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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Wasn't there a noise rule enforced at this year's IMAC
NATS? Possibly this held back many IMAC participants for fear that they
wouldn't pass. ???</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bob W.</FONT></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=Rcmaster199@aol.com
href="mailto:Rcmaster199@aol.com">Rcmaster199@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 29, 2003 11:13
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Pattern & Imac 2003
Nationals articles in AMA Mag.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Ken very interesting and valid points all. <BR>In
particular, the great number of meets that IMAC enjoys now, reminds me of how
pattern was about 20 years. As of last count, I think there were about a dozen
IMAC events in Florida alone, or about twice as many Pattern
events.<BR><BR>The fact that the IMAC Nats only had 37 entries this year, I
don't believe reflects the relative participation in this area of the hobby in
general. Dare it be said that the AMA Nats appears to be less important to
IMAC than the professional events are? The Nats isn't a money event like
the other national events you mentioned. I have to think that the IMAC
people would rather win some real money or substantial prizes when they do
well. <BR><BR>We in pattern would probably do the same if the opportunity ever
presented itself. As far as I recall, Pattern has never had that kind of
support from the Industry as IMAC is enjoying right now. It's also true that
the Industry is considerably larger now than 20 years ago by a wide margin, so
more marketing folks are willing to invest more up front for bigger returns
later. The fact that the IMAC style planes seem to have proliferated every
club in a big way, just makes this part of the pie very large, and affords
that kind of support.<BR><BR>When I see that some of the high level events you
mention give away as much as 20,000$ worth of cash and prizes, it's small
wonder they draw 70+ pilots.<BR><BR>Right now, the Pattern Nats is the biggest
event the Pattern folks have, and it means alot to those who compete to win
trophies. If the same Marketing people supported some key Pattern events
around the country in a similar way, would the Pattern Nats have the same
meaning?? I haftawonder<BR><BR>Matt K<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"
TYPE="CITE">Subj:<B>Re: Pattern & Imac 2003 Nationals articles in AMA
Mag. </B><BR>Date:10/29/2003 12:36:06 PM Eastern Standard Time<BR>From:<A
href="mailto:rcplanefan@yahoo.com">rcplanefan@yahoo.com</A><BR>Reply-to:<A
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A><BR>To:<A
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A><BR><I>Sent from
the Internet </I><BR><BR><BR><BR>George and all,<BR><BR>This is my first
post on this forum as I've been<BR>lurking for a while. I currently
fly IMAC and have<BR>for the past 3 years. I have never flown
pattern,<BR>though I am interested in getting started. I chose
to<BR>fly IMAC because I like the "scale looking" airplanes<BR>and love
competitive aerobatics. I just wanted to<BR>make a couple of comments
on your post.<BR><BR>First of all, I didn't attend the NATS this year
which<BR>kind of sucks because I live in Cincinnati and would<BR>have only
had about a 2 or 3 hour drive. However,<BR>there were 21 IMAC contests
in my region (North<BR>Central) during this past season. All of
these<BR>contests occur on weekends and, as a result, require<BR>that I take
no vacation from work to attend. The<BR>average attendance was about
20 people--some had many<BR>more than 30, a few had less than 20. So,
at least in<BR>my region, the competitive circuit is full. The
NATS<BR>would have required taking the better part of a week<BR>away from
work. Nah, for me I can compete in 15-20<BR>contests during the
spring, summer, and fall. No need<BR>to skip a week of work for the
NATS.<BR><BR>Economic reasons? Well, this has been said many
times<BR>before, but the top-of-the-line IMAC plane really<BR>doesn't cost
any more that a top-of-the-line pattern<BR>plane. I don't think that
"most" IMAC guys have<BR>planes worth >$7500. I personally know
very few. <BR>However, most of the competitive planes are large. <BR>Ever
tried to ship one of these via the airlines? <BR>Can't be done. Which
means you have to drive to the<BR>contest--usually towing a trailer, or ship
in a crate.<BR>Not alot of guys in California who want to do either<BR>(and
I don't blame them).<BR><BR>The IMAC NATS to me is really just another
contest. <BR>And I have so many to choose from that don't require a<BR>week
away, that I chose to skip. You are correct<BR>about one thing--the
article certainly won't help<BR>future NATS attendence. But there are
plenty of other<BR>"national" level contests to attend--the Joe
Nall<BR>Masters, JR Challenge, and Tuscon Shootout to name
a<BR>few.<BR><BR>Anyway, I hope you guys realize that IMAC is really<BR>the
same type of guys as pattern flying competitive<BR>aerobatics with a
different type of plane. Same goal<BR>in mind, though--precision
flight. Please don't get<BR>an "us vs. them" thing going. This
is supposed to be<BR>fun--it sure a hell is for me!<BR><BR>Ken
McGuire<BR><BR><BR>--- george kennie <geobet@gis.net> wrote:<BR>>
Boy, I had a similar reaction. After all the hype<BR>> over the last
several<BR>> years about how Imac is the fastest growing venue of<BR>>
the sport, they had<BR>> a total head count of 37??? C'mon, at a
Nationals<BR>> event??????????? As<BR>> far as representatives
of a SIG, it appears that<BR>> they had absolutely<BR>> zero support
people. You can't feel that this is due<BR>> to some economic<BR>>
condition, as all these guys seem to have airplanes<BR>> in the
>$7500<BR>> category. It also sounds like they do not have a<BR>>
judging program to<BR>> certify potential judges, as there were
many<BR>> complaints regarding unfair<BR>> scoring awards, resulting
in many pilots realizing<BR>> that they had been<BR>> unduly
cheated.<BR>> The overall tenor of the entire meet seemed to have<BR>>
a great black pall<BR>> decend upon Muncie for the duration of their
event<BR>> with nobody leaving<BR>> for home with a good
feeling.<BR>> This report certainly does not bode well as an<BR>>
encouraging carrot<BR>> regarding future attendance.<BR>> Their venue
appears to require a super shot in the<BR>> arm of administrative<BR>>
influx, if they are going to survive in a manner<BR>> capable of
sustaining<BR>> any number base.<BR>> It's very SAD!!!!!!!!<BR>>
Georgie</BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>