The 2005 AMA Precision Aerobatic National Championship From the Event Director

As Event Director, I get the honor of standing up front and directing operations, but without the AMA staff, NSRCA staff, all the volunteer site operations staff, and the contestant volunteers there would be no Nats. You all came together to make the 2005 Nats an event to remember. It was a great Nats! My sincere THANK YOU to all of you.

The decision to take the rain date away from our schedule for 2005 was a blessing in disguise because it forced us to reevaluate some of our procedures which resulted in improvements that otherwise might not have been considered.

We dodged a bullet with the weather, as the forecast for the entire week was rain and more rain. The weather radar kept me in a state of near panic most of the week with storms all around us, but we had no rain during the entire event.

The site operations personnel did a first class job with the flight lines. The lines ran quickly and efficiently without a hint of confusion. The contestants seemed relaxed and positive about how things were being run and how they were being treated.

2005 was the debut of our new scoring system, equipment, and software. When we began checking our scoring equipment in preparation for the 2005 Nats we found that we had a Scantron that was in poor condition and was so old that the manufacturer refused to service it. Our computer equipment was not compatible with anything that was available to replace the Scantron and it was also in poor condition. Marty King volunteered to step up and put together a new system. He did a spectacular job with all new hardware. Gene Maurice upgraded his software to be compatible with the Nats, and together they built a system that satisfies our needs and doesn't require a rocket scientist to operate. The Nats was the new system's trial under fire and it worked flawlessly. The efficiency of the new scoring procedure saved time at the flight lines and in Main Scoring while providing a paper record of every score from every judge from every round for the entire event. My thanks to Marty, Gene and their assistants, Don Fredrick and Linda Jesky for doing a great job.

The Masters class underwent some change for 2005. The method of scoring was changed to bring us in line with AMA rules. The rule book states that Masters is a 6 round event and we score the best 4 out of 6 rounds. The finals is an option that NSRCA has added and should be treated as a separate event. The Matrix was reworked to give more exposure pilot-to-pilot. It wasn't perfect for 2005, but we have continued to work on it and the results will have already been posted by the time you read this.

We included a Pilots Survey in every Pilots Package for the first time this year. We got a great response. It encouraged people to step forward with constructive ideas that will be incorporated in our thinking for next year. It's great to see a positive attitude.

The banquet venue was changed for this year and everyone's reaction was positive. We will continue to work on the after-dinner program to make it more enjoyable for everyone.

In conclusion I feel that we are on track to make the Nats the event that truly represents its status as the premier precision aerobatic event in the United States, and an event that you, as competitors, will be proud to be a part of. Again, Thank You all for your support, encouragement, and input. We are listening.

Dave Guerin Event Director 2005 Nats.