Tim,

I really don't understand your arguement. You say 4-6 years to get to Masters, and then 20 years staying there...adding another class would just add another class you have to get through, but doesn't mean you wouldnt end up in Masters. When I started flying masters, I was middle of the pack at local contests, and the same at the NATS. I went out and worked my tail off to get near the top and work my tail off to stay there. I know Glen Watson is the same way. Neither of us are blessed with magical abilities. Last weekend in Cincy I didn't win all the rounds and didn't win the contest. Verne, Mike and Brenner all flew very well, so its not like we are going out and winning every contest and nothing is close. Joe Lachowski and Dennis Bodary are 2 guys that under your arguement should be really pushing for a new class. They are both where I was a few years ago. Dennis usually finishes mid pack at local contests and Joe usually is around 3rd or so. Both I'm sure will agree that having better competition in the districts has made them fly better. Which would you rather be, a better pilot, or a guy who goes home with a trophy every week? I think we do this to make us better pilots. Competition is the driving force behind this. I'm not real sure what you would take out of a Masters sequence to make it easier for an "Expert" class. The maneuvers themselves in Masters aren't much about Advanced, but the complexity of making it fit within the box is. I would say the top 25 at the NATS at some point have flown each maneuver in the schedule very well, the difference in making the finals is putting all the maneuvers together in any given flight. In Masters, you can NOT have a bad maneuver, it will drop you from 1st to last in a round pretty easily, so I think that speaks to some level of parity. I know if I look at scores of contests I have flown this year, I see guys scoring roughly the same against me as they did at the beginning of the year, or even higher, however, I KNOW that i am flying a lot better around the NATS than I was at the beginning of the season, so therefor everyone is improving. Nothing makes you a better pilot like competition.

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