Hello! Honestly, I believe I can understand the purpose of the survey but I would like to "throw a rock in the water" so to speak. I have been an active builder for well over 60 years and for the past 30 plus years, a life member of the AMA. I started out with control line, transitioning to radio control and resuming control line over the past twelve or thirteen years. Over this period, I have participated in a number of regional control line events for both fun and competition. Granted, I'm not all that good but that's mainly by choice. However, over all this span of time, I'm not nor have I been a member of PAMPA. Why? I never saw a need, benefit or purpose. Would my responses and or experiences be useful to this survey? I would wonder how many other fellow builder/flyers are like me and would the input of those fellows (assuming they can be reached for response) be useful to the future goals of the organization.
Jim
I think I can answer most of your question, Jim. PAMPA isn't just a generic special interest group for control line models in general. It's purpose is to focus on the precision aerobatics event. In the time span that you describe, that is the same time period where PAMPA was established and grew along with the then great numbers of people that were starting up in the event or coming back into it. Keep in mind also that this was pre-internet, as I'm sure you are aware. All the C/L disciplines experienced similar increased interest and growth. Before that, any person starting out had to seek help where he could find it and while the AMA could cover all bases at first, when things got really busy, it became time for the SIG, or the special interest group for each discipline. PAMPA was established in the mid 70's and along the road of it's history it was there to cover all the changes in design and technology, and PAMPA"s Stunt News newsletter and then magazine was looked on as a number one source for good technical information if you needed it. Just think about the greats of the event that have been along for the ride, and they were all pretty free with their time and technology. If you wanted to get better at stunt and move up the ranks of the skill classes, you NEEDED to be a member just so you could get Stunt News. You were not going to find the same stuff in the model magazines, although they did the best they could with having to include all the other discipline of the hobby in between the covers. People were posting in and writing articles for Stunt News that never did write for the magazines. Just about anything that you can find in Stunt Hanger in regards to getting started in flying stunt, with the exception of the current electric technologies, you can find in Stunt News. I treasure my collection of them. I first joined in the late 80's or early 90's and have kept all of mine, plus added the early years as I could find them. I don't think any of the other C/L disciplines have equaled what the people that produced Stunt News has put out. We have come to a point in history, not just in stunt but the hobby industry in general, that is nothing like anything that has been experienced. You can read in letters to the editor in the old magazines that people were concerned about just what is happening now, though. It just took a lot longer for things to formulate. There was even B.O.M rule debates back in the 40's, 50's and 60's! But I never thought I would see a time where I would have trouble buying a good, reasonably priced glow plug, or that balsa wood supplies and prices would bet this out of hand, and when you couple that with just a simple, large scale lack of interest by newcomers to get involved in the hobby at ANY level, that spells genuine trouble to me. If the purpose is to grow PAMPA, you need the same one thing that you need to grow anything and that is seed. Who are the new people coming in and where are they coming from. I have always held and still hold the belief that you can NOT make some one want to do this hobby. This hobby is NOT for everyone because many of them simply will NOT be able to do it at any level. People are VERY different these days, in their temperament, patience, skills and ability to learn. But having said that, if there is ONE person that wants to give it a shot, he needs access to something like PAMPA to help flatten the learning curve. I have spent MANY, many hours over 17 years talking with people standing in the hot sun at Oshkosh while I took their kids on their introductory C/L flight at KidVenture, so I think I have a pretty good insight into the subject. I think the total since Kidventure began was over 45,000 I think and a pretty healthy chunk of that number are "my" kids!! One statistic that I would like to know is how many took the next step? My guess is that it's in the single digit percentages, but at least we try. With all those kids and adults that we gave flights to, you might be surprised at how many turn their backs and walked away, just not impressed or interested. That isn't talked about very much but I'm here to tell you I have seen them. These people are the seed we have to start with. You are not going to reap very much at harvest with seed stock like that. If the purpose is to grow PAMPA, I think it will have to be done with establishing a very good field in which to grow. And that means an organization that will welcome raw beginners of all kinds. It can't be just for or geared toward the elite NATS pilot. It took me 17 years to go from my first beginners contest until I finally won my first Expert class event, and PAMPA was a big part of that all along the way. That's what they need to set up PAMPA for, and that is what PAMPA needs to be set up for , so that the next guy like me can count on it to be there 17 years from now. But even that statement leads to another question, are the next generation of C'L stunt modelers in it for the long haul?? This ain't gonna happen over night.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
Topic: Survey Monkey? (Read 2884 times)