The IAC Board of Directors has cancelled the 2001 IAC Championships, scheduled for this fall in Florida. The championship event was cancelled after the Florida chapters who made the original bid to host the event withdrew their bid. Louisiana Chapter 72 had also bid on the event, but their tentative spring date left inadequate time to properly organize and publicize the meet.
The situation has given the IAC Board the opportunity to review the entire Championship concept. IAC Historian and Board of Director Mike Heuer explained that when there were two competing national aerobatic organizations - the Aerobatic Club of America (ACA) and the IAC, the ACA held the U.S. Nationals and the IAC held the IAC Championships. When the IAC became the sole aerobatic sanctioning authority in the U.S., the IAC kept both contests going - both the U.S. Nationals and the IAC Championships. The IAC Contest Management Committee has been struggling for years with the meaning of this second championship event and what it means to hold the title of IAC Champion.
The official decision made by the Board at a teleconference call in late December was to forgo hosting two separate IAC-sponsored Championship events in 2001 and to host only one Championship event in September 2001 in Dennison, TX. A decision was deferred on what titles will be given, which medals awarded, and the future of the IAC Championships until the February 10 Board meeting in Indianapolis, IN.
