[NSRCA-discussion] From the new President - Introduction

[mups53]

Congratulations ArchieAlso thank you to the outgoing officers.All of you can be proud of your contributions. I pledge my support and agree that we all have a stake in the future of our sport by being positive ambassadors.Mike Mueller


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------From: Frackowiak Tony via NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> Date: 1/11/19  11:09 AM  (GMT-06:00) To: Archie Stafford <rcpattern2012 at gmail.com>, General pattern discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] From the new President - Introduction 
Congratulations Archie! I have a lot of confidence in what can be done.
Tony Frackowiak

On Jan 11, 2019, at 8:47 AM, Archie Stafford via NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:
As the new President I wanted to take a minute and introduce
myself as well as share some ideas and opinions on things we are currently
dealing with.  Many of you know me, but
for those that don’t I want to give you an idea of my background in pattern so
that you can understand where I may be coming from.   
First, I want to thank Joe walker and the entire outgoing board
for their time and talent donated to the entire pattern community.  I also want to thank everyone who voted.  Not just the ones who voted for me, but
everyone that took the time to show that they care about the future of
pattern.  It is proof that only a few
minutes of your time can actually have an impact on things that we all
enjoy.   
I started flying pattern the same way that many who are over
age 35 started.  I went to the field with
my dad when I was growing up and fortunately, there was a club nearby that had
a contest.  We made the 45-minute trip up
the road to the contest that was held in Ravenswood, WV and was put on by one
of my heroes, Mark Radcliff. I was especially interested in Mark, as I grew up
flying single stick radios.  At my first
contest, I flew a Great Planes Cherokee that my dad built with an OS .40 in the
nose.  I was flying an Ace silver 7
single stick radio and was flying against 11 pilots in Novice at the time.  After my first flight, Mark noticed I was
flying a single stick and came over and introduced himself.  At the time, Mark had retired from Pattern,
but was still CDing the local contest.  Also,
in attendance that day were Mike McConville, Geoff Combs, and even Ivan
Kristensen came down from Canada. I also believe that scale legend Mike Barbee
was in attendance.  At the end of the
first day as Ivan was headed back to his motorhome, he asked me to carry his
transmitter case.  At that moment I was
in absolute awe of the fact that I was helping him.  I won’t bore everyone with the rest of my
pattern story.  The short version is that
I’ve flown now for nearly 30 years and won Masters in 2012 at the NATS.  The point is, that by those simple acts of
Mark, and Ivan, it changed my entire outlook on pattern and I was hooked.  It went from something that my dad thought
would be interested in trying to being something that changed the rest of my
life.  I have now spent the last 20 years of my life working in the
UAV (drone) industry. I have been fortunate enough to travel all over the world
and experience things that I likely never would have if it hadn’t been for that
one local contest in the late 80s.  My
point of the story is that you never know what kind of influence you may have
on a new person that shows up at the field and if we approach every new pilot
with the same level of support that those guys showed me, pattern will
naturally grow.  
At the end of the day, the NSRCA leadership can make suggestions,
or even create new rules, but the only thing that will truly make pattern grow
again is the influence we all have at our local fields.  In District 2 a couple of years ago we made
the statement that is every one of us finds one new person to bring to a
contest over the next 3 years, then in the next 3 years pattern will have
grown.   
As President, I plan to do everything I can to see pattern attract
new blood, and there are resources that we have, but at the end of the day the
greatest resource pattern has are the people who fly it.  I don’t expect this to be an easy job, but I
do plan to put everything I can in to it. 
For those that know me, I am very open to new ideas and I’m happy to
talk with anyone about how we can grow pattern. 
My email is rcpattern2012 at gmail.com.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if
you have suggestions or ideas as I want to hear them all.  One thing that I know won’t help pattern is to
do exactly what we have done for the last 15 years and expect things to
change.   
Looking forward to the next 2 years,Archie
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