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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Good points about the availability of ARFs
Mike. The other thing to help newbies understand is that they don't need
to spend alot of $$ for a really reliable, very powerful and great transitioning
engine. Generally, people associate getting into Pattern as something
where they have to learn to deal with expensive, possibly finicky 4
strokes. They are often pleasantly surprised, as I was to learn that it's
not necessary and that there are completely viable alternatives for a fraction
of overall cost. More education is needed. Like I said earlier, IMAC
knows how to market itself well. If there's anything to learn from the
IMAC SIG, that's it IMO. I was fortunate to have a really great resource
pool here in NJ who helped me with dozens of questions and choices about things
that leave the average guy really puzzled. What plug, how much nitro,
which pipe, what header length, you use a SOFT mount??? WHY?? etc. Turns
out there's a few simple cake recipes to follow. Who would have
thought?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Oh yeah, they like to see the sequences published
in Aresti. Show the average IMAC guy a typical pattern sequence
drawing and they often aren't exactly sure what to make of it all. Show
them the same sequence in Aresti and it's like a duck to water.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ed</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=precisionaero@comcast.net
href="mailto:precisionaero@comcast.net">Michael Cohen</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, July 25, 2005 9:04 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Does Pattern competition
cost too much?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The IMAC contest in ABQ had 30+ flyers, our
pattern contest two weeks later had 16. This imbalance has been in
place since I have lived out here. But Richard Lindberg, Kent Paul,
and I are working hard on continuing to make our contest more and more popular
and we have enjoyed increasing numbers for the past three years. I think
one reason for IMAC's popularity is the abundance of relatively inexpensive,
decent quality ARFs. Now that we are seeing more and more
pattern type ARFs coming to the market, we need to encourage people
to try them, and encourage those that buy them to give competition a
try. Richard has does an excellent job of assisting members of our
club, to the expense of his own flying. And he has helped nurture some
of those members in the pattern arena. Wish I could help more, but three
kids and working at Eclipse Aviation tends to put dampers on being able to get
out to fly, let alone help others. Anyhow, just keep encouraging others,
share your R/C knowledge, and shamelessly promote our version of R/C and that
can only help increase attendance at contests.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mike Cohen</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=joddino@socal.rr.com
href="mailto:joddino@socal.rr.com">J.Oddino</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, July 25, 2005 3:40
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Does Pattern competition cost
too much?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From time to time I hear folks suggesting the
reason the number of contestants is down is due to the high cost of pattern
planes and support equipment. Well I don't believe that is the
reason. This weekend I went to a relatively local IMAC contest in
Camarillo California and there were somthing like 61 preregistered and 56
actually flying. I'd guess 80% of the planes were 40% scale, meaning
they had $1500 engines and $3000 airframes and $1500 worth of servos.
Then you've got the motor homes and trucks and trailers to transport
them. I still say the highest cost of flying is the driving to and
from the field and that is probably why the park flyers are so
popular. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So what is the reason for the drop in
attendance and the drop in the number of pattern contests? Or is that
only in Southern California?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jim
O</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>