. One attempt to put some structure to evaluating a 
>> sequence
>> is via a tool that Dave Lockhart developed , which I think is very 
>> useful.
>> However, is this developed to the point it needs to be?  Whatever method 
>> we
>> use to create and evaluate should be well understood and applied
>> consistently.
>>
>> Beyond how we establish consistency within our SIG, it seems that the EC
>> role ought to be to review that their flock of SIGS followed AMA 
>> guidelines
>> for producing their work, not to define exactly how they produce the work
>> product (the sequences in this case).  So, the EC should demand that the 
>> SIG
>> has a defined procedure and that the SIG leadership has assured 
>> compliance
>> through their oversight and ultimately, their signatures on the product.
>>
>> Ed
>>
>>
>>> From: Doug Cronkhite <seefo at san.rr.com>
>>> Reply-To: NSRCA Mailing List <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>>> To: NSRCA Mailing List <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Proposed Masters Sequence for 2009/2010
>>> Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:04:26 -0700
>>>
>>> Just because you CAN change them every year doesn't mean you have to or
>>> should. I agree with you that the lower classes should have some
>>> stability so newer pilots have a chance to build the foundation the
>>> higher classes require.
>>>
>>> I think the SIG should absolutely have control of the schedules, as the
>>> people leading the SIG are generally actively involved in the sport.
>>> Other than Tony Stillman, are any of the EC active in pattern? Because
>>> if they're not, then I don't think they can make an accurate assessment
>>> of the needs of the SIG. Tony may be the only one on the EC who even
>>> flies anything on a regular basis now.
>>>
>>> -Doug
>>>
>>>> I like variety in schedules too, but I think there is a balance to
>>>> strike with the lower classes.  It's a lot of effort each year to
>>>> learn a new sequence.  Once you have enough experience flying
>>>> aerobatics, you can focus on new sequences without detracting from the
>>>> other improvements you want to make.
>>>>
>>>> Re. giving the SIG all the control, I would not want to see that
>>>> happen.  In the case of IMAC, the SIG leadership became very IAC
>>>> centric and made changes that work against being able to learn
>>>> fundamentals before moving up, in favor a being a carbon copy
>>>> miniature of IAC.  Just look at what the IMAC lower class sequences
>>>> now contain and consider what problems they represent for learning
>>>> fundamentals.  I think you need an effective counterbalance to help
>>>> keep sanity to the sequence design.
>>>>
>>>> Ed
>>>>
>>>
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>>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
>>
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