By Wes Liu, IAC 10476, Judge Program Chair
This bulletin addresses three topics; 2021 Judge Currency, 2021 Judges Schools, Cockpit video during contests.
2021 Judge Currency
Previously I reported that due to the issues we have had in 2020, I submitted my fall report on the state of the Judges Program to the IAC Board proposing temporary changes to the Judge Currency requirements stated in IAC Policy & Procedures 214. These changes will be for 2021 only. The IAC Board did vote to approve the temporary changes listed below. Our IAC IT friends, notably DJ Molny, have updated the website software calculations. For your review, the changes for 2021 are:
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IAC P&P 214 section 6.1 sub-paragraph b) i is suspended for 2021 Judge currency (requirement for number of flights Chief-ed or graded)
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IAC P&P 214 section 6.1 sub-paragraph b) ii requirement for Regional Judges to attend a Judges School within 2 years is extended to 3 years for 2021 Judge Currency
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IAC P&P 214 section 4.2.3 (Regional Judge Certification – Academic Training timeliness) is extended from “the current or previous contest year” to “the current or previous two contest years” for 2021.
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IAC P&P 214 section 4.4.1 (Regional Judge Certification – Practical Training) has an exception for Advanced and/or Unlimited competitors who have competed at that level “within the current or previous contest year”. This is changed to be “within the current or previous two contest years” for the 2021.
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IAC P&P section 5.2.1 (National Judge Certification – Practical Experience) is extended from “the current or previous contest year” to “the current or previous two contest years” for 2021.
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IAC P&P section 5.2.2 (National Judge Certification – Practical Experience) is extended from “the current or previous contest year” to “the current or previous two contest years” for 2021.
We all hope that we are able to fly a contest season in 2021, get all of our Judge skills back up to speed, and return to whatever “normal” is in 2022.
I will note that there is still the requirement to pass the 2021 Judge Revalidation & Currency Exam. The rulebook was restructured for 2020 so please take some quality time and give our Official Contest Rules a new read.
Outside of the IAC Board a couple of additional topics have generated thought and some discussion.
2021 Judges Schools
The first is Judges School scheduling. We do not yet know what the state of our world will be at the start of the traditional spring Judges School season. The current contest calendar lists the first contests in late March. Some chapters have historically scheduled Judges Schools in February but this year it might be wise to push those into March. The evening news suggests that later will be easier vs. sooner.
I will also lobby that if you have volunteers who will attend their first Judges School, you direct those volunteers to doing the online training videos and their knowledge quizzes. If all of your new candidates do the online training, then if you can choose to have an in-person school, only the one day Practical Aerobatic Judging session needs to be done.
If come March we still cannot do in-person Judges Schools then having your new volunteers accomplish the online training greatly reduces the Zoom time that must be organized.
Cockpit Video
The next topic – Cockpit video and the contest. Welcome to the 21st century. More of our competitors are running their video cameras while flying their competition flight program and we have gotten a couple of instances where a Contest Jury has received a protest in which the competitor wanted to introduce cockpit video to the deliberations. Most requests so far are to use cockpit video to contest low calls. The IAC Rules Committee discussed this. I am sure that the discussion is not over.
31.5.8-b states “The Grievant is entitled to be present at the hearing and to call witnesses and present evidence.” Contemporaneous cockpit video is certainly evidence.
Points for a Contest Jury to consider:
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30.2.2 states “The penalties for Altitude Infringement are only applied if observed by a majority of Grading Judges.” This is a perception but an important one. Judges give competitors a lot of “benefit of the doubt” when assessing altitude. The evaluation of the majority of a multi-Judge panel that a competitor was low should carry some weight.
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Altimeter setting accuracy - Does the video show the entire flight from take-off to landing? If the altimeter shown in the cockpit video is not shown while on the ground, how can the Jury know that it was set to zero correctly? I will offer myself as an example of someone who sets their altimeter 100’ low before takeoff to help avoid low calls. If the video shows the on the ground zero, that adds credibility to the video. If the video does not show the altimeter when the competitor is on the ground, before takeoff or after landing, the viewer of the video is unable to assess that it was set to “zero” correctly.
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Altimeter calibration accuracy – VFR aircraft have much looser requirements for altimeter accuracy even when coupled to a Mode C transponder. In the case of the dispute of a marginal low penalty a valid question is when the altimeter in the video was last calibrated. If the answer is that an overhaul was performed in the last 6 months that adds credibility. If the answer is “never” or “ten years ago”, that takes away credibility. I will note that overhauled altimeter calibrations come with a correction card.
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Does the video show a sequence card for the flight in question? This helps verify that the video is of the contest flight in question.
Our 21st century technology can both help and hinder our sport. And our rulebook does not anticipate and provide instruction for every possible situation. I hope the above discussion provides some food for thought.
Hope to see you at a box in 2021, Wes
