<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Was "contest" Small Contest Idea</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><BR>
Reading this thread reminded me of a contest that Arch Stafford had a few years back where we had a total of 9 or 10 people show up 3 of which were local sportsman pilots. We had a full spread too, with 1 or 2 in each class. It didn’t make much sense to hold a traditional contest but we were all there to have some pattern “fun”. Soooooo... We made it a 2 class contest. The sportsman pilots each flew 2 rounds at a time (One takeoff and landing), with lots of feedback (the entire group judged each flight) and they had a very competitive well judged event. <BR>
<BR>
The rest of us ALL flew the advanced pattern, with Handicaps. FAI got –1pt per maneuver, Masters –1/2pt, Advanced flew it straight up, and Intermediate pilots got +1pts. <BR>
<BR>
It was not only a lot of fun (Everyone but the advanced guys were flying an unknown for the most part) but it also was a VERY tight contest. I don’t recall who won...didn’t really matter. <BR>
<BR>
No..it didn’t follow the advertised sanctioned contest, but it was great fun, competitive, a very good learning/practicing event, and it made the best from the turnout we had.<BR>
<BR>
-Mark</SPAN></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>