Over time I have spent a lot of effort getting new people in to RC Aerobatics. One thing that is evident, we are not getting younger people in to the event. For the most part it is the 40,50-60-somethings that are trying pattern. Heck, we don't really have younger people at the club fields. It's not that they are not out there, it's just that the modelling they are interested in doesn't need a club field anymore.

Also, another reality is that people who can afford to fly pattern don't have the spare time that existed 20 years ago. The nature of American life is that work now absorbs much more time then it did before. Plus add the fact that most households have both parents working full time and there is even less spare time for hobbies.

Pattern needs to pay attention to these realities and not what was in the past. Older newcomers with less spare time means things have to change to maintain participation. The use of gyros will make it easier to get a good flying model. And their cost is less then what a decent servo costs these days.

I also completely agree with Jim's initial post that the box should be eliminated. I lose the vast majority of the people I get to fly pattern when they move from Sportsman to Intermediate. Staying in the box means they have to fly too far away for their comfort level. Vision isn't what it used to be when you are younger! The box served a purpose when Turnaround was started. That purpose is no longer needed. Get rid of the box and let people fly where they are comfortable.

Staying with the same old same old is not going to stop the decline in pattern. It is going to take change to stem the tide. Just saying that I had to work hard to get in to pattern so newcomers need to do that also is not a solution.