ORIGINAL: britbrat
Oh dear --- where do we differ?
I've not had a "competitive bug bite" in 45 yrs, but obviously a significant number of modellers fly competitively, & common rules need to be there for comparative purposes & stability.
Maybe this is where we start to diverge -- I think that the "marketplace" (the modellers) should be the ones to create, develop & codify the rules. The governing body should only be there to say -- "OK guys you agree in large part that these are your rules -- so be it. We hereby decree that the xyz rule will be in force for a period of two years, whereupon we will accept new generally agreed-upon rules from you, or we will re-sanction the current rules until such new rules are presented for sanction".
I don't think that rules should be generated by the governing body's "Rules Committee", or you will end up with a godawfull catfight like the one that has recently mangled & divided the combat fliers in Canada. The governing body, however, must ensure absolute compliance of the discipline's Contest Directors to the sanctioned rules, as they are currently in force -- or again there will be a catfight. There should be no participation in rules formulation by the governing body --only rubber stamping & subsequent enforcement.
Rules is rules & everyone benefits from being able to trust the rules comming from the fliers themselves, otherwise the rules will be ignored, or the events will begin to lose attendance.
Well?
The combat guys are doing something wrong then...in pattern our committee operates exactly as I understand that you would like it to operate. We set the rules, the CD decides how many of the rules he wishes to enforce at a particular contest (usually few if any).
As I understand the problem with combat (and this also somewhat exists in IMAC) is the alignment with the US guys. For pattern we have our own rules here and if you fly in the US then you need to learn a different set of sequences and rules.....this has never really been a problem as our committee is very democratic.....not all agree on every subject but majority rules.