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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jerry</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A lot easier to speculate and postulate than
execute! But this is a good discussion, anything that ensures accurate judging
and good flying is good for the game.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Earl</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=JAStebbins@worldnet.att.net
href="mailto:JAStebbins@worldnet.att.net">Jerry Stebbins</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 29, 2004 10:44
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Distances</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Earl, seems like there are three ways to get the
distance:1 Judge guessing based on experience/visibility,2 Setting someone off
each of the box boundies at 180M, or 3 Measuring, in real time what it
really is.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Most of the FAI judges are older,more
experienced, may be able to guess accurately, but also eysight problems
can creep in.Trying to see what is going on ,due to distance, really adds to
the load of evaluating all the other things that are
more "judgeable ".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Putting a couple folks out of the box like we do
in pylon racing is fairly easy to do, logistically, and reporting wise. Would
also need a "distance judge" seated with the others to provide them guidance
on where the plane was.(hard to do real time). Could also be done post
flight as an added downgrade column for each maneuver that is imposed across
the board against the "judged" value, where the pilot violates the "distance
box". </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Then there is the "hi-tech" answer of a "two
distance judges" that have range finder lasers that track and report/record
the distance out. Two to give added credibility/ consistency to what is
"seen".ORRR-install a transponder in the planes that would automatically give
you position data -related to the box "limits". I have no doubt that there is
a tiny device /system that is capable of this already available somewhere.Then
there would be no doubt on ALL box violations,only the "degree" of the
violation.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This would require software to accommodate the
"end of box " distances ,versus centered distances, but that would not be too
tough. Also could be more sophisticated to add triggers for "over
distance" reporting only, recording of data in real time on a comparable
judging form, or some form of input to the judges in real time (beeper) or
post flight for added downgrades.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>All this is somewhat academic, since it behooves
the pilot to "present" to the judges his best , and
observable performance, to get the best scores.</FONT> <FONT
face=Arial size=2>But maybe helping the judges have a better/prcise
observation data base might be a step forward to him getting more exactly
"what he deserves".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ain't this more fun than sitting out in the sun
and baking, while trying to do the best you can to observe, evaluate, and
score?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jerry</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>