<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">I was the Event Director for the 2002 Pattern Nats. We had a Masters pilot and an FAI pilot not make the finals that year because of a scoring error. This discussion brings back a painful memory for me —</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The day before the finals, two pilots came to me and told me of their concerns about the finals placement. Al Williamson, the Category Director, and myself went over the scoring data but could not find the error. I had to go with the scores I had to determine the finalists. I saved the paper the concerned pilots gave me in the scoring center at the farmhouse. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Still the possibility of an error haunted me. Over two months later, in early October, the AMA had its yearly Nats planning meeting. I went back to the farmhouse then and retrieved the paper. I sent it to Derek Koopowitz, the author of the scoring software, and he found the error right away. The scorer had used the default settings on some days rather than the settings particular to the Nats. When Derek re-ran the scoring one pilot in Masters and one pilot in FAI had been deprived of the opportunity to fly in the finals. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Those two phone calls were hard to make. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Jeff</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><a href="mailto:jeff@hillanalysis.com" class="">jeff@hillanalysis.com</a></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;" class=""><i class="">“</i><i style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.</i><i class="">”</i><i style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""> </i><i class="">— </i>Vince Lombardi</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Aug 20, 2019, at 9:32 PM, John Ferrell via NSRCA-discussion <<a href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org" class="">nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
  
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" class="">
  
  <div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" class=""><p class="">It looks so easy to find a single soul to hold responsible for
      whatever went wrong. I don't want to up set anyone because we need
      all the talents we can muster to support our cause.</p><p class="">There are precious little paid to help our volunteers with
      expenses. The budget to support the entire Nats has been under
      fire since the beginning of time. I hope that it is still as much
      fun for you folks as it was for me. My credentials for even
      speaking are limited to a Leader Member and an ordinary CD. <br class="">
    </p><p class="">It was an especially wicked "FUBAR".   I knew Joseph since he was
      a bump on his mothers belly and he will not let this incident
      dampen his resolve!</p><p class="">We all share the burden  of the glitch .  Thanks for letting an
      old fart vent. <br class="">
    </p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 8/20/2019 9:15 PM, Phil Spelt via
      NSRCA-discussion wrote:<br class="">
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:1243470318.610835.1566350151505@connect.xfinity.com" class="">
      <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" class="">
      <meta charset="UTF-8" class=""><p style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial,
        sans-serif; color: #333333;" class="">+ a whole bunch!!  Someone from the
        USA management should not just suggest that, but argue very
        strongly for it.</p><p style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial,
        sans-serif; color: #333333;" class="">whose software was it? The FAIs?  I
        was a software developer at several points in my career, and one
        just does not run an event or demo or anything with a package
        that has not been <strong class="">thoroughly verified and tested</strong>. 
        In my opinion, time crunch is not an excise, it is a
        demonstration of faulty planning.</p>
      <div class="io-ox-signature"><p style="font-size: 12pt; font-family:
          helvetica,arial,sans-serif; color: #333333;" class="default-style"><span class="signature-truncate"><span class="signature-truncate"><span class="signature-truncate"><span class="signature-truncate"><span class="signature-truncate"><span style="font-family:
                      'Arial Black'; font-size: 12px;" class=""> <strong class=""><em class="">Phil
                          Spelt, AMA 1294, Scientific Leader Member<br class="">
                          SPA L-18, Board Member, NSRCA 2032, KCRC
                          Emeritus<br class="">
                          Knoxville, TN  37931   (865) 604-0541c</em></strong></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
      </div>
      <blockquote type="cite" class="">On August 20, 2019 at 8:29 PM Matthew
        Finley via NSRCA-discussion
        <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org"><nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org></a> wrote: <br class="">
        <br class="">
        <div dir="auto" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" class="">Yes !
