We have all heard, and on here read, or been a part of rounds in contests where the contestant rolled the wrong way or otherwise screwed up a manuver and got scored. There have even been publicized accounts on here of that happening at this year's Nats... I think what Pattern is Fun is saying, and it's something that I agree with is that is not how he, and many of us, want to win. Do you want to win a close battle at a contest because a judge screwed up, or just plain missed an error? Or would you have it because the best pilot won?

Everybody makes mistakes, and that's fine. I make them flying, and I know I have made them judging. It is based on the perception and interpretation of the rules. A judge zeroed one of my spins a few contests back for 'snapping' the entry. I didn't agree that that was the case, but it definitely was sloppy manuever and not deserving of much of a score. I asked him why he zeroed it, ONLY to find out what he saw... not to say that he was incorrect. He's a good judge and I valued his opinion. Without having a video play back I don't know for sure... but I'll bet he was right.

Now, if I had done a three and a half turn spin instead of a two and half, and gotten scored... I would have gone back and had it changed to a zero. I would do that, and have done that. I would not want to win knowing that I 'snuck' one past the judges. Now, I have seen fellow competitors do the opposite of that... do the wrong manuever in some shape or form and get scored and not do anything about it... I may say something to them, but most likely not, it's not my place. For myself though, I want to know who the best pilot is for a given weekend, not who gets lucky and sneaks one by.

Am I better than somebody who doesn't tell on themself? No, I don't consider myself to be better than or worse than anybody else. However, it does illuminate what my goals are versus my perception of their goals.

As far as the aforementioned double standard of correctly written down scores not being allowed to be changed, and a definite zero being added after the fact, the difference is when the contestant himself turns around and says "I rolled the wrong way and that score should be a zero." I don't see how that could be a problem. He is penalizing himself, and trying to make sure the scores, at least his scores, reflect who flew the better flight.

Now there are all sorts of issues with flopped stall turns, and how many degrees it flopped, was it really a zero or just a HUGE deduction. But that's not at issue here, this is about the too many or too few spins, the obvious errors that the just may have just missed. How many times have any of us sat in the chair and missed even just a second of a manuever, where an error could have occurred, because we were looking at a airplane out of control that just might hit us or somebody else? Or some other issue like a bee flying in front of your face?

A judge missing an error does not always mean he/she is a bad judge, they just might not have seen in for a miriad of reasons.

If I am CDing a contest, a correct score (not transposed incorrectly) stands, if a contestant comes to me and says I shouldn't have gotten a score on that, please give me a zero... we will explore that avenue. It's not a double standard, nor having it both ways... it's two different arguments.

Tom M.