Tucson Qualifying

[rcgood]

What happens if you show up at a local contest and you're the only one in your class. Do they disregard it or does it still count the points for Tucson?

[Windecker]

It should count if like in years past however with nobody to place in front of you would only get 15 points maximum.
Will

[rcgood]

Anybody know for sure?

[Dan_nO]

This is for info purposes only and the dates below cannot be used as they were for 2008 but this will give you an idea, this is from DA's site.......


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, 2008 through August 3, 2008 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. 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,
20+22+17 = 59

[BoneDoc]

So with this in mind, it's all about scoring / doing well where there are lots of contestants right?

By this method, I figure the Sprotsman contestants probably will have the highest point total (since Sportsman seems to be the most populated).

[rcgood]

I've read that too on the DA site but I'm not sure if they disregard your 1st place because you had no one to compete against. I think at least last year that's what IMAC did for their regional points standings.

[Windecker]

I can't speak for the TAS selection committee but I would think that if a pilot finishes 1st at a few events where there are either no other contestants or few others AND the selection people have no idea who this person is that this could work against them should there be tied pilots at the cut off point. Pilot A placing 3-4 out of 8-9 tie (TAS point standings) with pilot B placing 1st with nobody to compete against, Pilot A may have a better shot of getting in depending on various other factors.
My suggestion is go have fun, fly and forget the TAS standings, they will take care of themselves. Watching the standings WILL drive you nuts!
Will

	Quote: Originally Posted by rcgood
	I've read that too on the DA site but I'm not sure if they disregard your 1st place because you had no one to compete against. I think at least last year that's what IMAC did for their regional points standings.

[bodywerks]

A first place finish where you beat nobody would be worthless anyway. If that ends up being your only first place finish then qualifying for the shootout is going to be tough, depending on how competitive your class is in your region.
And if this actually did happen, then it sounds like the class you speak of in your area is a small one so you will have a hard time earning points anyway. If you are a competitive flyer, and want to make the shootout, I would suggest going to contests with more people in your class.
To simply answer your question, yes your 1st place will count, but it won't mean much. My qualifying scores last year were three 1st place finishes and I beat a total of like 16-17 people for a total of like 61 or 62 points, but I was still only ranked about 7th or 8th out of the other people that qualified.
The real key to qualifying is being able to afford the entry fee and the trip. Last year's Shootout was basically a second SW regional championship with a few out-of-town visitors because many people simply couldn't afford to attend. In my class, there were people ranked in like 42nd place, nationally, that were granted entry, simply because the 30 people before him either had no intention of entering or could not afford the trip.
However, if the TAS committee changes the qualifying criteria to how IMAC does it now that standalone 1st place will carry the same merit as any other 1st place finish.

[BoneDoc]

By entry fee, do you mean hauling your plane and lodging for the week of TAS?

[Professor]

Attached are the 2008 TAS point standings. You can compare these against the pilots that flew in the 2008 Shootout on the Desert Aircraft website. Listed below are the number of points for the lowest ranking pilot that flew in the event and their position in the TAS point standings.

Sportsman - 53 points (30th)
Intermediate - 36 points (41st)
Advanced - 46 points (22nd)
Unlimited - 41 points (25th)

Based on this, I think you can see that you don't need to place in the top 10 in TAS points to get an invite to the Shootout. If you get over 50 points you probably have a decent chance. This would just take three wins finishing ahead of a total of 5 pilots between the 3 events.
Interestingly, the pilot in Unlimited with only 41 points in Unlimited (last qualifier in) won the 2008 Shootout (Adam Bry)!

If you want to go to the Shootout I suggest you burn lots of gas, fly in at least 3 events, and just have fun. The rest will work itself out.
Of course, everything stated above depends upon how the points will be awarded this year (I don't believe that has been announced yet) and also on the economy. If the Dow makes it back to 12,000 this year and gas drops to $1.25/gallon you might see significantly more competitors wanting to attend the TAS!!! Always nice to dream.....

[sweetpea]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BoneDoc
	By entry fee, do you mean hauling your plane and lodging for the week of TAS?

Nope.......TAS has a high entry fee but it is made up for in the level of competition/number of days you get to fly/ and of course the best darn prize pool out there. Basically you pretty much get your entry fee back in prizes even if you don't place well. Hotels are standard $80 a night for the SW area.

The key to the TAS entry is send your money in. Kevin Tran used to do a nice spread sheet that let you know where you stood. If you are in the top ten you are pretty much going to get in if you send your money in. If you are outside the top ten then send your money in and like BW wrote.........you may still get in. TAS reserves the right to allow 3 of their own entries in. Maybe that is you. You send your check in and if its cashed you are in. If its not then you didn't make it.

[rcgood]

The reason I ask is because in the SC region there are few contests within a reasonable driving distance. Actually there are a total this year of only 3 contests within a 7hr drive for me until Aug which is when the Tucson deadline was last year. The first one I pretty much flew by myself in my class, on the 2nd one which is 1.5 weeks away, I'm the only one pre-registered in my class. So you see where my problem is.

I did notice that last year people that never got a 1st place in their region made it so I figured that a lot of people that were on top in their regions did not attend. I know that if I only get the 15 pts for my lonely competitor placing I have less of a chance but still possible to make it based on how last year went. If I knew for sure they disregard the lonely competitor I would rather stay home and get 20-25 flights of practice in the 3 day weekend I would be gone rather then the 6 flights at the contest which wouldn't count for points anyway. Get my dillema?