          An automatic invite I think is the least they could do for
          their mistake...... <br class="">
          <br class="">
        </div>
        <div dir="auto" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" class="">
          <div dir="auto" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" class="">Get
            <a href="https://aka.ms/ghei36" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">Outlook
              for Android</a></div>
          <br class="">
        </div>
        <hr style="display: inline-block; width: 98%;" class="">
        <div id="ox-7dc9b66c7b-divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><strong class="">From:</strong>
            NSRCA-discussion
            <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces@lists.nsrca.org"><nsrca-discussion-bounces@lists.nsrca.org></a> on behalf
            of Monte Richard via NSRCA-discussion
            <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org"><nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org></a><br class="">
            <strong class="">Sent:</strong> Tuesday, August 20, 2019 8:21:50 PM<br class="">
            <strong class="">To:</strong> Atwood, Mark
            <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:atwoodm@paragon-inc.com"><atwoodm@paragon-inc.com></a>; General pattern discussion
            <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org"><nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org></a><br class="">
            <strong class="">Subject:</strong> Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Apology</span>
          <div class=""> </div>
        </div>
        <div class="">That really sucks. They should at least give him an
          invitation to compete in 2021 whether he makes the team or
          not. 
          <div class=""><br class="">
          </div>
          <div class=""><br class="">
            <div id="ox-7dc9b66c7b-AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr" class="">Sent
              from my iPhone</div>
            <div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
              On Aug 20, 2019, at 7:12 PM, Atwood, Mark via
              NSRCA-discussion < <a href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org</a>>
              wrote: <br class="">
              <br class="">
            </div>
            <blockquote type="cite" class="">
              <div dir="ltr" class="">
                <div dir="ltr" class=""> <br class="">
                </div>
                <div dir="ltr" class="">Yes, I apologize if that was not clear.
                  The incorrect normalization put him in 11th and Brett
                  and 12th, where they should have finished 10th and
                  11th respectively.</div>
                <div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
                </div>
                <div dir="ltr" class="">Koji Suzuki would have moved to 12th</div>
                <div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
                </div>
                <div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
                </div>
                <div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
                  On Aug 20, 2019, at 7:38 PM, Stuart Chale < <a href="mailto:schale1@outlook.com" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">schale1@outlook.com</a>>
                  wrote: <br class="">
                  <br class="">
                </div>
                <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                  <div dir="ltr" class="">
                    <div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); width: 100%; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-width: 5pt; padding: 3pt; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 12pt; font-family: Calibri; text-align: left;" class=""><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="">CAUTION:</span>
                      Message originated from outside of Paragon. Use
                      caution regarding any links, attachments,
                      credential and financial requests.</div>
                    <br class="">
                    <div class="">I guess that means he should have been in the
                      finals? <br class="">
                      <br class="">
                      <div id="ox-7dc9b66c7b-AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr" class="">Sent from my iPhone</div>
                      <div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
                        On Aug 20, 2019, at 7:26 PM, Atwood, Mark via
                        NSRCA-discussion < <a href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org</a>>
                        wrote: <br class="">
                        <br class="">
                      </div>
                      <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                        <div dir="ltr" class="">
                          <div dir="ltr" class=""> <br class="">
                          </div>
                          <div dir="ltr" class="">I think it’s important that
                            everyone sees this.  I will also post it on
                            our team page. </div>
                          <div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
                          </div>
                          <div dir="ltr" class="">I’m still working on getting a
                            revised final ranking from the organizers. </div>
                          <div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
                          </div>
                          <div dir="ltr" class="">-Mark <br class="">
                            <br class="">
                            <br class="">
                            Begin forwarded message: <br class="">
                            <br class="">
                          </div>
                          <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                            <div dir="ltr" class=""><strong class="">From:</strong> Peter
                              Uhlig < <a href="mailto:peteruhligf3a@aol.com" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">peteruhligf3a@aol.com</a>>
                              <br class="">
                              <strong class="">Date:</strong> August 20, 2019 at
                              6:19:03 PM EDT <br class="">
                              <strong class="">To:</strong> <a href="mailto:jszczur2000@gmail.com" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">jszczur2000@gmail.com</a>,
                              <a href="mailto:dszczur@verizon.net" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">
                                dszczur@verizon.net</a>, "Skinner, Bob"
                              < <a href="mailto:samaa-gm@mweb.co.za" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">samaa-gm@mweb.co.za</a>>
                              <br class="">
                              <br class="">
                              <strong class="">Subject:</strong> <strong class="">Apology</strong>
                              <br class="">
                              <br class="">
                            </div>
                          </blockquote>
                          <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                            <div dir="ltr" class="">
                              <div class=""><p class=""> <br class="">
                                </p><p class=""><strong class=""><em class=""><u class=""><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;
                                          font-family: Calibri; color:
