(CliP)
It would be interesting to see the thought process behind assignment of the K-factors.
I cannot shed any light on the "thought process behind assignment of the K-factors", but I can provide some background history on this.
At one time the FAI had an entirely different pattern than is flown now. That was in the years prior to 1960. At that time K factors were used for that previous pattern.
I am not sure, but I think that it was in 1960 that the FAI adopted our AMA pattern. (Both patterns essentially have remained unchanged since that time, though the maneuver descriptions have been, shall we say "refined" for both our AMA pattern as well as the FAI pattern. The maneuvers and their sequence have not been changed. Also, I think it was in 1960 that a World Championship competition was held for CL in a format that is similar to what is used today (Speed, Aerobatics, and Team Race), though the format has evolved and Combat was added sometime later. When the FAI first adopted our AMA pattern, a K-Factor system was applied which I think can be assumed its use was a hold over from the previous FAI scoring system for Aerobatics. The scoring system for that FAI pattern had several different aspects. Each portion of each maneuver was scored separately. In other words, there were three separate scores for each of the 3 consecutive inside loops. In the case of the eights, each of the two eights (horizontal, square, vertical and overheads had two separate scores. Then to top off that, each of those separately scored segments had its own K-Factor. It was sometime later that the entirety of each maneuver was scored using a single K-Factor. That was about the same time that the hand signal for the FAI pattern had to be given before each maneuver was eliminated.
(Also, in that period, the FAI scoring system was 0 to 10, but in whole point increments. Sometime later, the FAI scoring system allowed for 1/2 point increments. Now, 0.1 point increments are used. In my opinion, each change was for the better as it made it much easier for a judge to distinguish slight differences when scoring similarly skilled pilots.)
This is not an argument for or against K-Factors. Just some background on the history of the pattern used for FAI.
Now, for one of my opinions about the FAI K-Factors: I personally do not think they are needed or make any difference. I feel the better pattern will be scored higher regardless if K-Factors are used. It would be interesting to hold a contest (or even a test, say with 10 pilots) with two sets of judges, one using the FAI K-Factors, the other not using the K-Factors. I would wager that the same ranking would be established. Oh, there might be a slightly different ranking, but the better pilots would still be ranked higher than those who did fly as good of a pattern. The same slight ranking variation might (but not necessarily) occur if the high and low scores are not used in the tabulation of each pilot's score, compared to when all scores are used in the average flight scores posted, but that is another subject.
I do not mean to hi-jack this thread.
CONGRATULATIONS TO PAUL, DAVID AND ORESTES.
Keith