The reason pattern is down is VERY simple. There are so many other options today for competitive people. In the 70's, 80's and even the 90's, pattern set the standard. Today, there is IMAC, heli's, jets, and others that allow people to compete without flying pattern. I bet the same number of people compete, but there are so many different disciplines out there. In the early 90's I bet most people thought of heli's as a novelty, now look at IRCHA, they get 800 pilots. Look at Joe Nall, they get 500 pilots. Those guys just like to fly. I don't want to hear the argument about how expensive it is....EVERYTHING is expensive, take up golf, bass fishing, cycling or anything else, you will spend at least as much and probably more. I'm not sure that including inflation that pattern is much more expensive now than it used to be. I think the expense certainly influences attendance. I would bet Disney and other resorts will say their attendance is down as well. Does this mean people don't want to have fun, no it just means that the cost is higher and its hard to justify going. In pattern, I would argue that the equipment isn't the expense. Go to 5-7 contests in a year by yourself and you will pay for a full blown pattern plane. On an average weekend of a contest 5 hours away, you will EASILY spend 300 for the weekend unless you have a travel partner. A usual pattern contest has between 20-30 pilots, and this allows everyone to get in 6 rounds before they go home. Try getting 40 pilots or more through 6 rounds in a weekend. The patterns take longer than they used to, thats a simple fact. Even with the shorter patterns, they all still take around 6 minutes. A major problem pattern has today is attracting the younger kids. I know at my club, the older guys are much more interested in flying pattern than the 14 year olds, as the 14 year olds, love heli's and 3D. I don't think most people gain an appreciation for pattern until you get older and realize the true level of difficultly. Lets be honest, if someone off the street shows up and is watching a top level pattern pilot, it is boring, because there is no way they can appreciated the true skill it takes. Whereas the same person shows up and sees a 40% flopping all over 4' off the ground, it is impressive with the size and noise. I know several guys who have flown IMAC for years and are coming back, if for no other reason it is much easier to deal with pattern size planes and they enjoy coming back to pattern. The bottom line is that we are NEVER going to have 50 pilots at a contest. IMAC, heli's and everything else are not going away. We need to help encourage new pilots to stick around. I know that at some point EVERYONE has felt they have been screwed by judges, HOWEVER, I would make the argument that everyone of us has also landed and though we flew horrible and received good scores. Over the course of a season I would bet that all the scores even out. I think overall the judging in pattern is pretty good...if you don't believe me, try flying IMAC, where a LOT of the rules are subjective, such as noise and airspace management. I know in every district I've ever been in, the guys I'm flying against are probably the most helpful and honest about what they see and what to do to fix it.

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