This could be fun.. lets take a poll

[Mike Griffin]

I thought this might be fun.  Lets see how many different types of CL pilots we have on here. 

Here is the question:

Are you a stunt pilot or a sport (fun) pilot?  You might do both but base you answer on what drives you to fly....is it to compete as in stunt or just to have fun and relax as in Sport fun flying.

Since I brought this up, I will go first.

My answer is SPORT.

[Mark Scarborough]

competition,,
without competition to drive my passion, I doubt if I would fly control line,,

[david smith]

Compitition...Navy Carrier

[jose modesto]

What Mark said.
Jose Modesto

[Matt Colan]

Stunt competition. Very hard to find anything more challenging yet rewarding at the same time.

[Larry Renger]

Designing new models and making wierd stuff competitive. Then taking trophies with them.

[goozgog]

stunt/competition/designing/building/hanging out/talkingtoomuch/repairing/spendingtoomuch/stunt/competion/etc.

[Howard Rush]

What Mark, Jose, Matt, and goozgog said, but throw in combat, even though I'm too old to do it.  What Larry said is what I want to do when I grow up, though.

[Mike Griffin]

OK  now we are getting somewhere... looks like at this point I am the only one who doesn't live on the competitive edge.....thats fine....come on you sport flyers I know you are out there living in the shadows....

[ChrisSarnowski]

I like to compete in both combat and stunt. It is fun to sport fly the combat ships sometimes (well really it is testing them). They just go where you point them and if you dork one usually it is ok after you dust it off. For the stunt ships, typically I am flying the pattern unless there is something wrong (bad needle, trimming, etc).

-Chris

[Bob Whitely]

What Mr. Rush said. RJ

[Paul Taylor]

I'm a Sport flyer that likes to compete in Stunt. Or am I a competition stunt pilot that flys for the sport of it?

[Randy Ryan]

Competitor, sport flying for me is like playing pool by myself, what's the point?

[ChrisSarnowski]

There's a lot of good things about flying that don't have to do with competition....

-starting the engine

-sounds and smells of running the engine

-the pull of your airplane on the lines as you guide it around the circle

-watching your creation fly as you hoped it would

to name a few..
Chris

[Paul Wood]

When I was a little guy, my Dad used to say he would rather build than fly.  I thought he was crazy.  But, now I'm him.  My enjoyment is in the quest for the flawless scratch built plane.  So...I build and fly sport.  Competition doesn't work for me, but I love to show off for the neighbors!

Paul

[Mike Keville]

Competition...

[Tim Wescott]

Competition.  Knowing that I'm going to be judged on my flying keeps me at it on the practice field.

[Clint Ormosen]

Not that I'm any good at it, but competition stunt for me.

[Steve Helmick]

Competition. I like "trimming" and making the model do as I wish, and sitting around BS'ing and discussing the results (of trim changes) during "Sport Flying" sessions. Too many "Sport Fliers" don't bother to trim out their plane, and just try to adapt their flying to what the plane can tolerate...that's just so wrong!

I also like getting out of the house, going on road trips, and finding a contest along the way, especially if it includes group dinners and a wee bit of good beer. I'm getting 2B less able to put in long hours in the saddle, so am not happy about that.   Steve

[Joe Just]

Carrier, OTS competition, but only for the reason listed at the bottom of this page.  Other than that, the reason I have been in this hobby since 1948 is the love I have for the planes, the people, and the adventure I feel evry time a plane of mine flys!
Joe Just

[Bill Ervin]

Competition.  For me it gives the activity a purpose and a reason to improve my flying/building/finishing. 

I always try to remember these quotes to keep things in perspective:

"winning isn't getting ahead of others, it's getting ahead of yourself"    -Roger Staubach

"Whenever you compete you must give your best, you must because you owe it to your fellow competitors- to show them respect."   -Paula Newby Fraser

My last contest was in April at the Bob Palmer Memorial, I came in 8th, waaay down there.  But! It was the FIRST TIME I had ever scored over 500 pts (529.5) in California!  In my heart I was the biggest winner that day.  That's why I compete.

Bill

[Hoss Cain]

I have not flown competition stunt is some 40+/- years. I loved that yet far too many other things in life to stick with one thing.

I have tried to get back, but I don't. 18 months ago I started a new original stunt design. Has not been touched for a year.

Guess that stops any "Competition" position.      

