ORIGINAL: Shimano
Ryan I agree with you completely.
And burtona, that makes perfect sense really. If any class's should have take off and landing removed from scoring, it should be the lowest of class's.
I would love to see the guys in basic and sportsman have that small bit of relief. Thinking about it, that is generally where those class's have the most mishap's. A lot of the people in the basic and sportsman class's are having enough of a time just getting in that 'crash free' flight, let alone a good score.
*disclaimer*
the above statement was in no way meant to insult the flying skills of the lower class pattern guys, and we apologize for any confusion or discomfort we may have caused.
And not to be contrary just for the heck of it, but the opposite argument could be (and probably has been) made as well.
The lower classes are designed
specifically to emphasize the basic skills, of which landing is a very important one, arguably the most important.
Why? When you think about it, outside the occasional dumb-thumb or mid-air, the cause of most airframe stress and damage to models is bad landings. Removing the element from judging only encourages more of the same.
And I'm sure the AMA and its insurance underwriter and our fellow competitors agree that NOTHING is more important than complete control of the model when it is in close proximity to people. That's another one of the things I like about Pattern, a greatly reduced chance of getting hit by an out-of-control model as compared to the average sport flying field.