To me Arch’s post regarding practice and dedication is the key. I went thru the same curve as he. I personally invested major time, dollars and energy into learning and understanding the sport of pattern. I’ll be the first to tell you I do not possess natural magic skills, improvements in my flying over the years came from hard work.

I reflect back to high school when I tried out for the swimming team…yea that’s right not b-ball or football I said swimming. Sure I could swim however my technique and endurance was horrible I was not competitive until my second season. I became a student of the sport and listened to my coach on how to improve my technique for all four stroke disciplines and became one of the top Individual medley swimmers in the city. I simple applied the same effort to pattern flying.

Not sure what I said to Scott at the N Dallas contest this past weekend that made him reference me in an earlier post. Nice to be associated with Tony F tho.... I'm of the opinion the current AMA classes and their degree of difficultly are just, sure some minor tweaks are in order however adding another class is not the road I see AMA needing to travel. My perception is a large majority of AMA pattern flyers view the sport of pattern very casually. Do just enough to understand the rules and prepare just enough to attend contest for fun. (I probably made many new enemies with that last statement) Nothing wrong with that…I’m just saying guys like me who show-up at a contest after burning major amounts of fuel along with potent quality tuned equipment are viewed as trophy hogs which is further from the truth for me. I truly enjoy the practice and preparation it takes to be competitive. A contest is the validation the hard work has paid off.