<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2802" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Rick,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>this thread has gotten so long probably no one will
even read this, but I like your post. It might not be a good
generalization, but if the recent Olympics were a reflection of what our society
has become, then the decline of anything that requires humility is
inevitable. Ithe Olympics were full of gripers and posers. Some
complained about their hockey teammates, some actually said during the olympics
that they didn't matter, one snowboarder did a showoff move and lost the
gold. sure they are great athletes but maybe we all have too much self
esteem. Pattern does not appeal to people with artificially high self
esteem. it's the pin for the self worth bubble. Only the grounded
survive.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Deflated,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>--Lance</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rickwallace45@hotmail.com
href="mailto:rickwallace45@hotmail.com">Rick Wallace</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org
href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org">nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:43
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [NSRCA-discussion] **
Klipped to repost ** Why not more Patternguys?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<P>There's a lot of goodness in this discussion - cost, complexity,
intimidation caused by turnaround -certainly all are factors in a guy's
decision to fly Pattern. </P>
<P>Maybe there's another - maybe people aren't as interested in truly
competing now as, say, 20 years ago. Society, as well as engines, planes, and
sequences, has changed quite a lot.<BR>-- Not too many years ago everyone on
the kids ball team didn't get a trophy. The best teams won and got trophies,
and the rest got mentioned. You had to play to get an award; bench warming
didn't get you a trophy. <BR>-- A school kid might actually receive a failing
grade if his work didn't meet the standard, even at the risk of causing a
'crisis in self esteem.'<BR>-- Cadets at places like West Point were rank
ordered in General Order of Merit from #1 to (last) based on academics,
'military aptitude' and other factors - and the number was public. </P>
<P>Is the American system of "we're all winners" where 'failure' is a dirty
word partly to blame for reduced attendance in a hobby/sport whose
essence is competition?</P>
<P>Further, not too many years ago, it was an accomplishment to solo an R/C
airplane, and the main R/C avenues for showing advanced skills were Pattern,
Scale (often at the same contest) and racing. There's LOTS more out
there now in R/C flying- -- and besides R/C planes, there are TONS more
leisure activities than flying toy airplanes. Real cars, boat, R/C cars, video
games, computers, MP3, phones, hundreds of TV channels--- - there
are more things for a person to spend his time on than there is time - at
least that's true of my life and those around me.<BR><BR>So why pursue
something that's hard (like R/C flying) in the first place, and then go WAYYY
out into the fringes of the hobby to actually compete - which involves
<BR>-- buying toys not generally available at the local hobby shop<BR>-- LOTS
of hours spent at the field flying the same sequence over and over (try THAT
on your average local fellow sport pilot...) -probly at times when other
pilots aren't even present<BR>-- and then spend an entire weekend driving a
LONG way to a contest- in preference to spending time w/ the neighbors or
family ??? </P>
<P>and where at the end of the day most of us will be greatly humbled by being
told we're NOT wonderful at it, and where we'll watch somebody else get the
trophy or the plaque... and we go home with just a handfull of score sheets
outlining all the stuff we screwed up... </P>
<P>Yah, I think there's more to the current level of participation than just
the perceived need for expensive toys, or the difficulty of turnaround
sequences. </P>
<P>But there ARE still guys who have fire in their bellies and who want to
do that maneuver just a little better this time than last, and who
compete with themselves as much as with the other guys in their class. </P>
<P>And there ARE still guys who believe that you don't win Second place... you
lose First. </P>
<P>I'm not sure Pattern is for everyone - but there's certainly a place for it
in the hobby! </P>
<P>Exiting the soap box... </P>
<P>Rick </P>
<P>(Besides, if the Pattern guys die out, who'll test fly all the other guys'
new models and set their needle valves for them and demonstrate that lightness
rather than 'beefing up that kit design' may be the right answer??)</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #a0c6e5 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma,sans-serif">
<HR color=#a0c6e5 SIZE=1>
From: <I>"Grow Pattern" <pattern4u@comcast.net></I><BR>Reply-To:
<I>NSRCA Mailing List <nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org></I><BR>To:
<I>"NSRCA Mailing List"
<nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org></I><BR>Subject: <I>Re:
[NSRCA-discussion] ** Klipped to repost ** Equipmentcostandpartiicpation
--</I><BR>Date: <I>Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:23:09 -0500</I><BR><BR>
<META content="Microsoft SafeHTML" name=Generator>
<STYLE></STYLE>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dave, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
No personal criticism intended but, the problem with
looking at this from the position of a successful FAI pilot,
especially if you were a good pilot from a very young age, is that you
can't really feel that "leap of faith barrier" that a regular pilot feels,
then or today. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have spent most of last year with
regular-club-pilots. Not a few guys that I practice pattern with. Did
not have a pattern-plane with me. They were sort flyers that were
pretty good aerobats with their own planes. based upon what I
learned, I can tell you that turnaround is massively daunting to them.
