[NSRCA-discussion] New Club Class for Precision Aerobatics

Wed Sep 7 17:31:38 AKDT 2016

I would like to add a few things about pilot prizes and cash giveaways to
participants at any level.

At our last D4 contest Matt Finley contacted several vendors for pilot
prizes and to my surprise Frank Tiano and a few others I’ve forgotten came
through (sorry for those I forgot).

What happens when we do this kind of thing at every contest and in every
district across the country?

Vendors and local hobby shops are going to stop.

Perhaps district championships and the NATS are fine.  Or just once in a
while to spice things up but to do this routinely is suicide.

While I applaud Matt’s efforts I worry this kind of thing will have a
backlash.

Most of the clubs I’ve been members off expect some financial reward for
hosting a events even if it is only a few hundred bucks.

If we start giving that money away to pilots and for other endeavors the
clubs I’m aware of will stop hosting them.

More of my 2 cents.

From: NSRCA-discussion [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On
Behalf Of Dave Lockhart via NSRCA-discussion
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2016 9:10 PM
To: 'General pattern discussion'
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] New Club Class for Precision Aerobatics

Random thoughts and comments – 

Changing to 1 loop and 1 roll would be improvements.

No cash.

Suggest ½ Reverse Cuban Eights and Stall Turns as appropriate turnarounds,
but no enforcement of the box.  The box IS intimidating and simply flying
aerobatic maneuvers centered is challenging for many very competent sport
pilots
..heck
.flying a straight line is challenging for many competent
sport pilots.

Instant gratification is one of the biggest challenges we face in recruiting
new pattern pilots – and it is not just the kids that want instant
gratification
.many of those “kids” are now in their late 20s and older.

The perceived cost is a legitimate problem
.and actual cost is a legitimate
problem.  However, the highest level of competition equipment will always be
expensive (at any size) and in general is more expensive as it gets bigger.
And the top dog setup is what will always be viewed by outsiders as the
level of equipment needed.  Cost is an excuse for a few
..it is an excuse
because instead of flying pattern, they are flying giant scale 3D and
turbines that cost 1 – 4 times as much as pattern planes.

As Mark Atwood said
.most people in a given sport or hobby do not enter
competitions.  It is because of pressure, it is because of lack of practice
time, and it is because of ego
..plenty of hot shot pilots don’t want to put
themselves in a position where they don’t win and can’t claim to be the
best.

Limiting the size, weight, cost, power, etc, of the entry level class sounds
great
but it is counter-productive.  We want the guy flying a DLE 30 cc 3D
plane
.we want the guy flying a 10S 78” Extra
.we want the guy that picked
up an old 120 4C pattern plane because it had cool retracts
..lots of those
planes are in the hands of potential pattern pilots and we do not want to
exclude them.  The entry level class should be “run what you brung” so long
as the noise level is reasonable and safety concerns do not arise.  It is
also counter-productive because hand me down planes are not available.

The Club Class as is, in maneuver content, is not unlike Sportsman, Novice,
Pre-Novice, etc
..sequences used in the past.  Part of what was wrong with
those sequences in the past was that at some point they were treated as a
FULL class and not as ENTRY level or INTRODUCTION level.  And they were
continually mucked with
.needlessly adding variety (to entertain the upper
classes who were bored watching the same old thing), and generally adding
complexity (difficulty creep) making the bar to entry higher.  The entry
level or introduction class should not be flown at the NATs, not have a
District Champion, and should be 1 day only.  At two day events, each day is
a separate contest for the Club Class – this reduces the time commitment and
takes away the excuse of not being able to make it both days.  Club class
should be a class virtually every club member working the grill, working
registration, scribing, or running scores could fly in with half the planes
they have in their car or at their house.

Regards,

Dave

From: NSRCA-discussion [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On
Behalf Of Scott McHarg via NSRCA-discussion
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2016 2:01 PM
To: General pattern discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] New Club Class for Precision Aerobatics

All,

This is a note from Jon Carter from the NSRCA BoD.  FYI!

Announcing the NSRCA “Club Class!

Whether you want to call it Club class or Novice class or whatever, it’s OK,
as long as we get more people flying pattern! What is this? Good question,
we have heard from the membership that it would be nice for the NSRCA to
define a non-rulebook pattern entry level event that a CD could offer if
they so decided. This would be a non-turnaround “old-school” type of pattern
that any club flyer could do and yet still be challenged by. It will give
the CD the opportunity to grab some of the “hot dog” type sport flyers at
his club, and maybe some old time pattern pilots, and hand them a
maneuver/downgrade sheet and say “come on out to the pattern contest next
weekend and see what you can do!” Who knows, if he can get three or four
club flyers to come out maybe some will think, “Hey, this is fun! I could
learn that Sportsman pattern” Worst case it will get some more club flyers
to participate in local events which always makes it easier to “sell” a
pattern contest to the local club officers! So, dust off those older pattern
planes and those sport planes and come out and have some fun! Look on the
NSRCA website under the Sequence tab for the maneuver list and descriptions.

 <https://nsrca.us/index.php/sequences> https://nsrca.us/index.php/sequences

Scott A. McHarg

VSCL / CANVASS U.A.S. Research Pilot

Texas A&M University

PPL - ASEL

Remote Pilot Certified Under FAA Part 107

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