ORIGINAL: NJRCFLYER2
ORIGINAL: mlr53
At each contest I have attended, I have seen competitors with top of the line planes and equipmentfrom top to bottom, just having the top of the line equipment didn't put them on top. Some wins, some looses. In most cases it's the best pilot. Considering the time and effort I put into my pattern plane triming and working on getting it to fly the best it can, so that I can fly the best I can, I would not compete in a claiming event. If someone claims the plane then what, your out for the rest of the season? That would actually increase the cost of competiting as you would need multiple planes, ready to go in case someone claimed your plane. If you do the research, you will generally find that the guy who spends the most time, triming, practicing, and getting to know his equipment will come out on or near the top pretty often. I firmly believe the effort you put into it makes the difference. I started flying pattern with a Kaos, had fun and took a few trophies (though not a first). Moving to a better pattern plane improved my flying some but I still got beat by guy's with less pricey not so precise planes. Fly what you have, look for a good used plane, and work toward improving your skills and abilities.
This brings up the question, as a judge, do you give better scores to the guy with the top of the line equipmentas compared tosomeone with less quality equipment?
Ans: Heck no. Scoring is done bysubtracting points from each figure based on what the rules say that the prescribed downgrades are for each observed defect. Anyone who does otherwse should disqualify themselves, and offer apologies to every pilot they ever cheated by not following the rules.
Ed, I agree that this is supposed to be what the judges do but the last contest I participated in I can honestly say it didn't really work that way. Two things I was told directly by the judges that stuck in my craw. First thing I was told " You are flying too slow." I designed my airplane to do just that! As a jugde of litterally a thousand IMAC rounds I appreciate when a pilot takes his time and presents each element of each manuever. The second thing I was told was " You arent stalling through your snaps ". When I got the judge and CD together to explain my 2 score on both my avalanche and 45 degree downline, the judge made the comment " I saw your snaps during your first round and said to myself that should have been a zero " Obviously he took that preconception to the chair with him for round 3. In the end both the judge and CD told me that the airplanes rotation was too slow stating that I need to do violent snaps " Like Jeskey" Mind you that the snap rotation was no slower then what I have done in IMAC scoring 8s and 9s in advanced.
So IMO the human factor does play a part. I do not think it is always intentional. In my case, I was a new face to the pattern scene( Although most of the guys do know me) with an semi scale scratch built airplane and jumping right into advanced. Like what we used to say in IMAC concerning the score sheet, " Sometimes it's Christmas, sometimes it's April 15 " Sometimes we get judged unfairly and sometimes we get something past the judges that they should have caught.