I said that jokingly but at the sod farm there really isn't a pattern. I just request you don't fly over my head and don't land on my plane (both have almost happened to me there).
At the real field, Edwin Warner Park, there isn't really a pattern either. Unless you call the guys walking to the woods to pee and then sitting back down at the picnic tables a pattern.

Everyone wasn't a yahoo at one time.

Some were always, and still are, yahoos.

As is in everyday life.

Flying R/C, as in all areas of life require social interaction, compassion, consideration and thoughtfulness.

Some don't have those qualities. And never will.

I was never a yahoo. Dumb, confused and intimidated, yes...but never a yahoo.

So it greatly pi**es me off to only be able to fly on weekdays knowing that if I dare fly on the weekends, it won't be fun.

I guess the key word is thoughtfulness, Some have it, some never did. Some never will...and some wish it could be put into the city water supply.....

This topic has been beaten up pretty well before.

My $0.02:

It's a give-and take. It sure is intimidating, but I personally don't get annoyed when one pattern guy is practicing and practically taking up all the "normal pattern" space to the point that you feel like you can't take off without getting in his way - or when some fun fliers start doing the 3D thing all over the runway. I just kick back and watch for a bit. When they're done and I'm ready, I fire up and do my thing - trying to stay in some sort of pattern that allows an upwind landing.

Different strokes. We gotta get along and share the space.

Yadda-yadda. SO you want to punch the pattern with your pretty maneuverable plane. I guess we're lucky we have room for 2 full patterns. The speed-plane guys take one, doing max airspeed - the others cower in the other space.... and our field's huge. Maybe patterns aren't all that... perhaps there's room for evet times as well....?

And your point was.... ?

At our field we have flight boxes along the flight line. It's one of the best ideas I've seen since coming into the sport. Not to get off track, but each of the four boxes is color coded. When you pull your transmitter from the impound, you post your frequency pin along with a card that matches one of the boxes of your choice. Four planes in the air at once isn't too bad. It all depends on who's flying what. We normally have a student in the air thru-out the day. They fly the pattern, maybe a figure eight every now and then, at a consistent altitude with the buddy box. What also helps is our boundaries. If your student is flying the pattern, another member stays fairly high, one will stick to flying perpendicular to the normal pattern at the downwind end of the runway, until the fourth guys shows up it stays pretty calm. When four are in the air you just need to fly conservative. A shout every now and then to let each other know your intentions is just a courtesy. I've yet to see a midair, or a struggle for landing room yet. Comes down to that courtesy and flying conservative when the sky is full, having reliable equipment meaning dead sticks are few and far between, and patience for the different skill levels of the flier. Sometimes a beginner is more of a nuisance than the accomplished pattern pro, and sometimes vice versa. When it stops being fun, that's when something needs to change. That's what the hobby is all about.

Hey Nex, welcome to the hobby!!

Hmm, have to come down there and fly with you guys sometime. Think they'd mind if I towed my "Texas Longhorns" banner over the stadium?

Basically when I go to a new field, I usually watch for a bit at first before even taking out my plane to see "how things are done". I sometimes will even take out a different plane depending on what is flying. And when in doubt, ask.

Oh, and if it's a bunch of old farts who are being shy, go up and ask them about their plane. Never seen one that wouldn't go on and on about one, how they put it together, how it flies better than anything they've ever seen, how back in the day....

My point is that one of the biggest reasons people fly r/c is for the DYNAMICS of it. You restrict everyone to cast-iron pattern and you make the dynamic static. Some people will enjoy the 'how close can you fly it' challenge.

Others won't. Try to understand that someone who doesn't want to fly a straight pattern isn't necessarilly evil... they just don't want to fly the patern.

You know... I don't see heli pilots telling fixed-wing guys they have to hover in place only in this little box, and fly inverted in that little box....

One more thing...

I think some of the people who're set on a pattern for a field derrive this from safety requirements of full-scale airports.

Sure... sometimes this applies. But it really burns me when a flier's the ONLY flier on the field and after he lands someone wants to chew him up for not following the pattern.

GET OVER IT. It's NOT a full scale field and you're NOT piloting a full-scale plane! It wasn't even his darn airplane! The club does NOT have a strict pattern restriction, just a beginner's area and beginner's times to fly. Restrict people a little more and see how it attracts people!

When you have 4-8 people in the air (again, our field's big enough for this) at the same time, people I guess should find some organization.... but are you really going to tell a sailplane pilot to 'do the pattern'?