Doc Jackson Replies to Randy

Doc Jackson's Comment -- II -- "Re: Doc's Point"

Randy;

I am sure I would learn some good things at a KOTRC stunt clinic. I only fly a stunt airplane (old time such as a Veco Brave) for enjoyment and am lucky if I can survive inverted flight or a couple of loops and lazy 8s. My point is within the confines of the FAI events that I attend usually as a member of what is called the FAI Jury. I am not supposed to judge any of the 4 categories or any individual "event" that takes place during the competition. I am supposed to rule on whether or not judges in any of the categories, misinterpreted or misapplied a written rule in the case of a competitor's protest. So, even if I witness the "event" in dispute and think that what I saw was competely at odds with the judge's version of things (for example I clearly see one combat competitor make 4 cuts on his or her opponent and yet they receive credit for only 2), I cannot change the judge's version or decision of the "event". I can only determine if the subsequent action (disqualification, penalty etc) was consistent with the interpretation of the "event" as witnessed by the judge.

So - with that in mind - my point is that in F2B (the FAI version of stunt), there has been an ongoing rumble over the years about judges, their preferences, their lack of standard judging approach (some appear to score on what things "look like" and almost no one appears to use some approach using point or decimal fractions of points deduction for errors - and there is little evidence of a standard appreciation of errors) and the effect this has on the competition. When you add to this the poor communication of the judges' approaches to the competitors, it leaves the competitor wondering what he or she is supposed to do or fly - big pattern and smooth? sharp corners? etc - they seem to be fishing for what is selling on the day. Finally, in the major contests such as world championships - the organizer must pay the costs of the judges to travel to the competition, room and board, etc. This leads to looking for judges close to the competition site so their travel costs are less, rather than picking them for their competence; and finally there has (mostly in the past but not over yet) been a decided tendency to use an "old boy" network and retain judges of questionalble ability or integrity (because they are a drinking buddy, or they'll invite you for a nice visit next year, etc). This has gradually improved with a publicly published scoring analysis that has sometimes shown that one judge will go high on scores of their countryman and low on potential competitors for that same countryman - and fortunately led to banishment of that judge at least for the next championship. But there aren't clinics such as yours for FAI judges, and there is no qualification standard nor effective oversight on the choice of judges. I am frequently stuck in a room at the time of approval of the judge's panel without anyone to turn to to ask if Guido Parsipinellipasta knows a damned thing about a stunt pattern - and have no way out as things have been delayed until that decision moment and there is a hue and cry to move on. Hard working competition stunt flyers deserve better. If all judges on a prospective list to be used for selection of the panel for any major competition had to attend and be certified (and re-certified) by a stunt clinic such as yours - this would improve things significantly. Hard to do with volunteers and an organization (CIAM) that doesn't want to talk seriously about the challenges of maintaining good international competition in the face of increasing leisure time options for (especially) young people.

So - I am just asking Kieth Renecle (and others) to give some serious thought to improving judging fairness and standardization while they look at the intracies of the stunt pattern, its sometime loose descriptions or inaccurate pattern diagrams etc. The ditzy language usage in the message was simply typical of communication between Pete Soule (Marlon) and myself (Quax - his name for me as his concocted German cousin).

Sorry for telling you more than you wanted to know about my "point". But thanks for the suggestion, you're right that I could learn from one of your stunt clinics.

doc