Executive members of the IMAC BOD, Don Hamilton and Wayne Matthews along with former IMAC President and SACB member, Tom Wheeler met with the Executives of the AMA, Dave Mathewson, Greg Hahn, Ron Morgan and Wayne Yeager. The meeting was held in Toledo Ohio where we discussed, and carefully considered the implications of the present Scale Aerobatics Sound rules and how it applies to the Nationals in Muncie Indiana.

All AMA NATS Scale Aerobatics pilots will be required to fly by the 2011 Scale Aerobatics Sound Rules which will be implemented by Kent Porter, Event Director for the contest. These rules which become effective for 2011 are quoted below.

In addition, the day before the contest begins, the Event Director will be conducting ground sound testing using the AMA’s sound frequency analyzer which will be utilized specifically for data acquisition only and will not affect a pilot’s eligibility to fly at the AMA Scale Aerobatics NATS. There will be no ground sound tests required once the contest officially starts.

The Event Director will have the scoring program modified to account for the various changes regarding 0-10 sound score, non-concurrence of the judges and also the increase in the K value of the sound score.

All participating pilots should be cognizant of the importance of curtailing sound emission from their aircraft and how it affects surrounding neighbors. Proper throttle management from take-off to landing should be exercised diligently.

We would like to thank the executives of the AMA who worked with the IMAC BOD to finalize a solution of having the AMA Scale Aerobatics NATS in Muncie IN for 2010 and onwards.

Listed below are the 2011 AMA Scale Aerobatics Sound Rules which will govern the 2010 Scale Aerobatics NATS:

5.4. In-Flight Judging Criteria for Known and Unknown Sequences.
Judges will evaluate each individual sequence flown in its entirety for overall sound presentation. Each judged Known and Unknown sequence, shall have one “figure” added to the end of the score sheet after individually judged maneuvers. This figure shall be known as the Sound Score. The Sound Score will have a K value dependent on the class flown. Individual class K values are:
- Unlimited 15 K
- Advanced 12K
- Intermediate 9K
- Sportsman 6K
- Basic 3K.
The sound score will be scored on a scale of 10 to 0 with 10 denoting “Very Quiet” and the low end of the scale toward zero denoting “Very noisy”. Whole points will be used for scoring. This sound score will then be multiplied by the K value for the individual class and included in the total flight score for the sequence. Note that each judge’s score is independent of the other(s) and no conferencing on the sound score is required.
If a pilot receives a sound score of three (3) or less for the same sequence from two or more judges, the pilot will be notified of the problem and will be requested by the Contest Director prior to the next round to adjust or modify the aircraft in order to reduce the sound level. If that pilot, after notification, again receives a sound score of three (3) or less for the same sequence from two or more judges, that pilot will be disqualified from further competition at that contest.