Nope, but I have met him a few times 15+ years ago. As far as the NATS are concerned seems they came out like they should have. I congratulate all the fliers. Now I'm off to an IMAC event held in the town just over from me.

Good luck with the contest.

I've been flying pattern for more years than I care to remember and it is my belief that the judging is better now then it ever has been. I don't know what happened in FAI but Ryan McLauglin wasn't on anybody's radar and he won masters.
Greg Grigsby

If I worked for Chip, wouldn't I be happy that it worked this way. He is a big name who definitely gets the benefit of the doubt in some situations.

Regardless of what you do, someone will gain advantage and someone will be disadvantaged. Some folks fly with expo, some without, some mix, some dont. There would be no way to setup a plane that was not "better" for some than others. Its fun to think about, but its not realistic. The only thing that might be realistic would be flying the entire contest as unknown.. But then some fly better with practice and stink at unknowns and even then you are just turning the coin over. Some can't fly as well as others given equal practice time but can pickup and do an unknown better initially. Thats just life in general, not just RC.
I think like our judicial system, what we have is not perfect but its probably the best alternative you can get.

Let me sturr-it up a bit. I heard that one of the FAI Judges did such a poor biased job on Judging that he will never ever be jugding at the NATs again. HUMMMMMMM. Just what I heard.

I was in the Masters finals...had 2 really good rounds, til a pipe mount broke and cost me the last 2 rounds...i saw all of the masters finals, and I will say there was no favoritism. I think you could ask anyone flying in it and most would agree it was pretty much how we thought it would be. The scores were so close, anyone could've won. I saw some of the FAI finals, and judged the semi finals. Some judges look for different things..but overall I think you ended up with pretty much who everyone thought would be in the finals, and in the finals, the flying I saw was tough to tell who won what...I dont think it was fixed by any stretch. You are right there will always be a name recognition thing..its ALWAYS going to be there...flying is subjective, we are all humans. some pilots right or wrong will always get the benefit of the doubt..part of that is paying your dues to get to that level...but I learned a long time ago in any sport, it all evens out. Everyone remembers when they think they were screwed...but you dont see them running to a judge when they screw something up and they still get scored well....if you are at a local contest, how many times have we seen people get a 0 and an 8 on a spin..they complain about the 0..you never hear them tell the guy with the 8, it should've been a zero...

just my opinion.

Arch Stafford

You're right Mike. It wouldn't be easy but it might be fun. It was a idea we were throwing around over an adult beverage a lot of years ago. I have not, nor have I ever said anything was "fixed" or Biased" ever at anytime about anything. The guys that flew in the NATS finished exactly where they should have from the judges point and that's what matters. My hats off to those guys, judges and fliers! Will we ever have a perfect system? I doubt it. Sure is fun trying though! It's a sport we love, it's what we do. I congratulate all the winners.

Hi Arch!

I was pulling for you there big guy! I know Ryan, used to fly against him and Joe walker way back when we were in Sportsman/Advance along with Jason Shulman, those three were a hoot to be around. Ryan was very good then and I'm not suprised he won masters. I wish you'd have had better luck but that's how the game is played. Btw I got the engine and plan to mount it in the Synergy tomorrow and ground run a tank or two then fly it Sunday. The Eclipse is another story. CG is at the rear of the tube and if I replace the heavy stuff up front to get the overall weight down I'll just end up putting the weight back in. Seems this one was built with moving the wing tube back the 1/2"-5/8" it should have been.

A couple of guys in my club are flying their IMAC models with a new German made twin reciever with onboard GPS which logs the models cordinates many times a second besides other parameters. At the end of the flight they download this information into a laptop which is used to display information about the flight. One of the reports available plots the position of the aircraft throughout the flight in 3D. The detail was quite impressive to say the least - you could easily identify loops, lines, verticals etc from the information displayed on the screen. I dont think it would take too much for someone to write some analysis software to rate/score the flight based on the information available. This could be used as part of the scoring process. I dont think we will ever replace our judges but this certainly opens up a whole new world for judging - i.e making it less subjective and more scientific - if your that way inclined.

For what its worth,

Peter

PeterP,
An interesting idea and I'm sure things will progress along those lines someday...maybe sooner than later.
It does leave out one important thing though that would be tough to program to recognize.
Style.
Next weekend I will fly my first pattern contest since 1985.
Yikes!
I was completley out of the hobby for over 18 years.
But back in my old AMA pattern days there were pilots that when they flew everyone watched.
They had a certain flair or style that was unique to them.
An attempt at pure objectivity would miss that.
Just my opinion.

JLK

OK, I admit it... I should have zeroed the 1 roll circle to the INSIDE when I rolled outside instead in the 2nd Unknown. Only 1 judge caught it at the time, and another "caught" it a couple maneuvers later, but wasn't 100% sure. Sorry.

Ryan was always on my radar for Masters... I helped train him... Guess he'll finally believe me when I tell him he is capable of winning Masters.

Hey Jason,
What happened to you? You sweeped the prelims and and came in third in the finals. Ouch.

So who's gonna represent the US for the 2007 F3A championship?

Any videos guys?

I would love to see Quique's flights! And the others of course!

Please post here if you got a recording...

Since the Worlds are in November 2007, the US team will be chosen at the Nats in 2007. This year was a "warmup" to the team selection next year.

Jon Lowe

Jason man, if QQ can have a P-0Q round you are entitled to an F-0J round I think lol

Hope you had/have a safe trip home.

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.

Let me set the record straight...

I think Mike Dorna and I were the only 2 in the FAI Semi Finals who weren't sponsored...with appropriate apparel and accessories, no doubt we would have finished 1-2 instead of 19-20!

BTW the Masters winner was also self sponsored (note NASCAR hat) and was clearly held back as well...

Honestly though, I was excited to make the top 20. These are simply the best pilots in the world and that is why they are sponsored by all the different manufacturers. It's really easy to cry foul, but from what I saw, the finishes were pretty darn accurate.

Watch out next year though! The amateurs are unleashed! (Once they learn how to do an "S" turn...ahem) ;-)

Joe Walker

Hi Joe! Long time to speak. Glad you had fun as always. Pat Ryan on the back for me. Hope to see you soon on the trail somewhere.

Tim Taylor
Sumter SC

Another year, another unforgettable experience.

Some pics from site 4...sorry, didn't get pics from sites 1 and 3...wished I had.


-mark
www.insightrc.com

......more from site 4.....

Your 2006 Concours de Elegance Winner....

Congratulations Mike.

....[8D]

And just think, an OS-160 won masters! No need for all the fancy electric stuff. It still comes down to the pilot!
Greg