Archie, regrettably I won't be able to attend NATS as I'm in Japan on business. However, I'm excited to see outside the box thinking and you making changes where you feel it will improve things. Too often there seems to be opposition to change and it's nice to see you pushing forward. I think the mixing of the flight order, the changes to the judging rotation, the new web site and new scoring program all sound excellent. I hope I can attend next year!<div>
<br></div><div>I hope everyone has an awesome NATS! I will be following closely online. </div><div><br></div><span></span><div>Keith Black</div><div><br><br>On Thursday, July 12, 2012, Archie Stafford wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Finally,</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Here is the link to the site. </p>
<div><a href="http://nsrca.us/index.php/nats2012" target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;COLOR:#282211;FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma">http://nsrca.us/index.php/nats2012</span></a> </div>
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<div>Be safe on your travels, and we will see everyone next weekend in Muncie.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Archie Stafford</div>
<div>2012 Pattern NATS Event Director</div></blockquote></div>