[NSRCA-discussion] 2012 NATS Update

[Archie Stafford]

	The 2012 NATS are quickly approaching and I wanted to send out a
final update.  Derek Koopowitz has created a site that will be the
center for NATS updates.  On this site you can get all of your
information as well as see the overview of what is going on.  You will
notice a few things that are slightly different this year.  We are
going to try a few things and see what happens. 

	First, for anyone flying Masters, you will notice the flight orders
are different than the past.  In previous years, the groupings were
established and you were stuck flying in front of, or behind the same
guy all 6 rounds.  This year, we have used the grouping as always, but
since each day is a new contest, we combined the two groups on a site
that day.  This allows guys in their same group to call for each
other, without having that person be directly behind them.  It also
will allow people to follow and be in front of different pilots each
day.  Your flight order inside your group is essentially unchanged,
but there will be someone from the other group between pilots in a
group for the most part, except when one group is smaller than the
other. 

	Second, we are going to try something new for the judging of the
finals.  This is not on that sheet, as we haven't created the finals
judges, but after talking with Earl Haury, our plan is to identify
ideally 25+ judges for a pool.  This will allow us to have judges for
both Masters and FAI, but never having a judge have to judge the same
sequence twice.  We will use 5 Masters judges, 10 FAI judges, and 2
zero judges for the unknowns.  The plan would be that a judge would
just 1 round of Masters and 1 round of FAI, either an unknown or a
known.  Obviously, with only 25 judges and above parameters, a few
judges would end up judging a round of Masters, a round of known, and
a round of unknown.  This will keep people from having to be on the
Masters site more than 1 round, and also, help with the problem in the
past of guys judging rounds of Masters back to back.   

	Third, there will be no judges certifcation this year on site.  With
the ability to do this online, it eliminates the need to have one on
site.   

	Next, you will notice that we are still short judges on Wednesday. 
If you are willing to step up and judge a second time, please let me
know so that we can begin to fill in some of these holes. In previous
years, we have had to scramble on site to locate more judges, but we
are hopeful that by putting this information out early that a few
people will volunteer to fill these slots prior to being on site. 

	Also, please buy your banquet tickets EARLY.  This year, it will be
on the AMA site at the McCullough room, which is located adjacent to
the museum.  It is being catered by Johnny Corrino's and we will have
a choice of the different types of pasta as well as salad and a
dessert.  We will have an open CASH bar on site as well.  Banquet
tickets will be only $15.00.  We will have an open CASH bar on site as
well.  At the banquet this year, since it is on Wednesday, we will
hand out Intermediate, and Advanced awards in front of everyone.  FAI,
and Masters finalists, will be announced, flight orders drawn, and the
unknowns will be handed out to the FAI pilots. 

	Finally, 

	I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped put all
this together.  I can not thank Scott Smith enough for the job he has
done developing a new scoring software which made this all possible. 
Not only does it continuously keep score for Masters and FAI, even
with the Matrix, but it also is capable of creating flight orders, and
the judging matrix.  This will be an incredibly valuable tool, even on
a local level.  Scott did all of this purely as a volunteer and I have
no idea how many hundreds of hours of his own time he devoted to this.
 By using his software, as soon as a round is complete, even if
Masters and FAI, we can export the file as a .pdf and Pete Cosky will
then load it on to the NATS website on the NSRCA page.  Our goal is
within 30 minutes to 1 hour of the conclusion of flying that the
scores will be posted on this site. 

	OK, now for the disclaimer.  This site is still technically not
finished.  We could have pilots drop out and such, and may need to
fill holes.  Please use this site as a reference only, and please
verify once you are on site that nothing for you has changed.  Also,
you will notice, as this site is on a public page, that my cell phone
and Pete's cell phone are X'd out. On your pilot packages, our numbers
will be printed, so anyone needing to reach us once in Muncie will
have that opportunity.  

	Here is the link to the site.  http://nsrca.us/index.php/nats2012
[1]      Be safe on your travels, and we will see everyone next
weekend in Muncie.   Archie Stafford 2012 Pattern NATS Event Director

Links:
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[1] http://nsrca.us/index.php/nats2012
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