Why don't we propose exactly what Tony suggests? Let's approve BOTH long and short, fly the short on Saturday and the long on Sunday. This allows slight variation for our Masters fliers and gives them more of a challenge. The FAI guys memorize and perfect multiple patterns so then why shouldn't the bad boys of Masters? It's the highest level that you "have" to go to in Pattern so it should have the highest level of difficulty whether it be in K Factor or learning multiple sequences. To me, I think it adds yet another exciting facet to our top AMA class.

On the flip side of the coin, let's not forget about the "average" pilot that actually makes up the majority of us. Tony, you are an outstanding pilot and a force to be reckoned with on all levels of flight but there are a majority of us that don't have the skills you do (yet we continually try) and would like to be competitive and be able to place up in the standings occasionally. Since we are forced to move to Masters at some point, I would think we would want to look at a sequence that is acceptable for the majority of us and not necessarily just the best pilots in the class to give them a challenge. When an Advanced pilot is forced into moving and faces the daunting task of learning something that challenges the bad boys, it's rather overwhelming and could be a deterrent for some folks. If we are just solely looking at challenging the top brass then we need to not force the great local guys that win contests up to Masters as they may or may not want that much of a challenge. I look at the FAI sequence with the Figure M where part of it is a knife-edge loop! Personally, I look at that and think to myself, I don't think I can do that! Do we really want to have our Advanced fliers looking at Masters and say the same thing knowing they are forced into that class?

So to wrap it up, I love the idea of two sequences being approved and I'll work my tail off to get it right but don't forget about "everyone else' that may not want a huge learning curve when they first step foot into Masters. We compete to win....there is no other reason to compete really. I'm speaking solely from the standpoint of the competition. We wouldn't be running up to see the scores if this wasn't true.