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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Not to pop this nice bubble, but I got to
thinking. We give trophies to 3rd place in 5 classes. That means
that more than half the attendees go home with wood in most contests. I guess
you have to be careful about your/my perspective.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>--Lance</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<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 9:11
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [NSRCA-discussion] **
Klipped to repost ** Why notmorePatternguys?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<P>Thanks, Lance - </P>
<P>Seems like a lot of us Pattern guys have walked the walk in other parts of
life // probably have an accurate self-image - dont' need worthless trophies
to help figure out who we are - tho the real one are meaningful.
<BR><BR>There'll always be guys who want to do it better. Many of them will
find their way into Pattern.... </P>
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From: <I>"Lance Van Nostrand"
<patterndude@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 ** Why not
morePatternguys?</I><BR>Date: <I>Tue, 28 Feb 2006 20:49:54 -0600</I><BR><BR>
<META content="Microsoft SafeHTML" name=Generator>
<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>
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<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>
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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>
<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>
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