[NSRCA-discussion] Rules proposal 11-6 question

[John Pavlick]

Having the turnarounds AND box exits in Sportsman is a good thing, I think. As long as the turnarounds are not cross-box maneuvers (like a Humpty) then I don't think it's asking too much of a Sportsman pilot to try to keep things in the box until they get a break (box exit). This is very good at preparing them for Intermediate (NO box exits) as Pete said, yet it gives them some way to correct their lines.What tends to happen to ALL of us is this: One little error moves your line. Then another moves your line some more. Until you've learned how to correct your lines smoothly and / or simply not make those errors in the first place (or at least make them to a lesser degree) the errors accumulate and without box exits, you only have cross-box maneuvers to help you correct them. Sportsman doesn't have any cross-box maneuvers so how would they correct their line? With box exits of course. 
 
As a few people have said - and I say this all the time: the sequence you fly contains the maneuvers which you are judged on. This doesn't mean that you can't fly different maneuvers and / or sequences when you practice. Do you guys just go to the field and fly your sequence over and over every time? If so then I think you're missing out on something very important. The difficulty between Masters and Sportsman is (and should be) somewhat extreme. Yet there are only 4 classes that must deal with this range of skills. It's nearly impossible to  make each progression seamless. You must learn at least some new skills on your own. You can't expect that by repeatedly flying Advanced, you'll somehow magically be prepared to fly Masters when you point out. Trust me, you won't. VBG
 
John Pavlick
 

--- On Tue, 10/20/09, Pete Cosky <pcosky at comcast.net> wrote:


From: Pete Cosky <pcosky at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Rules proposal 11-6 question
To: "General pattern discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 1:04 PM



I partially agree with your last post but those building blocks have to come from somewhere. From my experience, I moved out of Sportsman 4 years ago and then stopped flying to help raise my son until this year when I got to fly again in Intermediate. My flights were ugly but at least I had an idea of how it all had to go together because I learned those building blocks in Sportsman. IF what is proposed were to have happened in my particular case it would have been quite the obstacle to overcome and probably would have taken some of the fun out flying pattern for me.
 
If a pilot needs work on geometry, and I know I sure do, then take the time to practice the given maneuver outside the sequence. Go and burn a few tanks flying the problem maneuvers and nothing else. 
 
My opinion is Sportsman is fine the way it is and it lays a good foundation for the progression in the classes.
 
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