[NSRCA-discussion] Proposed NSRCA sequences for 2011 and beyond
John Gayer
jgghome at comcast.net
Wed Sep 22 19:29:29 AKDT 2010
Dave,
Every time you move to a new class including sportsman there are
potential airplane killers lurking. Long ago and far away, I remember
losing two airplanes learning to do three consecutive rolls centered.
If combined roll/loop maneuvers were introduced to Masters, the Masters
pilots would quickly sort out how to execute them. My only point in
addressing the lack of these maneuvers in Masters is the fact that it is
the final AMA destination class and as such should deliver equivalent
difficulty to F3A. Otherwise it is a feeder class without Advancement
requirements.
In other countries where advancement to the next class has to be earned
(by scoring average and the national organization keeps track), getting
an advancement notice is cause for celebration and usually involves lots
of beer. In Australia everyone aspires to gain admittance into the top
level (which flies the F3A schedules and from which their World team is
selected). The flip side is that if you start flying poorly or not at
all, you find yourself moving back a class or two.
Such a system has a lot of merit. Keep flying well against your peers,
you move up. Fly poorly, you move down. The beer sounds good too.
Celebrate on the way up, commiserate on the way down, drinks all around
in either case.
John
On 9/22/2010 6:28 PM, Dave wrote:
>
> John,
>
> First, without picking a side on this particular debate, I'd offer the
> following comments / perspectives --
>
> - Historically, surveys and polls have answered that integrated
> looping/rolling maneuvers should not be included in the Masters pattern.
>
> - an "airplane killer" looks a lot differently to a skilled Masters
> pilot compared to a middle of the pack advanced pilot moving into
> Masters, and this concern has historically been expressed, and is a
> hot button for a substantial number.
>
> Second, my opinions -
>
> I fly FAI because I want to...I want the more challenging schedules
> and higher level of competition. Arguably, the FAI P schedule is not
> more difficult in some years, and I could easily argue it does not
> contain state of the art maneuvers, but flying FAI is still more
> difficult if for no other reason than a pilots time must be split
> between flying P, F, and unknowns.
>
> Masters has a wide range of pilot abilities, and is "home" for many
> for different reasons. As such, it will always be a compromise class,
> unlike FAI F3A which is focused on picking the best F3A Team in the
> world and the best individual pilot in the world. So long as the
> majority of Masters do not want state of the art maneuvers, Masters
> should not have state of the art maneuvers.
>
> I do believe it might be a little easier to establish and maintain the
> difficulty level of each class and the steps between the classes IF a
> system were established that required a pilot advance to the next
> higher class based on achieving a given proficiency, and also demoted
> a pilot who did not achieve a minimum standard. Several countries use
> this approach, and from what I have seen, it appears to work as well
> or better than the point system used in the US. Mandatory advancement
> to F3A is a separate, but related topic.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Lockhart
>
> DaveL322 at comcast.net <mailto:DaveL322 at comcast.net>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
> [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] *On Behalf Of *John
> Gayer
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 22, 2010 6:40 PM
> *To:* General pattern discussion; Mark Hunt
> *Subject:* Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Proposed NSRCA sequences for 2011
> and beyond
>
> Derek,
>
> I thought we already selected a pattern through the survey. Is the
> survey now meaningless because it chose the wrong length pattern?
>
> I'm not quite sure I understand the logic behind raising the
> complexity of the short pattern at this late date, either. The
> sequence committee has worked on these patterns for two years or so
> and now it appears that because of a few comments at the Nats or
> whatever that all that work and the surveys are to be thrown out or at
> least revisited.
> I offered comments on the patterns 6 months ago and and said at that
> time that the Masters pattern was too easy in some areas. Didn't see
> anyone jumping to and making changes then.
> Comments about airplane killer maneuvers are also uncalled for. Any
> Masters pilot should be able to perform integrated roll/loop maneuvers
> without endangering the airplane. Making them good enough to score 8s
> and 9s, well that's a different matter. If you are making changes to
> the Masters pattern and keeping its role as a destination class, I
> firmly believe it should contain _state of the art_ pattern maneuvers.
>
> John Gayer
> District 6 Advanced pilot
>
>
> On 9/22/2010 4:10 PM, Derek Koopowitz wrote:
>
> Dave,
>
> You are correct in that everyone is impacted on a short vs long
> schedule - my apologies for the definition of who is impacted.
> Regardless, please voice your opinion to your District VP.
>
> -Derek
>
> On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 3:05 PM, Dave Burton <burtona at atmc.net
> <mailto:burtona at atmc.net>> wrote:
>
> Derek,
>
> I really object to your definition of who has "Skin in the game" - *We
> all do if we pay our dues and attend contest*.
