Actually.. the Novice class in pattern was changed to Basic because Novice gave a negative connotation to some.

I think the Basic class needs to be a full competitive class and require scale airplanes honestly. It used to be that the scale aerobatic airplanes were specialized things but things have changed. You can't go into any hobby store in the USA these days and NOT find some sort of IMAC legal airplane on the shelves. I really don't think the 'run what you have' idea is necessary anymore and it's time Basic become a recognized, fully competitive class.

As for the NATS, I truly wonder how many Basic pilots would travel to Muncie to compete? If you could demonstrate the numbers, then yeah, I'd include it, but I'd hate to have the class and then have 6 people show up, all local.