                                          #1f497d;" class="">Formal apology to Mr
                                          Joseph Szczur</span></u></em></strong></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;
                                    color: #3333ff;" class="">Dear Joseph Szczur,</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;
                                    color: #3333ff;" class="">On behalf of the
                                    FAI Jury, and the organizer of the
                                    2019 F3A World Championship, I must
                                    profusely apologize for the mistake
                                    in the semi-final ranking list.</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;
                                    color: #3333ff;" class="">The score keeper
                                    and the Jury worked under trying
                                    conditions during the long days. All
                                    results were spot-checked on all the
                                    days by the Jury and the contest
                                    director as best we could, also
                                    making spot checks of the semi-final
                                    results, on Friday evening. We
                                    allowed at least an hour before
                                    proceeding with the team manager’s
                                    meeting. At this time we had no
                                    reason to suspect anything untoward
                                    in the results of the semi-finals,
                                    especially since all the
                                    calculations were performed
                                    electronically, and we applied some
                                    measure of trust in the system. The
                                    results were published according to
                                    the rules, and neither the contest
                                    management, nor the Jury received
                                    any enquiries.</span></p><p class="ox-7dc9b66c7b-listparagraph" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; color:
                                    #3333ff;" class="">At the beginning of the
                                    last final round (Unknown 2), the
                                    developer of the scoring software
                                    application, mentioned to the jury
                                    that there may be a possible problem
                                    with the semi-final results. By that
                                    time the developer was not quite
                                    sure about the extent of the
                                    problem, and if this potential error
                                    could have had an effect on the
                                    ranking. The jury unanimously
                                    decided not to stop the event, as
                                    long as the problem was not
                                    absolutely correctly identified and
                                    verified. At that point, time was of
                                    course very limited, and the
                                    priority of the organiser was to
                                    finish the event. </span></p><p class="ox-7dc9b66c7b-listparagraph" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; color:
                                    #3333ff;" class="">At the conclusion of the
                                    flights, and after verifying the
                                    results of the finals to be able to
                                    officially publish them, the jury
                                    and the developer took a closer look
                                    at the potential problem. By the
                                    time the problem was correctly and
                                    fully identified, the flight line
                                    was no longer in operation, there
                                    were no judges left on the field,
                                    and all the required infrastructure,
                                    wi-fi, electricity, etc had been
                                    dismantled. <br class="">
                                    <br class="">
                                    I have known you for the last six
                                    years as a fair, keen, and great
                                    sportsman, and can fully understand
                                    your frustration, disappointment,
                                    and possible anger that this error
                                    had to occur to you. The
                                    scorekeeper, contest director, and
                                    jury members did not realise the
                                    extent of the error until much
                                    later. We did not spot the mistake
                                    during checking of the semi-final
                                    results.</span></p><p class="ox-7dc9b66c7b-listparagraph" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; color:
                                    #3333ff;" class="">This unfortunate turn of
                                    events has left you the victim in
                                    the process, and we can only
                                    apologise for this injustice, and we
                                    all hope that you will accept our
                                    sincere apology.<br class="">
                                    <br class="">
                                    Sincerely<br class="">
                                    Peter Uhlig<br class="">
                                  </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;
                                    color: #3333ff;" class="">FAI Jury President
                                    at 2019 FAI F3A World Championship
                                    for Aerobatic Model Aircraft</span></p><div class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
                              </div>
                            </div>
                          </blockquote>
                        </div>
                      </blockquote>
                      <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                        <div dir="ltr" class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">
                          NSRCA-discussion mailing list <br class="">
                          <a href="mailto:NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org</a>
                          <br class="">
                          <a href="http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion" moz-do-not-send="true" class="">http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion</a></div>
                      </blockquote>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                </blockquote>
              </div>
            </blockquote>
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    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
John Ferrell W8CCW
   Julian NC 27283
 It is better to walk alone,
than with a crowd going the wrong direction.
                  --Diane Grant</pre>
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