I am an advocate of pattern flying everywhere I go - local clubs, friends clubs, in other forums, etc. I honestly don't think cost is a driving factor in keeping people away from precision aerobatics. I don't think I can say I've never heard someone say 'nah, too expensive' however that maybe only happened once or twice, and by people that didn't want to get into anything bigger than a .40 size plane.

People see me fly pattern moves at the field all the time, and usually someone comments or wants to try. Generally people give up shortly thereafter - they don't want to put the energy into perfecting a maneuver, they just want to see the plane fly and do fun things.

When I help new people at the field, I try to get them to fly a box, maintaining constant altitude, constant roll angles through the turn, etc. and people DO NOT want to practice this; they'd rather 'just fly' their plane.

3D on most lower levels totally lacks this precision! There are some amazing pilots that fly 3D in my club, and they even comment that IMAC and precision is just too hard! They take off and do a cool snap 20 feet off the ground, but the plane is NEVER on the same flight path! They admit that they are in awe at seeing the top pattern guys do this, but I haven't seen any of them put in the effort to try to do this. To me, it's ugly! What good is a snap if you can't hold a flight path?? That's what makes us pattern pilots, and the others 3D and/or IMAC pilots. It is not the difference of .5kg in an airframe.

Just for some clarity, I am not saying that 3D/IMAC pilots lack any kind of skill. Their maneuvers require a different kind of discipline, and it is a style of flying that seems to be more attractive to new pilots. Each discipline has it's own challenges and I prefer the aesthetics and control of precision aerobatics. I can't do 99% of the maneuvers the guys in my club are doing, however they don't seem to do any of their maneuvers with the precision that I do my (basic) maneuvers with.

If you put some of the downgrades we see into 3D competition/maneuvers, I bet you would see a drop in contestants.