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<DIV>to all in the group.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The vast majority of us participating in this forum have been at it for a
while now. We have chosen to either overcome, or overlook, the many reasons for
NOT flying pattern. My guess is that for most of us it is a combination of
enjoyment and challenge. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I am one of those who just do not have enough time to do any real
practicing. As a result, I have been flying Advance schedules since 1990. I won
our district championship in Sportsman, now Intermediate, in 1989. I think that
was the year I beat Jason Shulman at a contest in NJ! But that is another story!
This year I attended just 4 contests and flew more contest flights on the
pattern ships than I did practice flights. I did manage to win one round at the
last contest, so I know I am capable of being "competitive", I just need more
practice time.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Since the mid-90s I have written a regular pattern column for 2 national
publications. Going on my 4th year writing for R/C Excellence. The attempt I
have made in all of these column is to convince the non-pattern flier, to give
pattern a try. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In the past 2 years I have built, flown, and reviewed, about 10 ARF
designs. Any of which would make acceptabel entry level mounts. All but 2 have
been 40 size. The other 2 were designed for the 90 size 4 strokes. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My feeling is that if we can get them to give it a try with a minimal
investment of money and time, maybe we can get them to stick around. In that
vein, I would sure like to hear from some of the newcomers. especially the D-8
Sportsman and Intermediate class winners who were indeed flying "less than
competitive" airplanes his year. Would really like to have a photo of these two
along with the planes they were flying.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If any of you have any ideas you think I can use in the column, that goes
out to non-pattern pilots, please feel free to contact me "off line". Photos of
the entry-level fliers are always welcome.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Terry T.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On Sun, 27 Oct 2002 09:29:32 -0800 "RC Steve Sterling" <<A
href="mailto:rcsteve@tcrcm.org">rcsteve@tcrcm.org</A>> writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid">
<DIV><SPAN class=791450217-27102002><FONT face=verdana>Tom, you have a point
about the "just plain tired." In our club, one of the most frequent excuses is
the level of commitment required-- time, equipment and money. Its not
true in district 8, since you can easily be competitive in Sportsman with
a 4 star or Tiger 60, a minimum of practice and attendance of two or three
meets. But its the impression it takes a lot of time, equipment and
money that we are fighting. In reality, the District 8 Sportsman
Champion flew a fun-fly Wonder for 3 of the 4 meets he attended. The
District 8 Intermediate Champ flew a 20+ year old Hippo Tippo. Neither
practiced more than once a week. Somehow, we got to turn this lore that it
takes a $2k airplane and abondoning the family to fly
pattern.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><SPAN class=791450217-27102002><FONT
face=verdana></FONT></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><SPAN
class=791450217-27102002> </SPAN>-----Original
Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> discussion-request@nsrca.org
[mailto:discussion-request@nsrca.org]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Thomas C.
Weedon<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 27, 2002 1:10 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
discussion@nsrca.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: bureaucratic
organization!<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV><SPAN class=130450009-27102002><FONT face=verdana>Just a few comments
in responce to the questions concerning Pattern Drop Outs. One reason not
mentioned is, "Just plain tired". Tired of trudging hundreds of miles every
other weekend, coming home late on Sunday nights and having to get up early
Monday morning an fighting yourself back to work, tired of coming home from
work most every night, skipping dinner, packing up the plane and heading to
the field for practice, tired of meeting deadlines, tired of .... (you name
it). Our hobby has a way of wearing some people down. I guess that's why I
look foreward to winter up here in the North county. I can then spend some
time on my other hobbies. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=130450009-27102002><FONT
face=verdana></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=130450009-27102002><FONT face=verdana>Now, for the lighter
side, we are seeing a resurgance in Pattern activity up here in D4. Our
latest problem, "Too Many Contests". That's great!!!! So, Pattern will
have a great future, long after I'm gone, and that makes me feel satisfied.
How about you all?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=130450009-27102002></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=130450009-27102002><FONT
face=verdana>Tom</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
discussion-request@nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request@nsrca.org]<B>On
Behalf Of </B>Bill Glaze<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, October 26, 2002 12:58
PM<BR><B>To:</B> discussion@nsrca.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: bureaucratic
organization!<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>Certainly not original thinking on my
part, but identifying similar organizations who are having current success
in the areas we want to increase, would be a good way to start.
Polls are interesting and useful, and sometimes indicative, but in many
cases it is difficult to really pinpoint the truth. Problem is,
analysis of information obtained. <BR>Some respondees themselves may not
be able to answer the question of why they dropped out; another difficulty
is that there probably could be 1,000 different answers from 1,000
different people. <BR>I was favorably impressed by the K-Factor poll I
received; it at least recognizes there is, in fact, a problem. I feel it
was very well done. <BR>Bob's idea of a poll is a good start; at least it
isn't addressing the choir, it is addressing former choir members to find
out why they quit, and addressing other members of the congregation to
find out why they haven't joined the choir. <BR>I have doubts about the
number of responses; I certainly hope they are many. That in itself
will be interesting.
<P>Bill Glaze
<P>John Ferrell wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="CITE">
<STYLE></STYLE>
<FONT face=Arial>You have defined the problem in usable
terms.</FONT> <FONT face=Arial><B>If </B>growth is a good
thing</FONT><FONT face=Arial><B>Then</B> identify the popular direction
and pursue it</FONT><FONT face=Arial><B>Else</B> the future is random or
essetially adrift.</FONT> <FONT face=Arial>Since the potential
subject base is not inclined to respond well to surveys</FONT><FONT
face=Arial>gathering the necessary input will be
tedious.</FONT> John Ferrell <BR>6241 Phillippi Rd <BR>Julian NC
27283 <BR>Phone: (336)685-9606 <BR>Dixie Competition Products <BR>NSRCA
479 AMA 4190 W8CCW <BR>"My Competition is Not My
Enemy" </BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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