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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Ken,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I'm probably going to get blasted for this one, but I
think it is too hard for many of the pilots coming out of Sportsman. I judge an
awful lot of Intermediate pilots through the course of a summer. I see some that
are doing quite well who should be making the move to Advanced. I see many
others that get into all kinds of box trouble trying to fly turnaround in a
crosswind and just as many that merely survive the two rolls rather than fly it.
I've seen instances where a third roll would've meant carnage. There are
few that do the rolls quite well but many more that don't. I fail to see the
logic or safety of adding a snap to pilots at that stage. I think the class as
it stands has plenty of lessons to be learned and that should be learned. I
really believe that Advanced is way too big of a jump coming out Intermediate
and made these same arguments as these schedules were being developed. Just my
opinion but it's based on experience and what I see. All of this is moot for a
couple of years anyhow. It would be inappropriate for a CB Member to submit
proposed schedules, at least I think it would, so any proposed changes will have
to come from you guys.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Verne</FONT></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=kvelez@comcast.net href="mailto:kvelez@comcast.net">Ken Velez</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> Monday, January 10, 2005 6:40
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Class Structure</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Hey Vern instead of taking the snap out of
Advance why don't we incorporate back in Intermediate the immelmann to the top
and do a horizontal snap in the center, no 45 down no figures just a clean
straight and level snap at center to finish the sequence. Introduces the snap
into intermediate and isn't too difficult for the sportsman coming up.
Just a thought.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ken</FONT></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=verne@twmi.rr.com href="mailto:verne@twmi.rr.com">Verne Koester</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">NSRCA</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, January 09, 2005 6:58
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Class Structure</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman">Georgie,<BR>Here's a
novel idea. Leave Intermediate alone and take the snaps out of <BR>Advanced.
A pilot coming out of Intermediate into Advanced already has to <BR>learn
Slow Rolls, 4 Point Rolls, and a longer schedule with more crosswind
<BR>exposure maneuvers which is plenty.<BR><BR>The step from Advanced to
Masters is minimal at best. The step from <BR>Intermediate to Advanced is
monumental. The end result is a bunch of pilots <BR>in Intermediate that are
getting bored with their schedule but still not <BR>ready for Advanced so
they want to add snaps to it. Only problem is that <BR>someone coming out of
Sportsman will likely be scared away if Intermediate <BR>is made any
tougher.<BR><BR>It's no surprise to me that the number of Masters pilots at
any given <BR>contest are far greater than the classes that precede it. Most
of us who are <BR>there came up through a balanced system of steps. We're
all out of whack <BR>right now. Unfortunately, I seem to be one of only a
handful of Masters and <BR>higher pilots that still remembers how hard it
was to learn slow and 4 point <BR>rolls which gets introduced at the
Advanced level. Take the snaps and spins <BR>out of Advanced and introduce
them at the Masters level, put some box exits <BR>back where they need to
be, and you'll have a logical, balanced, and <BR>transitional set of
schedules that takes a pilot from Sportsman to however <BR>high he or she
wants to go.<BR><BR>Verne Koester<BR><BR><BR>----- Original Message -----
<BR>From: "George Kennie" <</FONT><A href=""><FONT
face="Times New Roman">geobet@gis.net</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">><BR>To: <</FONT><A href=""><FONT
face="Times New Roman">discussion@nsrca.org</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">><BR>Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 2:28
PM<BR>Subject: Re: adding interest and complexity to Sportsman ... again and
again <BR>and<BR><BR><BR>> <<I'm not flying masters, I'm flying
advanced, the reason is<BR>> Masters is<BR>> more difficult than I
think I can reasonably fly at this time, so<BR>> I'll work my way up.
>><BR>><BR>> I respectfully disagree with your assessment of
schedule difficulty.<BR>> I get the feeling that you haven't taken the
time to sit down and<BR>> really study the current Master's sequence. I
commend your attitude<BR>> of working your way up!!!IMHO, I find the
current Master's much less<BR>> threatening than the Advanced
sequence.<BR>><BR>> Somebody mentioned "going to contests without
practicing", and<BR>> indeed I can remember, back in the 60's going to a
contest myself<BR>> having never performed the required routine and doing
quite well at<BR>> the time.However those were significantly different
times and I<BR>> myself would not desire to return to the mindset of that
period.It<BR>> was called a "Pattern Contest" and the attendance was
probably a<BR>> couple of hundred guys, but the mindset was more like a
current day<BR>> "Fun- Fly". Nobody really took it all that seriously.
Somewhere<BR>> along the line, the few individuals that did have a more
serious<BR>> approach organized and brought a more serious aspect to the
sport<BR>> realizing that the basis for guys going out and flying a
routine<BR>> that was in fact JUDGED meant that the concept must<BR>>
be"COMPETITION". I think that this is probably the reason you
still<BR>> find the most heavily attended events to be "Fun-Fly's". When
it<BR>> gets too serious there are a lot of guys that start to
feel<BR>> threatened regarding their status within the group structure
and<BR>> when the pressure becomes, in their estimation, greater than
feels<BR>> comfortable to them, they gravitate to a different venue
that<BR>> restores the level of comfort they deem appropriate.<BR>>
The same thing seems to happen, in my judgement, with schedule<BR>>
complexity.Some of us realize that if the schedules become more and<BR>>
more complex, at some point the difficulty factor will become<BR>>
significant enough to threaten our currently hard won achievement<BR>>
status, and indeed this is true.The decision that probably needs to<BR>>
be reasoned through is,in light of this truth, should the pursuit of<BR>>
excellence be sacrificed to satisfy the inadequacies of those of us<BR>>
who are clammoring to maintain their elevation?<BR>> I consider myself a
part of this equation and recognize my own<BR>> inadequacies, however
I also realize that this same pursuit of<BR>> excellence will not
be enhanced by any concession to tilt the<BR>> playing field in my favor.
Noone will be served by that tack. Least<BR>> of all ME! My flying
prowess ranks somewhere between Sportsman and<BR>> Intermediate(my
assessment), and though I find a couple of the FAI<BR>> maneuvers really
tough to execute in a graceful manner, I still feel<BR>> that there is no
maneuver that I could not learn to do and given<BR>> another 50 years of
practice I might even be in a position to<BR>> challenge Jason.<BR>>
It's about STRIVING guys. That's what COMPETITION is! And it's<BR>>
purpose is to determine the most skilled individual, with the rest<BR>>
of us rated in descending order beneath the rating of the BEST! So,<BR>>
as you can see, I'm not in favor of wussing out to make things<BR>>
easier for anybody who finds their position at the pinnacle<BR>>
precarious(and that includes ME).<BR>> Now, all that being said, I do
feel that we may have a void at the<BR>> bottom and should probably go
back again and reconsider a pre-novice<BR>> class for the guy who has
only been involved in the sport for 2<BR>> weeks and has never practiced
flying a straight line.This shouldn't<BR>> take much additional time as
the number of guys showing up to<BR>> participate in this class will
indeed be very few (which begs the<BR>> question, how far do we have to
concede in order to grow the<BR>> ranks?).<BR>> The Sportsman sequence
I proposed a couple of days ago DOES appear<BR>> to be too difficult for
some of the respondants(but not all) and<BR>> maybe the old Novice
schedule should be made available for anybody<BR>> showing up to try (as
a pre-novice event).I also think that the<BR>> Intermediate should
introduce it's participant to the 45 downline<BR>> snap or at least a
center snap on a horizontal baseline as<BR>> preparation for
Advanced.<BR>> Only a bunch of opinions, guys! Don't mean I'm
right!<BR>> G.<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>>
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