[MarcusCordeiro]

I've Always been involved with a kind of competition, like ball sports at school and the club, to BMX freestyle, drag Racing, and now CL.
I like it a lot, doing better, improving, expanding your knowledge, and going beyond what you thought was your limit... Adrenaline kick!!

By the way, my new toy.... F2C with Nelson 15.
Got from a friend to learn and get some practice...
Need a pilot though...

Marcus

[Eric Viglione]

Contest flying is the reason for the season for me. Heh.

Some people make competition sound like a dirty word. I think it's all in your perspective. You get together to play hearts, poker, cribbage, monopoly, scrabble, whatever with your family or friends, you keep score right ? Otherwise the game would never end and it would be quite boring. I've had some of my most memorable conversations and best laughs with family and friends over a game of cards.

Well, stunt contests for me are kinda like family reunions and we get to compete while we are at it.  I get to travel, to see friends and people I only get to see once or twice a year or only read about at these occasions, and get to see their new creations fly, while competing against them too. I get to see if/how much I've improved my building and flying in front of judges, and for 6 1/2 minutes, I have no friends and all bets are off. Lol! Not to mention the adrenalin rush I get when I know I burned in a good flight... Better than any amusement park ride!

It's as much a social thing as it is a personal journey, a reality check of sorts. Sometimes a humbling one, but its one we chose to do, and most  competitors seem to have the self confidence to take the bad with the good. What other sport can you be cheering on your buds to beat you, help them at your own peril, trash talk about whooping them, and be happy for them when they win and really mean it? Losing isn't the end of the world, and winning doesn't suck either, but there is so much more to competition than a $7 plaque. If that's all some people see, then they are truly missing out on the lions share of what it's all about.

I also have to add, competition might not be for everyone. There is a strong evidence there for the sport flyer also being confident in having nothing to prove, while having the ability, yet choosing not to compete. I get it. maybe they are like the kung fu masters that choose not to fight. Heh. That's cool too.
Competition may not be for everyone, but everyone is certainly welcome.

EricV

[Jim Hoffman]

What Eric V said.  Well said by the way.

Great to compete w/ folks I like and respect.  Stunt is littered w/  those folks.


Jim Hoffman

[Brian Massey]

Competitor, sport flying for me is like playing pool by myself, what's the point?

It's easier to win?

Brian

[Randy Cuberly]

Definitely Competition...isn't that where the money and women are!!!

I suppose if I wanted to do something just for sport I'd just ride motorcycles...I'm too old to compete there!  Besides there's money and women there too!

Randy Cuberly

PS:  I know that RJ and Howard aren't telling the whole truth...they're in it for the money and women also!

[Jim Thomerson]

I have always liked flying competitively.  I like the definition of what is trying to be accomplished at a contest.  I like designing and building airplanes and getting them to fly to suit me.  If my stuff works to suit me, and I fly as well as I can, I win.  Hey sometimes a third place trophy.  It is also the camaraderie of people who agree with me that going to a contest is good fun. 

I think my CL flying days are behind me, so I am working on my first RC sport airplane.  I went to the Dallas contest and judged.  I really enjoyed it.  So you will see me around whenever I can make it. 

[Randy Powell]

Competition.

[Derek Barry]

What Eric said.

Derek

[Steve Fitton]

What Eric said, with the addition that I would fly stunt even if there were no contests.  Its fun just to fly!

[SteveMoon]

Stunt competition. Competing drives me to always try to fly better, to try to
build a better plane, and to try to design a better plane or come up with a better
idea.

But, I also love to have some plain ole' fun. Those locally know that I (and Doug too)
will try some crazy stuff just to have some fun. Evidence: the double Skyray, the
Ultimate Bipe with the upper wing mounted to the outboard side of the lower wing (maybe
the only CL plane ever that could knife edge in flight), Doug's Estes rocket assisted
Me 262, flying my Hughes Stunter into a pole just to see what would happen, wingovers
into trash cans, etc, etc.

This hobby/sport is just plane fun!

Steve

[john e. holliday]

Well for me in the day it was Combat, Rat Racing and Carrier.    Most of my success was in Carrier.   I took up stunt when a young gentleman told me I should fly the pattern and compete.   I tried to get serious with  it and won a few trophies in the beginning, but work and family kept giving me road blocks.   Now at my age I fly/compete just for the fun of it.  No more worry about what judges put on score pad.   Also if I don't want to fly I take a pass.

[Clancy Arnold]

CL Scale!
Sport flying with a throttle, how many Touch / Go's can you do in a single flight?
My record is 12.

Clancy

[Tom Niebuhr]

Eric V. summed it up well.

