2006 Tucson Aerobatic Shootout Pilot Selection Process

[Anna Wood]

For the 2006 Tucson Aerobatic Shootout we will be using a points based ranking system to determine the pilots that will be in the field for the Sportsman thru Unlimited categories.

For each contest, the pilot gets 15 points for 1st place, 14 points for 2nd place and so on, down to 1 point for 15th place. Additionally, the pilot gets 1 point for each pilot they beat.

During the time period of January 1, 2006 through July 31, 2006 pilots may fly in as many contests as they like. Only contests in the class entered at the Shootout will count. Example: contests flown as Sportsman would not count toward entry in Intermediate.

We will take their top 3 point rankings from among these contests. These 3 contest points will be added. To this we will add the total number of contests they flew. This is their total season point ranking.

Example: A pilot flys in 4 contests.
Contest 1: 3rd place out of 10 pilots in their class. 13 points for 3rd place, plus 7 points for beating 7 pilots, for a total of 20 points.
Contest 2: 1st place out of 8 pilots. 15 points plus 7 points, for a total of 22 points.
Contest 3: 16th place out of 22 pilots. 0 points plus 6 points, for a total of 6 points.
Contest 4: 2nd place out of 5 pilots. 14 points plus 3 points, for a total of 17 points.
Total points: Best 3 contests plus number of contests, 20+22+17+4 = 63

There will be ten pilots each in Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced and Unlimited.

The first place pilot from each class in the 2005 Shootout is automatically in, even if they have moved up in class.

2005 Tucson Aerobatic Shootout Champions
Sportsman, Eric Powell, Las Vegas, Nevada
Intermediate, Dean Bird, Scottsdale, Arizona
Advanced, Kyle Woyshnis, Port Orchard, Washington
Unlimited, Jeffery Szueber Jr, Moreno Valley, California

Contest management reserves the right to choose no more than 2 pilots per class.

All other pilots chosen strictly by ranking points in their class.

Ties will be broken by placement in previous Shootouts.

The contest website is online at:
http://www.desertaircraft.com/shootout_2006/

The 2006 Tucson Aerobatic Shootout will be held Oct 24-29, 2006 at
Tucson International Modelplex Park, Tucson, Arizona

Regards,

Michael Marcellin, Contest Director
Tucson Aerobatic Shootout

[Wayne]

Thanks for posting Anna.

[Boghatize]

Will Chip be D/qual'd if he does his "Walkaround"?
Just curious,
Best to you all,
Mike

[FlyAlot]

Hi Anna,

Thanks for posting this! Good news!

Several questions come to mind...Will contest results count for those of us who fly inter-regional ??IE,SW pilots flying in the NW...NC guys flying in the NE or SC...When applying for the Shootout ,should pilot notify the selection board of all contests flown for the qualifying period regardless of what region flown in???Not all regions are up to date at given times in the year ,so it might be hard to keep track of...How about special events, like the JR Challenge???

Thanks, Dave Stoik

[Anna Wood]

Dave,

All your contests count regardless of region flown in. This will include the JR Challenge and the AMA NATS. Our Basic/Sportsman contest in Mesa, AZ will not count towards the Shootout.

Last year all I compiled a very extensive listing of all the contests flown in the country and their results from each regions season point series. I am very sure I had a listing of every Shootout candidate and the contests they had flown in and how many people they competed against, with their placement. We are very confident that this ranking system will be easy to verify by the contest management.

With that said, it would make it much easier for contest management if the pilots wishing to fly in the Shootout kept a detailed log of the contests they flew in, their placement and how many pilots where in the category for the 2006 contest season.

Regards,

Anna

[feral63]

what about us aussies who fly imac?????????

[Anna Wood]

All scale aerobatic contests around the world count in the pilot ranking process. We are looking forward to having some of you guys from around the world applying for entry into the Shootout.

Regards,

Anna

[Wayne]

I might be missing something but, let me ask you this...

I understand that IMAC activity and placing well are going to be important factors in getting selected but, I see one thing that is out of the pilots control that could affect their overall points.

Lets say I do well at 5 contests and get first place each time but there number of pilots I competed against is low. I see that hurting my overal score.
I cant do anything about how many people show up at an event. Those factors are out of my control..
Am I missing something?

[Anna Wood]

Wayne,

Yes, that factor is somewhat out of your control.

This system does place a premium on doing well at contests. A competitor who flies well at a bigger contest will also be rewarded for flying well against a larger field. You will get some extra bonus for attending a number of contests throughout the year.

There are many factors that where considered when coming up with this point system and how to best acheive the contest management's goal of assembling the best group of pilots that we can for the Shootout. We crunched a lot of numbers and ran through several different scenarios before arriving at the current system.

We are posting this selection process early in the season so all potential Shootout pilots will know what the criteria is and can plan their contest calendar accordingly.

Regards,

Anna

[madmax]

Anna, thank you very much for this information, and for all you do for us here in the Southwest. You definately make a difference.

[RightThrust]

Wayne, come win the JR Challange and you'll have a plenty big enough field lol.

[Wayne]

LOL..


Anna,
One more thought.. The way I see it the Unlimited class really only has 8 open slots.
Kyle Woyshnis (Moving up to Unlim) gets an auto invite for his 2005 win as Does Jeff Szeuber. Unless one or both of them get into the Invitational class, both of these guys will be flying Unlim in 06 at the Shootout. That really only leaves 8 open spots.

I know every scenario will have its downsides and I can imagine the process of coming up with a system is a daunting task.
Thanks for the effort and thanks for letting us know what its going to take to fly in Tucson in October.