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General control line discussion => Open Forum => Topic started by: ericrule on January 13, 2021, 05:05:31 PM
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After reading Larry Renger's post about great pilots I find that I agree with him about great judges. The simple fact is that Larry Renger is one of the smartest guys I know so I tend to listen when he makes suggestions.
After reviewing the many folks who have judged my flights over the last 30 years there are two who really had the greatest effect on me. Due to my friendship with Donn Gunzenhauser I often travelled to N. California to attend WAM contests. In addition to meeting fantastic folks like Ted Fancher, Dave Fitzgerald, Brett Buck, Jim Aron and Larry Fernandez I was more often than not judged by Mary Gephart and Bill Fitzgerald while competing in Intermediate Stunt.
Both Mary and Bill were very tough judges who scored only the model's maneuvers. Neither of them were impressed by a positive or negative "halo". At the time this was kind of an unusual experience. After my initial surprise wore off it became a very real pleasure to have my maneuvers judged wholly upon how accurate they were. Over a period of approximately 8 years I was guaranteed a fair and accurate evaluation and able to determine each year if my flying was getting better or worse. Mary and Bill were very consistent flight after flight. I never left a contest feeling that the score I received was too low or too high. If I left the circle after a flight thinking that I had done something in the 425 range when I later checked my score sheets that was the score the flight was given. I wish I could say the same for other judges during that same period.
In addition to being superior judges Mary and Bill were very friendly, warm individuals who seemed to enjoy joking with the contestants. I remember them telling me one a few occasions that they enjoyed judging my flights because there were always a few maneuvers that forced them to check the score sheet to see exactly what I was supposed to be doing. You can imagine my shock and extreme happiness when they told me after a contest that they recognized all of the maneuvers I flew!
Great people and superior judges that gave more to the hobby than merely judging at contests. I still miss them to this day and try to emulate them whenever I judge stunt. I just wish I had their ability!
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Aww, shucks Eric. You should meet some of my Caltech and MIT buddies. You want smart? Sheesh! These guys are stars compared to me.
I barely managed to graduate. Majored in model aircraft with a minor in table tennis. If I hadn’t lucked into the toy and hobby career I would have starved eventually.
Fortunately found my true calling just in time and hopefully have been a benefit to both myself and the industry.
Thanks for the compliment, anyway. H^^
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I've had a couple notable judges. Paul Walker, David Fitzgerald, Brett Buck, and Chris Cox too. Plenty of others, but not with as many trophies in their halls. I had my new Chizler at a contest two years ago and nosed over in the grass and fried the motor. I took out my well worn ringmaster and flew it instead and David said that was one of the best flights he'd ever seen on a ringmaster. Richard Walbridge didn't agree on his score sheet and I settled for fourth that day in advanced.
I think Paul gave me about the harshest score I've ever seen at NW regionals. He and David were judging advanced. I made some pained remark at my 430 or whatever it was and they both reassured me they were being quite generous. Guess I should've brought the ringmaster.
I want to throw in Al Heiger too. He is always judging and a great credit to the hobby to be one of the first and most frequent volunteers to grab a scoresheet, even when driving across the state to do so. Well, now I feel bad for not mentioning all the other guys. My thanks to all the men and women who grab the scoresheet.
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Mr. MaGoo
John L.
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Mr. MaGoo
John L.
Yes John;
I have also flown before this judge. The good thing is that because he can not see well most if not all of my mistakes were ignored. The bad thing is that due to poor eyesight he tends to use the "Halo" method of scoring (not bad if it's positive but really bad if it is negative) H^^
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Eric,
Don't I remember a certain contest where the judges turned their backs on you because you were flying too good? Been a long time but IIRC that was at Toronto.
Chuck
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I flew at my first contest in 2018. I was judged in advanced by Paul Walker and David Fitzgerald. David heckled me afterwards. I felt honored!
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I am very fortunate to have a couple good mentors every weekend. I fly with Gordan Delaney and Jim Rhoades. Bart Klapinsky graces us for a few weeks each summer as well. I found a picture of their constructive criticism style....haha!
(https://i.gifer.com/82FO.gif)
(https://stunthanger.com/smf/open-forum/great-judges-i-have-flown-before/?action=dlattach;attach=320987;image)
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Back in my flying/competing days, I was most impressed with Big Art Adamisin. He was fair, thorough and would take the time to discuss your flight after and he would often offer suggestions for improvement of the pilot and the plane. Art and his whole family contributed much to the hobby.
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Chuck;
I have never "flown too good"! The very thought is too far from reality to even consider LL~
Many judges have laughed at my maneuvers and far too many have had to check the score sheet to determine exactly what maneuver they were trying to judge because it was impossible to know what it was from their "eyes only" observation.
Over the many years I have flown and competed some very unusual things have happened during official flights. I think the wildest one was during advanced at the North West Regionals in Roseburg, OR when the wind came up really strong in the middle of my pattern. It blew so hard that my Jamieson Special actually paused in mid air while flying the back side of the overhead eight. I have absolutely no idea how I finished that maneuver (pure dumb luck) without crashing. When it came time to land the Jamieson again stopped going forward and slid backward to a perfect landing. Since my flight was the final in advanced it was very telling that Ted, Brett and David who had watched my flight decided to pass in expert and the CD decided to cancel expert due to conditions. Like my pit man stated "sometimes it is better to be lucky than good" LL~ LL~ LL~