Judging behavior

[WHIP23 at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/24/03 5:42:56 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
eric.henderson at gartner.com writes:

> I have seen and heard pilots planting the "seeds of doubt" in the minds of 
> pilots who would later judge their class. I once dealt with a top level 
> pilot who was standing behind the judges and next to other pilot judges. He 
> was giving loud detailed descriptions and remarks on whether a rival's 
> plane was snapping or not. A day or two later I took the time and trouble 
> to try and educate that pilot of the unsporting nature of this conduct. 
> Result was long term animosity.
> 

Hi Eric

The problems you point out are real and I must add that I was made aware of 
it by a VERY good display of sportsmanship.  I rolled the wrong way on the 
downline of a figure M and realizing immediately the mistake I rolled right 
through the required 3/4 roll to 11/4 and continued on correct direction.  As 
luck would have it both judges missed the error, though one judge was pretty 
sure, but not sure enough to zero the maneuver.  When the flight was over the 
one judge asked it I had (no change in score, already turned in at this 
point) and I admitted that I had.  When I walked away I found that my number 
one competitor had been standing there and watched the flight and he HAD 
caught the error, but to his credit and sportsmanship he said nothing.  
Clearly he could have made some comment and probably pushed at least one of 
the judges over the edge, maybe both.  Should it be an issue, who knows, I 
did make the error so you could argue that I deserve the zero.  On the other 
side all of us have been downgraded for things we did not do, so to some 
degree it evens out.  My opinion, when I step to the line I am agreeing to be 
judged by the judges in the chair, not everyone who happens to be watching.  
There are several reasons, one of which is that the spectator who comments 
will probably not be watching other flights and certainly not his own, so 
adding his opinion to the score defeats the theory of a level playing field.  
I'm not sure that if this situation had not occurred I would have thought 
this through enough to realize how much we can effect the results of an event 
by simple, offhand comments.  At the same time, a lot of the fun of pattern, 
for me anyway, is discussions about flying, so we need a happy middle ground. 
 Clearly, comments about a flight, within ear shot of the judges, during the 
flight is not acceptable.  Now, I know everyone is wondering who was the good 
sport.  



Roy Spieghts

I should also add that Roy once compared me to a blind squirrel, but that's a 
different story!!

Bye

Bob





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