DJ, you are quite correct, I do live in an area with a lot of support and nice people. But truth be known, it only took one. All I needed were some questions answered; I had the determination and drive to do it for many years. I just couldn't find the info I needed (or felt I needed really).

There are local contests all over the US. To me they are worth the effort and the drive, even if I could only make one contest a year. I really consider myself fortunate to have so much activity around here (next season it looks like we'll have over 10 contests within driving distance!)

The cost of pattern....now that one is a real sticky point. Personally, I couldn't see spending $2000 on a state-of-the-art carbon/nomex airframe. So I got a set of plans and some wood and scratch built my own. I saved a fortune. And funny thing is, around here, in sportsman, these guys aren't flying Kaos's and Ultra Sports. They are flying state-of-the-art 2 meter pattern planes. And they aren't just "testing the waters", they mean business. Sportsman was the hottest class in the southeast this season. And at each contest, the numbers grew.

Now is the point I should mention that I took my scratch built balsa plane and I won all 8 contests this year and I'm the district 3 champion. Let me re-emphasize....with a scratch built wood plane, against carbon fiber and Nomex planes, and guys practicing 5 days a week. One was flying a Storm that Jason Shulman used to fly. It was professionally built.

The answer to being successful in pattern lies at the bottom of a stack of fuel. You can spend as much money as you like on pattern, or as little. Cass Underwood, a local guy, competes STRONGLY in advanced with a .60 sized Daddy Rabbit. The catch? If you expect to win, you simply have to practice more.

And that brings up time and effort. Nobody can solve this probem except the individual. Each person has to ask themselves what they are willing to spend in the way of effort. If it's not enough to compete at all, then so be it, that's thier choice. if they are willing to spend a little time but not a lot, they need to realize that they can still have a blast, but don't expect first place all the time, because there are a lot of people out there that live for this stuff. That's simply the nature of competition itself, and should NOT be frowned upon.

And there's guys like me that just live for it. I love it. I can't get enough. If I'm not practicing or building, I'm teaching a new guy how to do a round loop and fly a straight line. The biggest problem I have to be aware of is burn-out. I am aware of it, and I won't let hat happen. But to me, even if I wasn't winning, it would still be worth every second, every penny, every mile driven. I'll get my tail handed to me soon. And I'll laugh, smile, pat the guy that won on the back, and go practice and build some more. And learn. Always learn!

Anyway, that's my $.02 on the subject. Pattern, like anything else, is what you make of it. But it is very demanding in the area of effort. And some people simply don't have the time, or aren't interested in that kind of effort for flying R/C planes. And that's fine! But when that one guy has that interested, puzzled look....we need to be sure he gets the right info he needs to be successful and has fun at whatever level he chooses.

-Mike Hester