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Eric:<br>
I admit to "shooting from the hip" on this one, but I wanted to get in
a couple of thoughts.<br>
As it developed, (no pun!) I did a lot of filming at the Nats. <br>
<br>
1.) Any usable film, showing an entire sequence, would be a good thing
to go through for potential judges, preferably as soon before the
flight to be judged as possible. (even a week or so would be a help.)
It might help alleviate that problem where the first flier is the
judges learning curve, and, sometimes, may get an unfair score. (Either
higher or lower than deserved.) Just seeing the maneuvers, in
sequence, would be a help particularly after a winter layoff. The
figures certainly need not be perfect, just well recognizable.<br>
<br>
2.) My tapes showed me that perfection is certainly not necessary on
the part of the photographer--believe me! I had no difficulty
following the person's flying, and, knowing the next figure was a great
help in anticipating where the airplane was to be "pointed." In fact,
after showing a top-notch pilot a maneuver he thought he had zeroed, he
could plainly see that the figure was, in fact, rather good.<br>
<br>
3.) Because the main problem was shakiness on my part, (try holding a
camera steady for 15 minutes at 32 power magnification, you'll see what
I mean) next time I will try a good-quality pan-head tripod. I did try
sitting down in a lawn chair, which helped, but it still did nothing to
brace my elbows. Photographer fatigue IS a problem.<br>
<br>
4.) With respect to the magnification, the lower powers will show the
airplane and any clouds (or possibly some background) which makes it
easier to check for geometry, but won't show errors such as wings not
level, etc. A good compromise seems to be about 10-15 power; not always
the case, but frequently so.<br>
<br>
Just a few rapid-fire thoughts.<br>
<br>
Bill Glaze<br>
<br>
<br>
Henderson,Eric wrote:<br>
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<div><span class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font
color="#0000ff"><font size="2"> <span class="488174615-09012004">One
thing that I have always wished we could do, with judges training, is
run through each schedule with the specifics for each maneuver. The
thinking being that it is OK to learn all the possible down grades, but
it is easier to remember a set of down grades for a schedule. There are
the usual generic downgrades like angles and centering etc. But each
maneuver has a list that is probably worth going through. There are
classics like which way the pull or the push is on a Humpty, </span></font></font></font></span><span
class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font color="#0000ff"><font
size="2"><span class="488174615-09012004">or which way up the cross
line is in a reverse top hat. Breeding familiarity with the 2004
schedules might be beneficial.</span></font></font></font></span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><span class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font
color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="488174615-09012004"> As
regards tools to help do the job. I think that a video of each
schedule, not necessarily flown perfectly, would be more fun to go
though than just the basic rules tape. I have tried to make them and
was not happy with the results. Recent feedback showed me that I was
shooting for perfection. A perfect rendition of a schedule is not
really possible. Especially when the camera often makes a bad maneuver
look right and vice versa. I am beginning to think that we should give
the observer more credit and trust them to allow for camera bouncing
and angular distortion due to non parallel backplanes etc.</span></font></font></font></span></div>
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<div><span class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font
color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="488174615-09012004">
Most of us fall into three learning groups. We hear, we see or we try
it. More "eyes-on" experience could improve our judging and make us
feel better about the "guy" behind us at a contest. </span></font></font></font></span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><span class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font
color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="488174615-09012004">
Some things that became clear during two filming sessions were. You
need a very steady and patient camera person. You need to fly the
maneuvers much, much closer. That means that you need to accept that
you can't draw good separation lines. Smaller planes flown close in
reduced the camera waving/shake/wobble</span></font></font></font></span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><span class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font
color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="488174615-09012004"> If
you try and segment maneuvers such as stall turns and snaps you need to
keep the camera on track and not follow the displacement of the plane.
(Also set auto focus off and select infinity). Spins have to be dome
very low and or the camera needs to be on top of the "clubhouse". You
just can't get the plane to look level. Often we could only do one spin
we were so low trying to get a good result.</span></font></font></font></span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><span class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font
color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="488174615-09012004">I
would appreciate any feedback from anyone who is giving this a shot.</span></font></font></font></span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><span class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font
color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="488174615-09012004">Regards,</span></font></font></font></span></div>
<div><span class="488174615-09012004"><font face="Arial"><font
color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><span class="488174615-09012004"><br>
Eric</span></font></font></font></span></div>
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