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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brett:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think there's really a couple of tiers of SA
pilots, with some very polished precision flyers in the top ranks. You are
right though, there's also a good sized contingent that handle their sleds the
way you describe. Often, they are the "checkbook pilots" who recently
arrived on the scene and are just plopping recipes together and playing follow
the leader as best they can. Dave Michael made some excellent points, one
of which I would dub the "fade factor" with SA pilots. Everything he said
was right on - the planes have great appeal, they get tons of press, you see
them everywhere etc. So it attracts the masses. To a degree, that's
great because it does help everything grow at a rapid pace. On the other
hand, it can lead to an implosion, such as what seems to currently be happening
in the NE region. When all you have to do is buy your way in, the
event tends to attract larger numbers of people with no particular awareness or
concern over what it takes to be an actual modeler involved with precision
aerobatics. That's what it seems like from here at least.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dave had some great ideas about promoting Pattern,
which have mostly worked for IMAC / SA. I think that the main thing that
we have to avoid is anything that would veer us away from concentration on
precision, which is where IMAC has led the SA rules recently. Sequence design
has also run amok with IMAC calling the shots every year over what goes in the
AMA rulebook, resulting in what amounts to variations on methods to display snap
rolls to the crowd. It's a lazy way to run up the K-factors in the
sequences, which has become even more problematic for them since they have
shortened the sequences to about 10 figures per class. Mess up one snap in
a high K figure and you are done, hence they have done ever more to encourage
snap cheats, all the while they valiantly attempt to teach otherwise in judging
clinics. For proof, c</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>heck a couple of the
RCU experts forums, where they describe how they do snap cheats to help
teach the masses. That's what SA pilots are going to school on for the
most part. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We can learn a bunch from IMAC, good and
bad.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ed</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=brett.terry@gmail.com href="mailto:brett.terry@gmail.com">brett
terry</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> Thursday, March 02, 2006 8:37
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [NSRCA-discussion] IMAC Vs
Pattern Participation? Does theDogHunt on points made?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>At my last IMAC competition I tried to present my maneuvers
somewhat close, tried to be precise, and tried to increase the visibility of
my plane. The judges told me to fly further away, because it can slow
down the routine. People were flying the back side of the roller at the
limits of vision, and this is with 35% - 40% planes! Some of these
planes could fly away from the transmitter, and still be within vision
limits. So much for positioning and "presentation". It is
exceedingly difficult to recognize the difference between a vertical line and
15 degrees off...The deviation point deductions are mere speculation.
Forget about trying to determine the number of wingspan deviations during a
hammerhead. <BR><BR>Most people, myself included, want to learn all the fun
freestyle tricks with the big planes. Most spectators don't care about
how well an IMAC plane can slow roll, or maintain track during unweighted
snaps, or perform precision aerobatics, they want to see it blast out of a
hover, Panic, Blender, Rolling Harrier, Roller Coaster, Waterfall, and in
general act like a foamie. <BR><BR>It has become the Olympic Snowboard
Half Pipe event of the model airplane world, including the requisite
adjectives, "Extreme", "Alternative" (if 'alternative' is in the mainstream,
can it still be considered 'alternative'?), "Radical", "Hucking", etc.
<BR><BR>There, I feel better now. Back to precision. Of course, I
do enjoy the turnaround setup...<BR><BR>Brett<BR><BR><BR>
<DIV><SPAN class=gmail_quote>On 3/2/06, <B class=gmail_sendername>Ed Alt</B>
<<A href="mailto:ed_alt@hotmail.com"> ed_alt@hotmail.com</A>>
wrote:</SPAN>
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<DIV style="DIRECTION: ltr">
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For all practical purposes, Scale Aerobatics
has no box anymore. It exists as an abstract concept on a piece of
paper in that it has a defined height, width and depth, but since they
eliminated the 75 degree markers, there is nothing left to measure it
against. Additionally, they eliminated the concept of zones, so you
are free to place things where it seems good to place them, i.e., a figure
that would appear to be meant for the center of the box doesn't have to be
flown directly in front of you. Your choice of placement has some kind
of connection to the so-called Presentation Score as it was originally
'defined'. There are no deductions for centering
inaccuracy. Once you enter the box, you still need to get figures in
the correct order and direction, though cross box figures leave direction
(in or out) to the discretion of the pilot. Currently, there may or
may not be enforcement of a pure impressionist extra figure known as
the Presentation Score. It passed as a rule, then everyone was
instructed by the IMAC BOD not to follow the AMA rule they pushed
through. I heard rumblings that maybe they are going to allow or
encourage CDs to follow that rule again. Not sure, I don't really
track what they do very closely anymore.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ed</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message -----</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR>
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