Much more daunting, in fact , than trying out a difficult 3-D high
alpha maneuver.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You can't ignore the fact that pattern pilots
left our sport in droves around and after 1985, and never came back. These
guys were not the top liners. They were, however, the mainstay of the sport.
They showed up, paid their fees (said another way paid for the trophies),
they had a great time, created a fun environment and cared more about taking
part than actually winning. They flew pretty simple planes that could still
do most of center maneuvers today. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This is the group that is still missing in
pattern. They were the ones that attracted new members. They were reachable
and certainly not intimidating. It may well not be the schedules. IMAC,
with more difficulty schedules attracted a large new following because you
could fly your CURRENT plane in their classes. There are now plenty of
pattern ARF's but the same thing is not happening, at least not
yet.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If we knew why we could probably fix
it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Eric.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=DaveL322@comcast.net
href="mailto:DaveL322@comcast.net">DaveL322@comcast.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org
href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org">NSRCA Mailing List</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, February 28, 2006
10:59 AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [NSRCA-discussion] **
Klipped to repost ** Equipment costandpartiicpation --</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Turnaround style pattern reduced noise, noisefootprint, and
overflight area. Pattern would have died (in some areas at least)
without the change to turnaround. The case could certainly be made
that a reduction in numbers of pattern pilots was on the horizon, and
while turnaround reduced the numbers of some, saved the event for
others.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Properly designed schedules can act as building blocks - turnaround
style or not.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Yes, the turnaround schedules today are more difficult than the
non-turnaround schedules of the past, and at the highest levels, it does
help distinguish the top pilots. The increase in difficulty across
all classes is not solely attributable to the turnaround format.
Today's entry and mid level classes are of higher difficulty because "we"
have made them to be that way - continually escalating the difficulty in
the entry and mid level classes with every rules cycle to alleviate
"boredom" and give the lower classes the same amount of airtime as
Masters/F3A. Show me an Intermediate Pilot that can consistently a
rectangular box (ends over the turnaround poles, flat lines at top and
bottom of box) at 150m, and I'll bet you have a future NATs Champion in
almost any class.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Today, I believe the average pattern competitor today is interested
in moving up in class when they can competently fly the class - compared
to the past, when moving up was done after a higher degree of polish was
achieved. Today, it seems the challenge of pattern is getting
through a sequence, and many move up before really learning the
fundamentals in a sequence - compared to the past, when the challenge was
to perfect a sequence, not merely survive it. This is not to knock
anyone currently flying pattern - just an observation on the changes I've
seen. Being able to learn and complete a new manuever or sequence is
a worthy goal, just as is perfecting a manuever or sequence that is easy
to do, but hard to refine. I do quite a bit of coaching, and the
vast majority of the time when a pilot has a problem with a specific
maneuver, it is not the specific maneuver that is the issue - fixing the
maneuver requires taking steps backwards to fix the! underlying basics
which were are flawed - and likely would have been better learned if
more time had been spent in the prior class (or classes).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If the appeal of the event is now more focused on more exciting and
flashy maneuvers and longer sequences, compared to precision flying, then
that is exactly the direction pattern has moved. Nothing wrong with
that, if that is what "we" want. A well executed pattern sequence is
very boring to most, and the elements that appeal to the average pattern
guy are not noticeable to the average spectator - that is something that
has always been, and always will be.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Regards,</DIV>
<DIV><BR>Dave Lockhart</DIV>
<DIV><A href="mailto:DaveL322@comcast.net">DaveL322@comcast.net</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>_______________________________________________<BR>NSRCA-discussion
mailing
list<BR>NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org<BR>http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>