As a rookie Event Director, arriving on Friday I was met with some nervousness and anxiety. As the week progressed, it became more of both! Well, maybe not exactly. Mark Overmier, Derek, and I tried to present to the competitors a friendly environment and a great contest. I believe the final "pilot to support staff ratio" was 2.6 pilots for one volunteer. I think that says a lot about how much goes on to provide the best possible venue.
With nearly 70 competitors and 14 judges, the resulting score sheet paper work is intimidating. Each day, our four tabulators had to enter 1960 score sheets containing 18 sets of numbers each! And then each sheet was checked over again to make sure the totals were correct. We did this in the Excel program as well as with hand held calculators. Wednesday posting was very slow but not because of a lack of effort of poor systems. The 4 spent 12 hours in and around the trainer on Wednesday alone. Derek figures out a modification that speeded things up a lot for Thursday and beyond.
Those who attended the Pilots Meeting on Monday afternoon quickly identified my style. I wanted the atmosphere to be relaxed and enjoyable. I said a bunch of silly things on Monday but there were a lot more laughs than grunts. We feel that it worked.
Our goal was to provide a competition free of the distractions that we might face as the leadership team. I think that worked out pretty well. I hope so.
While Derek and Mark O are gentlemen, I am very protective of the troops. There were some battles fought and won. I am openly passionate and wear my emotions. At 73 years of age, I am not about to change.
We hope those who attended in any capacity had a great week. Derek, Mark O. and I want to congratulate our Junior Champion, Steve Daly, Our Senior National Champion Samantha Hines, and our Open and Walker Trophy Award winner David Fitzgerald. In the photo session that took place after the flying had concluded, there was a photo taken of David and Paul Walker. Between these two incredible PA pilots, they have won 24 National Championships, now at 12 each. Think about that for a second.
In Advanced, it was terrific to see a good guy who has been knocking on the door for many years to break through..to you, Will Demauro. You can find the complete list of all events and the final results elsewhere on SH.
Special thank you's to Derek and Mark O. I tried to screw the event up but they kept things going in the right direction. I would work again with both of you any time. I don't know if you feel the same, but......
And wonderful over the top support from Brenda in her golf cart and my AMA awards hero, Steve Weaver. Some of you know why his efforts were so important.
Thank you all for working so well with us. I know there were many first timers and I believe they had great experiences. It was our honor to try and give you the best we had. Respectfully, Mark Weiss, ED
Topic: 2019 NATS Precision Aerobatics: A View from My Chair (Read 1718 times)