[NSRCA-discussion] Electronic Score Entry System - Thoughts

[Atwood, Mark]

I had the privilege this weekend of using Peter Vogel’s new electronic score entry system this weekend.  I don’t want to call it a scoring system because that credit should still go to Scott Smith whose scoring program is what Peter’s system is integrated with.  Both of these gentleman have put in 100’s if not 1000’s of hours of programming into this effort.

And it’s fantastic.

So some thoughts about new score entry system in no particular order.


1)            It works.  Period.   End of story.   25 guys who had never touched it before not only learned it, but used it efficiently with a 5 minute intro and sitting down and scoring a demo flight.   ZERO missed maneuvers, no lost scores, no complaints. NADA.

2)            The system actually uses downgrade scoring.  I.e. you click the 1/2pt (or full pt) down everytime you see a downgrade.  It takes practice flight before you realize that you need to click on everything you see…rather than do mental math or create a perception of the maneuver, but once you do, it’s enlightening.

3)            The score range widens.   This is a good thing.  It wasn’t drastic, but rather than a long diatribe of 7’s and 8’s, if you go look at the score sheets (I highly suggest surfing through the www.patternscoring.com<http://www.patternscoring.com/> site) you’ll see many score sheets that feature both 5’s and 10’s on the same page.

4)            More 10’s.  If you don’t see a downgrade…that 10 is just sitting there.  There’s no longer the pressure to write down a 9 simply because “no one actually flies a 10”.

5)            Long complex maneuvers (hour glass for example) get the pounding they deserve.  The opportunity for downgrades in these maneuvers is massive…and when the judge is just clicking away, well… we get hammered.  And we should.   Every missed angle, every missed radius,  the over cooked snap, etc etc.    Your 7 just became a 4.5

6)            Surprisingly consistent judging between both judges on the line.  Shockingly consistent actually.   I consider that another endorsement for the system.

7)            More engaged judging.  This was big for me.  I personally feel like I start to glaze over after the 8th (or worse …18th) Masters flight in a contest.  It’s very hard to stay consistent and stay alert and not revert to perception judging in the old paper and pencil format.   This eliminated that completely.  You’re actively engaged throughout each maneuver and each flight.  Both physically recording downgrades and watching intently for them.  I felt it was MUCH easier to be a good judge and an alert judge.

8)            Every maneuver called out loud for the judge, for every pilot, for every round.  This made judging the new sequences, which I hadn’t judged yet, simple.

9)            You never need to look down from the plane.  Really.   Never.     What’s interesting here is that you begin to notice all the downgrades that occur in the transition between manuevers.  No more free fixes!

10)          It seems to greatly reduce or even eliminate the influence that the prior maneuver has on the scores.  I know this shouldn’t be the case… but we all know it is.  Someone that’s flown a train wreck of 6’s  suddenly flies a clean Split S turn and think “wow…that was pretty good…8”.  On this system you’re just clicking downgrades…that same Split S just scored a 10.  As it should have.

11)          Your scores are up on the big screen, normalized to whom ever has already flown that round, before your plane rolls to a stop. Literally.    And if you’re up first?? Well, take a picture because for the moment… you’re winning!
In summary, this will be the single biggest advancement in scoring for pattern since the introduction of normalization.    It’s going to take a year or two to get everyone in the country familiar with the system (and get systems purchased for use) before we can use it at a Nats, but we’ll get there, and quickly.  I was extremely skeptical, for about 5 minutes.

You’ll fear it.  You’ll use it.  You’ll love it.
 ‘nuff said.
Well done Peter.  Very well done.

-Mark
MARK ATWOOD
President
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e.  atwoodm at paragon-inc.com<mailto:atwoodm at paragon-inc.com>

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