[NSRCA-discussion] Fwd: Advancement System

[Matthew Frederick]

Well, speaking as someone who just made the leap from Intermediate to 
Advanced for no reason other than boredom, I find that the current Advanced 
schedule is just about as easy as the Intermediate schedule. Truth be told, 
I find the Advanced schedule kinda boring already... no inverted exits mixed 
in. Granted, I don't think there should be as many as Masters, but even 
Intermediate has one!

Matt
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <verne at twmi.rr.com>
To: "General pattern discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Cc: <CHV69 at aol.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Fwd: Advancement System


> Carl's perspective from Intermediate is interesting and one not heard from 
> often enough. For him, and I suspect many others, the skill level required 
> for Advanced is a little intimidating to say the least. Yet, on the other 
> end of that scale, we have some Advanced pilots saying that Advanced isn't 
> hard enough which makes the move to Masters too difficult. This is exactly 
> the dilemma faced by the sequence committee every time one is formed and 
> charged with the task of developing new schedules.
>
> To be successful and fair about it, the committee has to step outside of 
> their own individual skill levels and pay close attention to what they've 
> seen, particularly from judges chair. They have to forget about what they 
> can do and pay attention to what others are capable of at a different 
> level. Each level should be a training aid to prepare a pilot as much as 
> possible, for the next level. All the while it's doing that, it shouldn't 
> be so difficult as to discourage and drive away someone just entering the 
> next higher class.
>
> It's not a directly proportional scale. A pilot leaving Advanced for 
> Masters should be prepared for a more difficult jump than someone leaving 
> Intermediate for Advanced. The skills required for turnaround flying 
> should have been pretty much mastered by someone leaving Advanced for 
> Masters, a fact overlooked and/or taken for granted by many. The task at 
> hand for someone entering Masters should be pretty much limited too 
> learning some new, challenging, and sometimes scary maneuvers. Staying in 
> the box shouldn't be an issue for the most part.
>
> The Intermediate pilot entering Advanced has to learn some new, 
> challenging, and sometimes scary maneuvers from his frame of reference 
> which is different than an experienced Advanced pilot. In addition, he 
> must continue to master the skills associated with staying in the box. 
> From that perspective, I would argue that the move from Intermediate to 
> Advanced is just about as difficult as the move from Advanced to Masters, 
> maybe more so.
>
> I still remember moving (by force) from the old AMA Advanced to the then, 
> newly created Expert Turnaround class. There were only eleven maneuvers 
> and I had already been performing all the higher-K in Advanced and winning 
> on a fairly regular basis. The only task at hand was learning the end 
> maneuvers and keeping the whole mess in the box. That was without 
> question, the single biggest challenge I've ever faced flying pattern. 
> Anybody creating schedules that advances some from Intermediate to 
> Advanced needs to remember it as well. My opinion is that the last 
> committee (I wasn't on it) got it just about right.
>
> Verne Koester
>
>
>
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