So you're saying the pilot needs to be in danger of hitting himself for the flying to be impressive? 25 feet is not far away, nor do you lose the wow factor at all, at least I don't. John Leland WOW'd me (boy did he! Watch out for this guy), Quique WOW'd me, Mark WOW'd me, and it had nothing to do with how close they could come to braining themselves with the airplane.

To further explain my scoring on Garrett.. Yes.. his freestyle was missing certain components. His choreography to the music was not as polished as those above him. His flight was a bit repetitive in nature, and his flight was not as smooth from one segment to the next (dead space) as the others. Quique and Mark both had absolutely no breaks in their flight. They had great flow, and met all the judging criteria. In fact, I had Mark ahead of Quique, but I guess I was the only one.

And just so people understand me clearly.. I think this whole business of touching the airplanes, grabbing the airplanes, while hovering, it just about the dumbest thing imaginable.

Your mileage may vary.