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<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></BODY></HTML>