I've been in the hobby since 1989 and enjoy anything that flies. I started flying imac in 03 and have enjoyed it very much, I have to say that one of the things I like about imac is the relaxed athmosphere, yes we joke around about zeros but it doesn't mean we like them. IMAC has not been around for as long as pattern and there is a lot of things I whish they did different like bringing back centering.
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Now, lets think about this for a second. What does the average " sport " and or" sunday" flier flies? Most likely an extra, yak or cap of some type. This makes it easy to go to a local IMAC contest and fly the same airplane they fly on the regular basis, they also get to sit down and watch or even participate on the free style part of the contest which any true modeler would like. Once they are hooked on IMAC they usually move to a 35% or 40% airplane.

I would love to try pattern one day but there is a couple of things that have turned me off. Going back to glow fuel and the fact that a pattern plane is very single purpose. There is no doubt that flying both IMAC and patern would make you a better pilot.

The average modeler has the impression that patern guys are very "stock up" and IMAC guys are more like the sunday flier and this impression I believe has hurt pattern more than anything else. My question is, Is this only an impression and if so what do you guys think has created it? The other big factor is the fact that pattern doesn't get the exposure that IMAC gets, besides the NATS and the worlds there's no big events. The biggest RC events that get the most coverage are based on IMAC type airplanes. If you ask any teenager who's their idol they will most likely tell you Quique Zomensini or Mark Leesburg, but If you asked the same question twenty years ago they would have told you Hanno Pretner. The hobby has changed, at least we have the options to fly either or both.

Albert Santiago
( perhaps a future pattern flier)