I think in the near future the technology will overrun the need for specific frequency monitoring as is done today. Whether its a spread spectrum 2.4 GHz or higher system or the gear becomes so good at signal rejection....either way I can see in a short while we wont concern ourselves with being shot down.

Yes insurance will always be a tough one....possibly MAAC may go to a second payer system as is done in the AMA to reduce premium costs.....

With the country as diverse as it is I can never see MAAC being effective at providing financial support for flying fields. The management of such a program would be a daunting task even for a paid employee. If you want to start sinking a ton of money somewhere this would probably be a good place :-) $100K doesnt go very far for land in metropolitan areas :-)

I would like to see this....not sure how one would approach it though.

I will assume you mean the Nats? I like the idea of category Nats, we have done this in pattern for a number of years while there was no combined Nats and it worked very well.....no seed money needed no arguing about where the profits go (back to the host club in these cases)....its simple and effective. It can also be location tailored to the areas with the most interest and is easily swapped one end of the country to the next on opposing years. I am "hardcore" competitor, I go to the Nats to win National titles and seeing other events to me is largely irrelevant...for the majority of people who attended our category Nats this was also the feeling I got. For those who fly in more than one event...what can I say there is no "perfect" solution :-)

There are drawbacks to category events, the obvious being the social and peripheral stuff that is associated with a full combined Nats (those who have attended one will get what I talking about).....also combined Nats hold much more status among the modelling community while category Nats are often perceived as a local event.

We only have to look south to see how to run a National Championships....I have been to the US Nats (well it will be 4 times this summer) and it is truly the largest Nationals in the world by a long shot. People come from around the globe to compete at the US Nats. You need to book hotels months in advance to get decent rooms, you cant move around Muncie without seeing a fellow flier somewhere, its really unreal. I think they have somewhere around 1500 entrants at the outdoor events and I dont know how many at the indoor events....takes well over a month to complete it. Pattern itself draws usually around 130-140 pilots.

I think to run a sucessful combined Nationals it really needs to be in the same location year after year with the same organizing group with the same budget etc etc etc.....this will at least guarantee continuity. Its been proven time and again that moving it around the country doesnt work. Obviously we cant get on the same scale as the US, but if we can get 1/10 of the way there (Vancouver proved the Nats can be succesful) then people will attend.....and having it fixed makes attendance that much simpler, especially for those who would have to travel. Nothing against the current organizers but they were way to late publishing dates for people in the west with busy summers to plan for the Nats....the set dates need to be out in October at least.

For those who question travel costs....well flights across Canada are relatively cheap...and Air Canada will take something as big as my pattern model (6.5' span, 6.5' long) on board for $25 each way :-) TX's go as carry-on :-) Anyways, this is getting off track.

Do we need a Nats in Canada? I dont know....I think the US should just refer to their Nats as the North American National Championships (much like Europe has the European championships) and call it done....we all go to Muncie every year and have a blast landing our foamies in the hotel's pools, and on the front desk in the lobby LOL. If we want to run a Canadian Nats as a side line item fine....