This years Nats was a lot of fun. I flew about 45 flights from Thursday through Wednesday. The FAI portion was changed such that pilots remained on two flight lines, and judges rotated. Thus, there was equal-exposure for all pilots to all judges per round. There were 5 judges and the high/low were dropped. There was only one Wednesday round in which a judges performance was protested due to percieved bias (that I heard of). Flying F07 on Wednesday for the semifinalists was really cool. All the pilots I talked to thought these changes made for a much better overall contest and ensured anyone who made the finals was truly prepared. I ended up on the flight line with Jason, QQ, and Sean all three days, flying right after one of them on most flights. Only at the Nats can you get this kind of experience. On one hand I can see how much my flying changed from last year, on the other, you can really see how much you have to go to catch up to these guys. Tuesday evening was really great - QQ, Sean, Dave L., Don S., and I were practicing F07 on Site #3. Without a lot of people around, everybody was relaxed and talked about the pattern and some techniques for flying it - again - can't get that anywhere but the nats. Another year where I leave Muncie more motivated for the next!
Thanks,
Jim W.