>
> The "skin" is the impact of a long vs. short sequence for every
> Masters flyer, Flyer who will be flying Masters in the next two years,
> every flyer/non flyer who judges at a contest, and every other flyer
> in all the other class who have to wait until the typically large
> Masters class finishes whatever sequence they fly.
>
> So, whether I fly Masters in the next two years or not, I intend to
> let my opinion be known to my district VP and I expect him to give my
> view the same weight of any other opinion from "Masters" flyers or
> others.
>
> This is an issue that should not be decided by only "Masters" flyers.
>
> Dave Burton
>
> *From:* nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
> <mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org>
> [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
> <mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org>] *On Behalf Of
> *Derek Koopowitz
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 22, 2010 5:31 PM
> *To:* General pattern discussion
>
>
> *Subject:* [NSRCA-discussion] Proposed NSRCA sequences for 2011 and beyond
>
> Over 10 months ago the NSRCA Sequence Committee completed its work on
> the new sequences. These were posted on the NSRCA website for review
> and comment - see below:
>
> http://nsrca.us/proposedsequences/2011sequences.html
>
> Included in all this material was a draft document that outlined the
> process on how sequences are developed, tested and approved and the
> makeup/content of the sequences based on the class it is meant to
> serve. This document is titled "NSRCA Procedures, Standards and
> Guidelines for AMA R/C Precision Aerobatics Sequence Development". A
> mouthful, but it does outline a lot of information. It details the
> charter for the Sequence Committee, sequence development standards and
> guidelines for all classes, catalog of maneuvers for all classes and
> the process that the NSRCA will follow in designing, testing and
> approving changes to sequences, or for proposed sequences. These
> sequence development standards and guidelines have been in place for
> about 4 years now and have been used very successfully to build the
> current set of sequences that everyone is flying today, in addition to
> the prior Masters sequence (and the new one as well).
>
> Overall we received positive comments on the proposed sequences from
> Sportsman through Masters. As you know, there were two sequences
> developed for Masters, a long sequence using the standard 23 maneuver
> count and a short sequence using 19 maneuvers. In the time since we
> posted the sequences, some informal surveys were also made on the
> NSRCA website as well as on RCU asking for a preference of either the
> short or long Masters schedule. The overwhelming majority of
> respondents chose the short sequence. However, these surveys were a
> little flawed in that we didn't really know who was voting for them -
> were they all judges/pilots who voted because they didn't want to
> judge a long sequence, or were they really current and/or future
> Masters pilots that really did want to fly a shorter sequence.
>
> Since the release of the proposed schedules, and some post Nats
> comments, the sequence committee has been hard at work making some
> tweaks to the short schedule with a view to increasing the difficulty
> level of the short Masters sequence to bring it into line with the
> long Masters sequence and also to ensure that we weren't lowering the
> bar in difficulty by introducing a shorter sequence. Bear in mind
> that the short sequence is only 19 maneuvers (17 of them flyable) so
> raising the difficulty level is a challenge if one is to avoid using
> some existing F3A type maneuvers, or "airplane killers", and to only
> use maneuvers that match the philosophy that we've embraced for a
> number of years. Since we've never developed a short Masters
> sequence, we need to make sure we get it right and that it not only
> provides a challenge to those that fly it but that it still provides a
> somewhat relatively higher jump for those pilots that are moving up
> from Advanced. We realize that creating a perfect schedule is not
> going to happen - we won't be able to please every pilot that moves up
> from Advanced, nor will we be able to please some former F3A pilots
> that think the schedule is too easy and isn't enough of a challenge.
> There has to be a balance. The Sequence Committee came up with some
> good positive changes and these are being vetted/tested as I write
> this. They've received extremely positive feedback from everyone that
> has either flown the newer short sequence on a simulator or using
> their pattern plane at the field. By the end of this weekend we'll
> know for sure whether it is a keeper or not.
>
> When we do post the revised sequence I would like all of you that have
> "skin in this game", meaning you are a current Masters pilot or will
> be moving to Masters in the next year or two, to please contact your
> NSRCA District VP and let them know what your preference is - short or
> long sequence. The reason they need to know is that the NSRCA board
> will vote in the next couple of weeks to approve all the proposed
> sequences and also to select which sequence the Masters class will be
> flying in 2011/2012.
>
> The Sequence Committee is comprised of Joe Lachowski, Dave Lockhart,
> Verne Koester, Bill Glaze, Archie Stafford, and Richard Lewis.
> They've put in an extraordinary amount of work on these sequences and
> documentation and deserve huge kudos from everyone! Thanks guys -
> your work is very much appreciated!
>
> We've also created a Sequence Committee section on the NSRCA website
> which will have more information soon. It will contain the updated
> draft documentation and all the proposed sequences in one location.
> You can get to the new section from the main menu - just look for
> Sequence Committee - it is near the bottom of the menu.
>
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