Mike,<br><br> The bottom line is that it is impossible to simply "encourage" someone to join the pattern ranks and have them hang around for years. It requires that the new guy have that internal drive to want to acquire all of the specialized skill sets and equipment ON HIS OWN to make that transition from sport flyer to pattern flyer. All we can do is cheerfully provide guidance on the way.<br>
If you look at the rise and fall of IMAC, ask yourself what was behind the motivation to join their ranks on the way up? Like you said, the cost of entry is way beyond pattern - $13,000 150cc plane + $5000 trailer + $XX,XXX vehicle to haul trailer + Travel costs to "Huckfests", Contests, Ect. . . . At the lower end, where most guys started, what did you always hear the IMAC guys say? "Hey, anyone can enter Unlimited and win with a 50cc airplane" . . . Sound familiar? The masses join, travel around to contests, get their butts kicked flying their 50cc / 100cc airplanes, look down the flight line to see who's winning / getting all of the attention that they thought they'd be getting (its the 150cc + Bling Guys), decided that its not worth it, then stop going to contests.<br>
Now in both the IMAC and Pattern examples, I would argue that we could give those guys a full set of top of the line equipment and they still wouldn't be able to win and would leave anyway. You guys need to realize that it takes a very, VERY specialized person to do what we do and keep doing it year after year. The real story here isn't that the pattern ranks aren't growing, but that we still have as many guys doing this for as long as we've been doing this in the first place!! If someone has the skill set and motivation to join us, they will join us no matter what the obstacle - financial or otherwise. The opposite is also true, you can "drag / encourage" someone into pattern, give them all of the equipment free of charge, provide all of the top notch coaching, but if they don't have that internal drive to push themselves to continue, they will drop out. <br>
Now it seems that for some reason those of us who remain tend to "feel bad" when that happens. Perhaps you feel that the pattern community did something wrong to chase that person away, when actually the opposite was true. That person dipped their toe in the pattern pond and decided that they weren't a fit. It looked good from the outside but they just couldn't hang. Most choose to leave quietly, while others bray like a donkey on their way out, or linger and take cheap shots from the peanut gallery. Back when pattern guys were considered "elitists", you still had guys joining the ranks and pattern was growing, right? Now that the word is "be a nice guy to the sport flyers", our ranks are level / declining. Perhaps bringing back a dash of elitism to pattern may not be a bad thing.<br>
The bottom line is that no amount of "tweaks" to the rules are going to either increase of decrease pattern participation. If a guy wants to participate in pattern and go to contests, he will do whatever it takes to get there. <u><b>Everything else is just an excuse / whining.</b></u> If we eliminate the weight rule, they they will then say they can't go to contests because of "judging bias". If we implement electronic judging, they then will find some other rule to complain about, ad nauseum.<br>
I think we've gone more than the "extra mile" to encourage participation. Its time to concentrate on perfecting the rules for the guys that are actually participating and not worry about changes that "may" encourage some "theoretical" newcomer. They will join if they want to, guaranteed.<br>
<br> Oh, and by the way, sometimes the best action to take is no action at all.<br clear="all"><br>Keith Hoard<br>Collierville, TN<br><a href="mailto:khoard@gmail.com">khoard@gmail.com</a><br><br><span></span>. . .<snip>. . <br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif">
<div><span> I can't see great numbers of newbies flocking to join our ranks. I think it is what it is. I'll strive to see small gains and little victory's when we get someone new to enjoy the sport.. .<snip>. . .</span></div>
<div><span> Now lets see how we handle $6 gas. Mike Mueller</span></div>
<div><br></div>
<div style="FONT-FAMILY:times new roman,new york,times,serif;FONT-SIZE:12pt">
<div style="FONT-FAMILY:times new roman,new york,times,serif;FONT-SIZE:12pt">
<div dir="ltr"><font face="Arial">
<div style="BORDER-BOTTOM:#ccc 1px solid;BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;PADDING-BOTTOM:0px;LINE-HEIGHT:0;MARGIN:5px 0px;PADDING-LEFT:0px;PADDING-RIGHT:0px;min-height:0px;FONT-SIZE:0px;BORDER-TOP:#ccc 1px solid;BORDER-RIGHT:#ccc 1px solid;PADDING-TOP:0px" readonly>
</div><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold"></span></b></font><br></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div>