Nice thread,
flying pattern really is very enjoying. You concentrate on flying and do not remember the colour of your model in the evening... It´s about improving your skills, flying style and precision day after day.

Pattern is a lot easier and quieter to watch now than it used to be. When I first saw pattern it was flown by lightning fast 60 size models and was hard to fly and hard to watch. The new era of pattern is fun to watch and the constant speed makes the lines more gracefull and easier to appreciate. The skill needed is probably more now than then due to the box but that what makes it graceful and challenging.</p>

is this the CURRENT (2010) sequence for sportsman??

http://www.nsrca.us/ama-classes/sportsman.html

Yep, that's it...

What is "pattern" flying...one definition!

The Rusty's (Rusty Dose, left and Rusty Fried, right) at E-Fest 2010.

(1) bottle of foam safe CA $6.99
(15) gallons of unleaded gasoline to travel to Champaign from Chicago $40.80
(1) Great Planes "Playmate" borrowed from Rusty's kids $79.99

Enjoying a weekend of "practice" with one of your pattern buddies...priceless!

Rusty Fried is the contest director for the upcoming Phoenix pattern contest February 20 and 21, 2010.

Rusty Dose
Team Futaba

Hello  I am new to RC little over a year and just flying trainers.  I bought a Giles 202 with about 74 inch wing span.  It was at a swap meet and the plane had been stripped to recover and not all the parts are there.  I would like to rebuild this plane and need to know where I can get replacement parts for it.  Any help out there.  I am not even sure who built this plane.  I have found a Giles 202 by Phoenix models but it is a 47 eng size with 53 inch wing. Thank you  South Dakota Pilot

HI MY best suggestion is to get out and watch pattern being flown (or any other type of flying that may interest you ) at a field by accomplished pattern flyersno mater what type of flying you do you will have to appreciate the skilled flying you have the good fortune to be watching- as with any aspect of the RC airplane hobby seeing it done right might just be the insperation that sets you off to decide THAT IS THE KIND OF FLYING THAT I WANT TO GET REAL GOOD ATAND OFF YOU GO ON A NEW ADVENTURE ENJOY REGARDS TONY

Sorry i'm a pattern newb butIs IMAC Not pattern? What's the difference between IMAC and NSRCA? I'm a bit confused.

There are many differences between pattern and Imac, but the most noticable is with the aircraft limitations, Imac is flown with an aircraft that can be any size as longas it does not vary from scale by more that 10%, NSRCA pattern is limited only by wingspan of 2m, length of 2m and a weight of 11 pounds.

That is one of the most funny replies I ever read!!!

Though... 3D can be every bit as smooth and gracefull as pattern...

evidence???...... Here.....

http://www.giantcircus.com/Videos/WWWIII_P2.wmv

scroll fwd to about 1:35 this guy is smoooooooth!! lol

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">so i saw in one of the earlier pages, a suggestion of a tiger 60 being used. i'm just getting verycomfortable with my trainer, kadet MKII, and am building the goldberg tiger 2. is this plane too much of a trainer to really get a feel for the maneuvers being crisp, with all the dihedral and making it difficult to perform them? i've notices a lot of the planes that were listed as good pattern ships have a more, i guess for lack of better terms, 'flat' wing. i know the dihedral in a wing greatly effects the way she flies.</span>

Crash,

The Tiger 2 will work great for the sportsman class. One of our club members has one and I've flown it through Sportsman for him with no problems. The intermediate sequence is also possible, but I don't think it flies it as well, but it is more than acceptable for the sportsman class. Will it fly as well as a full blown well setup pattern plane, no, but it doesn't need to for Sportsman. The Tiger is a great second airplane and you will have lots of fun with it and it will greatly improve your flying skills,

Archie

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">awesome. thanks. idown loaded the sequence from one of the previous links, and will begin practicing as soon as i get my feet wet again this season, and finish the tiger. it's abou 50% now. thanks for the reply.</span>

I flew pattern in the 80s and I want to get back into it. I am still a proficient pilot and fly helicopters etc. but I would like to get into some sort of competition. I live in the TX region and there is a pretty full contest schedule but are the contests pretty well attended? Obviously COVID has taken a toll on all outdoor activities but other than that is it still pretty popular? Also, Can I get started with a smaller bird like 62" size AJ Acuity? Should I just jump right in to a 2 meter Acuity?

Thanks,
Scott

Scott, thatnis is really only a question you can answer. Yes, you can be competitive in sportsman and intermediate with a smaller airplane but will you " want " a larger airplane? For most of us that answer is unquestionably YES.

Nothing flies as well as a properly set up 2 m. Once you have flown one you will not want to fly anything smaller! However, a 62 in Acuity should perform very well in the lower classes and if you put in the practice can be pretty good and at FAI level but don't expect to win!. BUT you must be confident that you can land your aircraft in the right place and softly almost all the time. 2 m airframes are not built to crash land, they are built to fly exceptionally well. An arrival will almost always damage the landing gear fixing structure.