"what was your first plane"

Excellent question.

Pattern ships are generally enclosed engine and will go where you point them. The first makes tuning a bit trickier and the second is great if you know what you're doing. Some have tapered wings that are trickie at low speed (specifically landing).

But, like many desciptives in this hobby "pattern" covers a great deal of territory. The pattern models of 25 years ago are todays classic sport models.