[NSRCA-discussion] Nats registration

[Ron Van Putte]

My comments regarding not all Intermediate class pilots being  
qualified to judge Advanced is from experience.  A lot of  
Intermediate class pilots just moved up from Sportsman and barely  
know how to fly their own sequences, much less judge a class above  
them.  They don't have the basic knowledge of how to judge  
correctly.  I've had Intermediate pilots ask to be assigned to any  
other job than being a judge of Advanced pilots because they didn't  
feel qualified.

Further, like all programs, our judging certification program often  
leaves a lot to be desired.  Despite the efforts of a lot of people  
like Don Ramsey, how many pilots just got certified by sitting in a  
group with a lot of other guys who all took the "test" together?   
I've seen it happen far too often.   Judge certification classes run  
by Don Ramsey at the Nats take several hours.  I've watched some  
local classes take less than an hour and most of that was taking the  
test.  For experienced judges, just taking the test is probably  
enough, because they have familiarized themselves with changes to the  
rules and only need to take the test.  However, I believe that pilots  
who are inexperienced judges are being shortchanged at the local level.

Ron Van Putte


On Jun 14, 2007, at 8:12 AM, John Ferrell wrote:

> I find the lack of confidence in the Judging Certification Program  
> to be an insult to those who put forth so much effort into it.
>
> There are still a lot of Masters/FAI pilots who choose to not waste  
> their time knowing the AMA rule book. And there are many pilots who  
> are new to the Pattern Discipline that have read and continue to  
> read the Rule book like the Bible!
>
> The class one flies is not a good indicator of their judging  
> qualities.
>
> John Ferrell    W8CCW
> "Life is easier if you learn to plow
>        around the stumps"
> http://DixieNC.US
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ron Van Putte
> To: NSRCA Mailing List
> Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 7:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Nats registration
>
>
> It is true that SOME Intermediate pilots are qualified to judge  
> Advanced and are used if they are.  The event director's job is to  
> discover who is qualified.  That's why we pay him the big $.  <VBG>
>
> Ron Van Putte
>
> On Jun 13, 2007, at 5:51 PM, Derek Koopowitz wrote:
>
>> Provided that the Intermediate pilots aren't qualified to judge  
>> Advanced, right?  And since there are 20 Intermediate pilots they  
>> can help out with judging Advanced as well - since everyone has to  
>> be certified.
>>
>> On 6/13/07, Ron Van Putte <vanputte at cox.net> wrote:
>> As a former Nats event director, I must point out that the Master  
>> class pilots are used to judge the Advanced AND F3A pilots, thus  
>> the problem with the number of Master class pilots.  If you use  
>> three judges on both Advanced lines, that's six judges each  
>> session.  Then, if there are four F3A lines, that's another twelve  
>> judges.  So, the first two sessions of Advanced and F3A requires  
>> 36 Master class judges.   Oh oh! we run out of Master class judges  
>> on the third day if we only have 40 Master class pilots and nobody  
>> volunteers to judge extra sessions.  That's why Dave Guerin's hair  
>> is turning gray/falling out.
>>
>>
>> Ron Van Putte
>>
>> On Jun 13, 2007, at 5:26 PM, Derek Koopowitz wrote:
>>
>>> And for one year there will actually be enough judges to judge  
>>> Masters - we've always struggled with not having enough F3A  
>>> pilots to fill the Masters judging pool.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 6/13/07, Jim Woodward <Jim.Woodward at armorholdings.com > wrote:
>>> Wow – Awesome!  The Masters pilots will get a taste of judging a  
>>> highly attended FAI class!  J J           J
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Jim W.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org [mailto:nsrca- 
>>> discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org ] On Behalf Of Derek Koopowitz
>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 12:41 PM
>>> To: NSRCA Mailing List; dist7 at nsrca.org
>>> Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Nats registration
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> It looks like we have 115 total registered pilots for the Nats  
>>> this year (from the AMA website)...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Intermediate - 20
>>>
>>> Advanced - 16
>>>
>>> Masters - 40
>>>
>>> FAI - 39
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Those are excellent #'s and I'm hoping that there will still be  
>>> some late entries that will raise those numbers even more.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
>>> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
>>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
>>> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
>>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
>> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
>> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
> _______________________________________________
> NSRCA-discussion mailing list
> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.nsrca.org/pipermail/nsrca-discussion/attachments/20070614/bb9449e7/attachment.html