[NSRCA-discussion] From the new President - Introduction

[Joe Walker]

 Congrats Archie!  I know you'll do an awesome job.  Looking forward to helping out however you need.
Joe

    On Friday, January 11, 2019, 11:48:08 AM EST, Archie Stafford via NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:  
 
 
As the new President I wanted to take a minute and introducemyself as well as share some ideas and opinions on things we are currentlydealing with.  Many of you know me, butfor those that don’t I want to give you an idea of my background in pattern sothat you can understand where I may be coming from.  

 

First, I want to thank Joe walker and the entire outgoing boardfor 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, buteveryone that took the time to show that they care about the future ofpattern.  It is proof that only a fewminutes of your time can actually have an impact on things that we allenjoy.  

 

I started flying pattern the same way that many who are overage 35 started.  I went to the field withmy dad when I was growing up and fortunately, there was a club nearby that hada contest.  We made the 45-minute trip upthe road to the contest that was held in Ravenswood, WV and was put on by oneof my heroes, Mark Radcliff. I was especially interested in Mark, as I grew upflying single stick radios.  At my firstcontest, I flew a Great Planes Cherokee that my dad built with an OS .40 in thenose.  I was flying an Ace silver 7single stick radio and was flying against 11 pilots in Novice at the time.  After my first flight, Mark noticed I wasflying 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 IvanKristensen came down from Canada. I also believe that scale legend Mike Barbeewas in attendance.  At the end of thefirst day as Ivan was headed back to his motorhome, he asked me to carry histransmitter case.  At that moment I wasin absolute awe of the fact that I was helping him.  I won’t bore everyone with the rest of mypattern story.  The short version is thatI’ve flown now for nearly 30 years and won Masters in 2012 at the NATS.  The point is, that by those simple acts ofMark, and Ivan, it changed my entire outlook on pattern and I was hooked.  It went from something that my dad thoughtwould be interested in trying to being something that changed the rest of mylife.  

I have now spent the last 20 years of my life working in theUAV (drone) industry. I have been fortunate enough to travel all over the worldand experience things that I likely never would have if it hadn’t been for thatone local contest in the late 80s.  Mypoint of the story is that you never know what kind of influence you may haveon a new person that shows up at the field and if we approach every new pilotwith the same level of support that those guys showed me, pattern willnaturally 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 growagain is the influence we all have at our local fields.  In District 2 a couple of years ago we madethe statement that is every one of us finds one new person to bring to acontest over the next 3 years, then in the next 3 years pattern will havegrown.  

 

As President, I plan to do everything I can to see pattern attractnew blood, and there are resources that we have, but at the end of the day thegreatest resource pattern has are the people who fly it.  I don’t expect this to be an easy job, but Ido 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 totalk with anyone about how we can grow pattern. My email is rcpattern2012 at gmail.com.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me ifyou have suggestions or ideas as I want to hear them all.  One thing that I know won’t help pattern is todo exactly what we have done for the last 15 years and expect things tochange.  

 

Looking forward to the next 2 years,

Archie
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