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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><U>Part-1<o:p></o:p></U></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Way back before I became NSRCA
President in 1999, Rick Allison wrote a pretty insightful piece on how FAI
judging was going to fall heavily on the Masters class and on pilots in general.
He warned that we would be exposed to pressures and situations that were not
akin to good sportsmanship and that would strain relationships between
competitors. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Up to then, the vast majority of
judging was done by volunteer judges. These judges eventually were replaced by
pilot-judging, for many reasons, one being general dissatisfaction among the FAI
community. You would hear, “These judges don’t fly and they don’t know what they
are looking at!”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I judged my first Nat’s FAI round
and finals in 1997. Since then I had noticed that the better pilot you became
the more your scores would go up and the better judge you became the more the
scores you gave went down. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Fast forward to July 2006, where
I found myself judging one round. I was in the judge’s chair for the FAI
semi-finals where they flew F-07. It was a good day for flying. I was prepared.
I had the schedule memorized and was excited that we were finally going to have
a Semi-final the way they did the FAI Worlds. Twenty pilots would be pared down
to eight for the next day’s finals. I only had to judge one round so I gave it
my best effort, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">As I did my job that morning, I
saw a lot of errors during the entering and exiting of maneuvers. Some pilots
were on top of their game and some were just a little out of their league. All I
did was score each maneuver as I saw it. I gave out a few zeros, regardless of
who the pilot was. I also had to score a lot of maneuvers quite low due to the
large number of errors that were being made flying the F-07 routine. The FAI
judging system does not have half-points. It is also very clear about <st1:date
Year="2003" Day="2" Month="1">1-2-3</st1:date> and four-point deductions for
off-center roll and snap components in straight lines. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">My wife Michelle was my scribe.
She has been my scribe since 1995 and has certified several times as a judge. I
noted that nobody else was using a scribe. While I was watching the airplanes,
Michelle observed that the other judges were frequently looking down before the
maneuvers began and before they were finished; they were either reading the next
maneuver or writing down their scores. One judge did it for the whole round. I
mention this because I was later compared with their performances.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">After the semi-finals were over,
and during lunch, I was challenged by Dan Landis about his scores. I disengaged
that conversation very quickly. That did not seem to be enough for his father,
Richard Landis, who tracked me down where I was eating and proceeded to tell me
that his son was the best pilot there and that I had scored him unfairly. I had
to get up out of my chair and walk away to stop his harassment. <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">The rules are clear that the pilot or his
rep. must not badger a judge.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The worst part about these
encounters is that they are very upsetting. After the onslaught by Richard
Landis I was due up next to fly my last Masters flight. That flight was a
complete waste of fuel. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This was
very unsportsmanlike behavior on their part so I reported it the next morning.
</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">But, there’s more. By then, Dave
Lockhart and Dan Landis, who are friends and often fly together, had already
both complained that I had scored them badly.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The NSRCA ignored my harassment
complaint and processed the pilots’ complaint to the fullest. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><U>End of part -1<o:p></o:p></U></B></P>
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