[NSRCA-discussion] [Fwd: Proposal]

[Ron Van Putte]

I'd like to comment on John's three proposals:  I think they all have  
merit.  In a perfect world I'd support them all.

As a CD, I always look to what a proposal is going to do to my  
workload, so let me look at them as a CD.

#1  The CD would have to recruit several experienced competitors to  
conduct the advising of Sportsman/Intermediate pilots because he  
would be too busy to do it.

#2  The CD would either have to enter all the scores on every flight  
of every competitor into a national database, or recruit someone to  
do it.  Some editing of scores would be required.  e.g: The flight  
score of a competitor whose airplane flames out midway through a  
flight does not accurately reflect the quality of his flying.

#3  The CD would either have to check all competitors' advancement  
scores to make sure they were in the correct class or recruit someone  
to do it.  After the contest, the CD would have to enter all the  
earned advancement points for all competitors into the national  
database or recruit someone to do it.

My experience with many CDs is that #1 would probably get done by  
most of them.  #2 might get done by about half the CDs, UNLESS it was  
made an AMA requirement and there was a "hammer" attached to "punish"  
CDs who didn't comply.  Would such a requirement cause some to decide  
that being a CD was too much trouble?  Maybe.  #3 would probably have  
about the same success rate as #2.

Even worthy proposals have downsides and these are what I see as a CD  
and a realist regarding organizations whose members are volunteers.

Ron Van Putte

On Aug 22, 2007, at 7:12 PM, John Gayer wrote:

>
> I'd like to present three proposals that might appeal to a few if  
> not the many....
> Modified from the original proposal . Apparently not many saw it.  
> The first one has been added
> Comments?
> John
> NSRCA 632
>
> Revive the practice of assigning mentors to Sportsman and  
> Intermediate flyers
>
> At contests, assign an experienced competitor to mentor, call and  
> advise the Sportsman/ Intermediate flyers. This is nothing new, but  
> should be a part of every contest. We should try to provide a  
> connection that will last past the contest.
> As I see it, there are four issues that drasticaly affect the  
> ability of these flyers to compete effectively: aircraft trimming,  
> execessive throws, wings level and centering(also known as flying  
> the airplane, not letting the airplane fly you).
> These flyers have shown the initiative to come out and compete. We  
> owe them (and ourselves) all the help we can throw at them.
>
>
> Create a National Database for Pattern
>
> The database must contain the raw scores of all flights for all  
> competitors by class. The only thing normalized scores are good for  
> is finding the right  finish order for each class at a contest. Raw  
> scores are much better for comparing results even at a contest. For  
> example I finish round one with a 930 and round two with a 985,  
> both to competitor A. Now did I fly a lot better in round two(I  
> thought I did)  or did competitor A flop a stall turn in the figure  
> M in round 2.
> Anyway once you have the raw scores by competitor and class, you  
> can do the following:
> Create a National Ranking for each class based on average points  
> per maneuver. Once this is in place and on line, we will have a  
> reason for pattern competitors to join NSRCA. you can't tell me  
> that there wouldn't be a lot of interest in seeing who is hot  
> around the country and how you stack up against the competition. I  
> know, the judging isn't always equal but that's always been true  
> and we have to live with it.
> The data available on each competitor would include contests  
> entered, placing, advance points earned. The districts could  
> extract whatever data is required to ascertain the district  
> champions. We could archive previous years as well.
> Other ways to specify advancement in class become available,  
> percentage of average FAI score, even eventually moving the 10 top- 
> rated pilots up a class. Possibilities are endless when you have  
> the data.
> Since the database would only be open to NSRCA members, if you want  
> to track your National standing, joining NSRCA would be a must. If  
> you want to see what the guy nobody heard of that just rolled in  
> from out of district has accomplished, look him up. We've been  
> looking for reasons  to join NSRCA, I feel this is one that could  
> be big and would be worth some investment in time and money. I  
> would be willing to help with such a project although I don't feel  
> like I could take it on by myself.
>
> Redirect the focus to our international team competition through  
> modification of the advancement system
>
> Modify the advancement process to be consistent through all classes  
> from Sportsman through to F3A. See section two for possible  
> advancement criteria
> Advancement can be forced by the advancement criteria(see section  
> 2) or voluntary.
> The first year in a new and higher class is an option year. At the  
> end of the option year you can downselect one class for any reason.
> This has the advantage of being able to try out the higher class  
> for a year without committing your entire pattern career. If you  
> discover that the next class is beyond your means( time, money or  
> talent) then you option down the following year. If you absolutely  
> refuse to fly your new class, then perhaps you could use the time  
> and money to reintroduce your self to your wife, girlfriend, etc.  
> If you need a goal for the year, focus on making your rudder  
> commands instinctive, learn to fly a helicopter, learn to fly  
> rolling circles. You would probably come back a better pattern  
> flyer than when you left.
>
>
>
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