Just to clarify the judging, in the finals there were something like 20 judges, a set of judges score each "part" of the sky, ie. a group score the left hand, a group score the middle and a group score the right hand manouvres.

I totally understand what you are saying Eggert and the only way this could happen is "impression" judging. Portugal was the first WC I have attended (and let me say I only saw the Finals) and I was quite surprised by the results. My simple view is that the downgrades for errors are very clear but did not seem to be applied accurately in the flights I witnessed. The detailed report above gives some examples and I would highlight box violations in particular where downgrades did not seem to be applied based on the % of the manouvre out of the box.

As I watched each flight I noted some obvious errors but could not relate them to the scores that were given - especially with regards to the same manouvres with the same judge for a different pilot. One specific manouvres was the reverse snap that Benoit performed in Unknown 1. It went terribly wrong for him:
1. first snap didn't seem to pitch then finished off line and significantly off level.
2. second snap (reversed) yawed off and finished off level again.
3. The manouvre was not graceful or precise.
On this basis I failed to see how if would score well, worth a 2 at best in my view and yet two judges scored it a 6. I would love to sit down with the judging panel and a video of the flights and ask them how them came up with the scores. I do not say this malicously but when I compare it to the same manouvre scored by the same judges for other pilots I cannot begin to understand the basis of their downgrades. I would be delighted if there was an opportunity to understand the scoring methods used. Please note this is just one example, I'm not singling out Benoit for any reason other than the manouvre flown, he is a singularly brilliant pilot.

One other area that baffled me was the noise testing. The procedure was that the pilot had his model bought forward where it was held in place by his helper and he put the throttle to full while the test was completed. There were a couple of odd variations though between pilots. A number of pilots stood next to the official noise tester and showed him that the throttle was at full noise and then reduced the throttle when they were given the go ahead from the official. (I think it was QQ that actually took his hand off the sticks so the official could clearly see that the throttle was fully extended - it was a clear and unambiguous test) Other pilots walked away from the official while the pushed the throttle up, there was no way that you could tell if he were going to full throttle or not (also quite rude I thought). One pilot in particular had a fairly noisy electric that I did not seem to be throttled up fully during the test and when it was in the air it seemed relatively loud to me - he was one of the guys that walked away from the tester while the test was being done. Of course, this may have all been perfectly done but in competition it is important for things to be seen to be done properly not just done. It could not be argued that this was the case with the noise testing because different pilots did the test different ways - they should have been given clear instructions and been required to follow these instructions that way it is fair to all participants.


So what is the solution?
1. Screen the judges from the pilots, this would be relatively easy to do and would reduce the propensity for impression judging.
2. Have box judges that have a series of lights that tell the judges when the plane is out of the box. In Unknown 2 a bunch of pilots were so far above the box it was incredible that they didn't seem to be downgraded.
3. Noise testing rules to be enforced in the same way for everybody.

Unfortunately my experience at the WC's left me a little disenchanted and much less interested in participating at a WC in the future. For me win or lose it doesn't matter as long as the flights & tests are fairly assessed. Unfortunately, I honestly didn't think the pilots were treated evenhandedly and this is pretty rough considering the time and expense that people go to compete.