Hello:

I like pattern flying and practice most of the maneuvers in the sportsman’s class whenever I go to the flying field. To me, a large, round and well executed loop it’s a pleasure to see or achieve. Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to practice and advance beyond sportsman and in fact, I have only participated in one competition and didn’t placed very well, but I enjoyed it anyway.

I wonder about the future of Pattern Flying and that’s the reason behind this post, We have seen Pattern the way it was in the sixties and seventies, then the coming of the Turnaround Pattern; then maybe the increasing in power of the planes to be capable of executing the newer sequences; then maybe the widening of the plane’s bodies to allow to a more constant speed trough the sequences and today the ever increasing use of electric power in the pattern planes.

What do you think about the future of Pattern Flying?
What do you think that we will be seeing in the coming years?
Do you think that the size and weight limits now in use will have to be changed?
Or do you think that the complexity of the maneuvers will have to be increased (if it is still possible)?

Regarding the model’s design, I think that almost everything has been tried but a pusher configuration; I think that something like the Jet Bobcat design could be made to a good pattern plane with a pusher prop and the right momentums since there would not be any prop vortex hitting the tail section of the model; what would you think about such a plane?