There have been some very interesting developments this last month. We are still in a process of deciding what the final contest of the year will look like and when it will be held. Bernie Boland, Dean Bird and Bill Adams comprise the team representing EVA and the contest that would be the final SW contest for 2009. The 3 day plan is one that is also being used in the South East for their final contest. This includes a Saturday cutoff and final throw-down on Sunday. The final points will conclude on Saturday and the regional point’s champions will be noted for awards. We are looking at something very similar, and it has the blessings of the BOD of IMAC. The contest guide, which is on our site, controls the elements and everything is there for all to see. I assume that a final contest will be up soon. Nothing has been forthcoming from Las Vegas about the 3rd weekend in Sept ember and so that is looking quite fragile as time marches on.

Camarillo, as mentioned in the forums, was an outstanding contest with 50 pilots and great weather and outstanding execution running the contest with great support from the club and many individuals. Don Barrett and his wife took care of the scoring which is a huge job and Joe MacGregor advised for the duration. Frank Oliver excelled as CD and the Condors volunteers came through strong with food and support. Hats off for a great venue and contest that we all look forward to attending each year.

August 2 was the cut-off date for contests that can be used to qualify for the Tucson Aerobatic Shootout and Aug 11 is the last day to register so those that read this take heed and get those applications filled out and send the 300 bucks to Michael Marcellin. Shootout information is on the DA website.

F3M contests have been debated actively on the internet and a good discussion can be followed on a thread in Flying Giants. The pro and con of doing F3M within IMAC was addressed by Bill Malvey and Jim Woodard with others chiming in and I would say that Bill Malvey has it pretty much right. The BOD of IMAC has issued a position statement and I encourage all to read it and be informed of the rationale for not including it in our contests here in the USA.

Some interest has been expressed by a few about judging schools for the future. Nothing is planned for the rest of 2009 in the South West and all the judging schools in the rest of the USA have been conducted early in the year. Jim Brink developed an idea into an impromptu judging session that he has described in his report from Colorado. I fully subscribe to this way of developing better judges and judging at a contest. It is comprised of a short talk with stick airplane and a goals objective approach regarding criteria that all judges need to know. Then, a pilot goes up and demonstrates the element and pilots critique the figures and discuss their observations. The contest starts and they get to apply what they have learned. This is not perfect but it is very effective at teaching target criteria. Furthermore on the subject I have indicated to the AMA that the South West IMAC group would like to have a 3 hour block on Friday or maybe Saturday of the AMA convention in January of 2010. This Judge Seminar would focus on the next level certification of judges for the SW. 2009 I focused on two sessions of 90 minutes each on Friday and Saturday for Level 1 certification. 31 pilots attended this 90 minute session on Friday and 28 took the certification test for level 1 and 26 passed. Saturday’s 90 minute session had 24 students and 11 took the level 1 test and all passed it. 13 students came in late because of the way the classes were announced in the foyer….they thought it was two 45 min sessions…so I did not give them the test as they had missed the first half of the session. The 2010 AMA convention plan would, as I said, focus on all the level 1 instruction but would also go further to level 2 and it would have2 tests given to achieve level 2 certification.
I have a roster of all IMAC members in the South West and I have determined certification levels based on experience and my observations plus judging schools attended in the past for designated certification here in the SW. 55 members of the SW have achieved some level of certification in my view with: Level 6 (Invitational level judges) having 7 people those being Tim Attaway, Dean Bird, Jim Dornberger, Ken Gregory, Bill Hempel, Frank Kelley, and Steve Nelson. Level 5 (skilled to judge Unlimited class and below) there are 18 South West pilots/IMAC members qualified at this level. We do need to continue to develop judges at all levels of certification but not to put too fine a point on this we have made some real progress here. I believe that much can be accomplished between now and the AMA convention by doing the following.

• Study the Flying and Judging Guide that is easy to download from the IMAC site
• Develop consistency in your standards whenever you judge
• Develop and eye for geometry and presentation of that geometry
• Remember to give the pilot the benefit of the doubt
• Attend the AMA convention judging session and get certified
• Develop a strong sense of ethics and pride in doing what you know is the right thing when you are in the judges chair, avoiding all biased score giving at all times.

Of course I invite you to voice your thoughts on the SW forum by starting new threads and commenting in a positive manner your ideas, reasons, questions etc. relating to any or all of these themes. We have enjoyed 14 contests this year and an average of 36.2 pilots have shown up despite the economy….. I think this has been a pretty good year thus far.

Tim Attaway
SW Regional Director