Put equity back into snap judging

[BUDDYonRC at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/18/2005 10:44:17 AM Central Daylight Time,  
ehaury at houston.rr.com writes:
Earl 
I agree and because of the present quality of judging I do mine with a snap  
switch, all the inputs are there, some are good some are bad but all are snaps 
 and until the judging quality changes I will continue on this course, I 
still  get a few zeros but have only learned how to get around poor judging not 
how to  do a perfect snap every time. I keep practicing them in practice but in 
a  contest I take the high road my scores for snap's were respectable the  
Nats now if I can only find a way to do the same with spins the second most  
misjudged maneuver.
But honestly the current situation is doing nothing to inspire me  otherwise. 
If we want to do something constructive put the touch and go back in  the 
pattern but boy would that cause a rumble.
Buddy      

OK guys - let me give you my insight with  regard to the videos, discussion 
of same, and issues surrounding flying /  judging snaps.
 
Firstly, the videos are a good exercise and offer  the option to "inspect" 
various interpretations of snaps. As is usually the  case with video of pattern 
maneuvers - most views don't acquire the same  clarity / scale as when viewed 
from the judges line. My opinion, viewing in  real time, is that some are 
probably snaps and some are not - but a similar  view in actual judging would mean 
that the airplane was at 300 or so meters  and it would be equally difficult 
to evaluate the maneuver. Confirming  one's evaluation with slo-mo isn't 
available to a judge - but a better view  is.
 
With regard to eliminating snaps because they  can't be judged - isn't likely 
to happen and we've had the same discussion  regarding spins (seems snaps 
have taken the pressure off spins). A very small  number of folks have a mindset 
that these maneuvers can't be done  properly - so all should be zeroed unless 
they meet some magical criteria.  This is wrong, pilots need to learn how to 
do the maneuvers correctly (and  apply this knowledge to their judging). My 
observation basis judging 2 days of  Masters and half of the F3A finals at the 
Nats is that the Masters guys have  gotten much better with snaps than in 
previous years (having to fly snaps will  do that). Some of the F3A guys make them a 
thing of beauty (yes - they're  snaps, not some sort of "cheat") - others 
need to work on them more.  

Video is an excellent tool for studying one's own  snaps - but the camera 
must be zoomed on the airplane to give the same view as  the pilot - steady 
tracking is difficult. A lot has been written by Don, Dave,  Dean, me, and others 
on how to do the snap as defined in the rules - review  this info and apply it 
to what you see in your videos. 
 
I will venture to say that most (if not all)  large departures from track 
and/or late or no stalls, are as much a  result of slow elevator input as 
improper travel. Slow / weak servos, lots of  expo, anything that slows the initial 
pitch movement, will screw-up snap  entry. The guys that appear to "cheat" have 
figured out how to get a quick,  minimal (yet sufficient) pitch to stall and 
just enough pitch and yaw  control to maintain a cone so as to return to 
unstalled attitude when desired.  The rest of us need to work toward that quality 
and appreciate it when  judging. A good snap doesn't look like a wounded duck! 
(Yes, some may try  to forego elevator input and fool us with a quick roll 
with a yaw waggle - but  the lack of pitch break makes judging these easy.) 
 
Earl
 
 
 

----- Original Message ----- 
From:  _Gray  E Fowler_ (mailto:gfowler at raytheon.com)  
To: _discussion at nsrca.org_ (mailto:discussion at nsrca.org)  
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 8:31  AM
Subject: Re: Put equity back into snap  judging



Eric said....  



1. If you can't guarantee to judge it correctly  take it out of AMA 
schedules. It is grossly unfair to penalize pilots  this way. 


Good point, but if  we take it out, then me as an Advanced flyer will never 
have the chance to  learn how to "Cheat" a snap as good as the FAI guys do. You 
know....that  little no elevator flip that they do to keep the heading 
correct and never  get a zero cuz they be "insert big name here". 

If the top FAI guys faced some of the critical snap  judging that most of us 
ocassionally do, and know one knew their name, they  too would remove it or 
change the criteria ....according to me.  

In defense of the individual FAI  flyers....the ones I know are pretty cool 
guys...just gotta play the game.  As the name recognition goes up, it seems the 
weenier the snap gets......in  other words, the so called "regular" FAI guy 
faces a huge disadvantage when  faced with the judging criteria/disparity Eric 
mentioned plus facing name  recognition. AND as usual....I could be wrong. 

Tonight, I am going to paint my prop all pretty  colors. Can anyone tell me 
what colors and designs score the  best? 




Gray  Fowler
Principal Chemical Engineer
Composites  Engineering



 
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