Reality check. $4-5K for Pattern is much higher than what it really takes to be competitive. You can do three full blown 2M ships for the price of one 40% IMAC bird. You can get them all in one minivan, no trailer. What's the real cost to have and haul a backup bird in IMAC? Right, get a Dodge hemi and a big trailer.

$250 or so for an OS 1.60, $30 for a pump, $60 for a pipe, 15% fuel. $500 to $600 ARF and you can win a district championship with the right skills. You absolutely can get through the pattern twice, Masters, FAI, whatever, on one tank of glow. I do it all the time with a 20 plus figure sequence, as opposed to the 10 figure sequences in Scale Aerobatics. BTW, 20 min flights generally annoy the heck out of everyone else waiting for you to stop chopping the air with 3D. Not that I don't like 3D flying, but there are some obnoxious habits that get really tiring with 40% birds hanging on the prop all day. Rrrr, Rrr, Rrrr. Impressive. Yes, I can do it too. It got a little boring and took me a while to realize how obnoxious it was to everyone else at the field. Everything in moderation.

I get 15% fuel for a little over $6 / gal, buying it by the drum. Even by the case, it's only $12/gal. Gas at $3 a gal and a good synthetic mix, you are at the $5 mark (this weekend anyway) and you use double to triple the amount per flight as my 2M Temptation does.

Electric is an extremely viable option in Pattern in any class. Yes, that brings the initial cost up alot, but at least you can do it. Noise and huge overflight patterns an issue in your area? Losing fields? You might want electric airplane some day. Maybe an electric pattern plane. Electric viable in IMAC? Not really, not yet. Now then, D1 has 10 pattern contests this year. Now check the NE IMAC page. Oh yeah, I forgot. Pattern is dead.