May as well contribute the "gloom and doom" part of a response to Bob101..... and I'm ready for the onslaught....so ya'll fire away...
Here goes....

1. PROBABLY the people he ran into were VERY serious, hard-core COMPETITIVE pattern pilots. There used to be an "exclusive" pattern club ONLY in the TriCities area in TX. Huge initiation fee, capped membership, yearly allocation fee..... had a waiting list of folks. (As far as I know it fell apart because they concluded there WERE TOO MANY PILOTS!!!!!!!!!!)

2. "Serious" pattern people WANT to practice in isolated airspace. Now, some of ya'll may want to pump the b.s. about "no, we want ANYONE to fly", but you need to be HONEST, face the FACTS, and disclose the TRUTH about the game....the really SERIOUS guys aren't SEEN at a local field for their SERIOUS practice. They have other places.

3. At a field where there are ONLY 4 pattern fliers in attendance, and honoring the unwritten "one plane up at a time" rule/agreement, it STILL takes FOUR HOURS to put in a REAL serious four-flight session. So if one CHOOSES to be REALLY serious in the Game, they seek out places to fly where they can be the only guy (with their ONE pattern-buddy) to fly so that they can PRACTICE in a serious mode.

4. Those who have neither the luxury of an alternate place to fly, nor the TIME committment to "wait" at a local field are DOOMED to REALLY progress. Yeah, they can do really well at Sportsman, Intermediate, maybe up to Advanced.... but even THOSE guys are really GOOSEY about putting up their $3K pattern bird at the same time as hovering 3D'ers and .40 size sport ships.

5. IF you are brazen, carefree, and committed to flying in the herd, then your PRACTICE effectiveness REALLY goes to hell in a handbasket!!! This game is about MENTAL concentration and focus, and I've not met very many guys that can truly, REALLY, "ignore" all the buzz around 'em during practice attempts at the typical 10 - 15 fliers present at a time place.

6. Finally - "GOOD" pattern PEOPLE **** DO **** go out of their way to help, coach, train, call, fix, repair, teach ----- ANYONE ----- who shows a glimmer of interest. And when that interest grows, and the pattern newbie becomes a pattern regular --- well, now the "GOOD" pattern guy has lost 50% of HIS practice time.

So - maybe the pollyanna pattern purists who really believe the tripe about "flying with everyone any time all the time" will get HONEST about it and share the BALANCED facts.....

1. We *are* obligated, I believe to help grow the game. That means we have to be where the "herd" is to influence and grow them.
2. Number 1 means that we NOW have to committ TWICE the time so that we can have OUR practice (yes, it CAN be done)
3. Pattern folks DO want more players - BUT ONLY TO THE OPERATIONAL LIMIT of the local field, and the local contest. If folks are HONEST about it, they really do NOT want so many pilots at a competition that you can only fly four rounds. Makes it a lot less meaningful at a comp when the winner is the best of 3 or 4.

I ***LOVE*** pattern airplanes. I LOVE the camaraderie of the folks who play. I REALLY enjoy contests with the local good guys.

BUT - I really do NOT want SEVEN or EIGHT of us "competing" for just a simple practice time....

The nature of this game is that it is a self-limiting environment of a complex mix of interest, committment, skill, financial capability, and TIME. At "x" numbers of competitors, life is "good". At "x + TWO" numbers of competitors, things may actually start to SUCK.

Okay, everyone ----- FIRE AWAY.