Competition.

This has led to a career in aviation, a thirst to improve the pattern and life, to design airplanes, to accept the never ending challenge of the pattern and learning to both win and lose (this is important in life). And, most of all have been rewarded with life time friends. The people are the most important.

[John Stiles]

Sport, I love to build planes that fly nicely and will do stunts...I usually draw a crowd that appreciates flying, and get comments like wow, cool, pretty planes, and an occasional "can I try it"? LOL P/S When I play pool, it's usually by myself since all my friends see me as a "hustler". Not many want to compete against me.

[Will Hinton]

I'm jumping on the "Eric said it best" band wagon!  He nailed it.

[Claudio Chacon]

Stunt competition.
It's an ongoing challenge...I like that. Besides, I fly alone most of the time (aside from the company of my dear wife) so every practice flight I make, it's an official flight for me.

[Mike Griffin]

I guess if I was younger and had my health that I had back then (Good back and good knees) I would like to compete in contests.  I have competed all my life.  I played sports and football I played football from the time I was 9 till I was 26 (that is a huge part of the problem with my back and knees and bursitis that I suffer from now)  I traveled for 35 years selling against other companies in the building material industry.  If I lost an order to a competitor, I was pissed and made it my life's work to take the next one away from him.  I used to lay awake at night plotting how I was going to outsell the other guys.

In late August of 2005, a category 5 Hurricane by the name of Katrina hit us full force.  At the time I was a Sales Manager for Home Depot and had 10 stores I was responsible for.  When we finally were able to come back home over a month later to see what was left, my back gotten so bad I had to quit work and was awarded disability.

After a lifetime of competing in one way or the other, I decided it was time enjoy the years I had left here on Earth and did not feel the need to go up against anyone anymore because I had spent my whole life doing that and was very successful at it.  

I started building to occupy my time and found it extremely satisfying and I enjoyed the solitude.  Before my back got as bad as it is now, I did travel to some contests and flew competition.  I even took first in Beginners in Alabama.  I did my best but the most fun for me at the contests was not flying, I could do that at my local field, it was getting to know all the great people in this hobby and picking up tips and studying other flyers models to get building ideas.  This was the fun for me while I could do it.

Today as I get more and more in touch with my mortality at age 65, I guess winning something for myself has become less important but I certainly enjoy seeing the joy it brings to those who do compete in contests.  
I am just as content now to sit in the shade and swap stories with the other guys now.  Oh I still do get the urge sometimes when I watch my alma mater play football to put on my pads and go down and show them how to do it and then I think, am i nuts?  Yeah that would be nuts..

Thank GOD I do not have to make my living by winning stunt contests (that is if they paid anything like pro golf) because I would starve to death.

I just keep on having fun...thanks guys..

Mike

[FLOYD CARTER]

There is yet a third category: Those who have done both, and who now sort of vacillate between.

I've "been there, done that".  Got my fill of trophies and stuff, so now only interested in improving my stunt pattern to match what I think I can do.   But I still enter stunt contests, mainly just to be part of the action.

If I keep up my present pace, I might just get extra pattern points for being the oldest old guy at the field.

Floyd

[Paul Taylor]

I'm a Sport flyer that likes to compete in Stunt. Or am I a competition stunt pilot that flys for the sport of it?

Either way I compete for the fun of it.  When it stops being fun or challenging I'll find another hobby. But I am a slow learner so I guess I will be here for some time. 

[55chevr]

Sport ... I do this more for leisure then for excitement.   The last contest I was in was the Mirror Meet in 1958.


Joe

[Mike Griffin]

Joe I like the way you put that.....leisure is a good word for it..

Mike

[Herb Calvin]

Sport. Getting to old to compete.

[Joe Just]

[quote author
If I keep up my present pace, I might just get extra pattern points for being the oldest old guy at the field.

Floyd, As you may very well know guys like you, Leo and myself  only get the dreaded "Senior Discount" when flying.
Joe

[Duke.Johnson]

I fly just for the pure fun of it, even if I'm flying in a contest.  Of course I have to say that, since I can't fly well.

I do love watching my sons compete though.

[Bill Little]

For many years it was the competition that kept me going.  Now that health issues have knocked me down I do it mainly for fun.  Going to meets has the bonus of seeing old friends and making new ones, no longer a burning desire to beat everyone there! LOL!!

I don' think I will ever completely lose the desire to compete, but it is now starting
to take a back seat to sharing with the people involved.

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM