Present: Mike Karnes, Gil Major, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Doug Pilcher, Brad Davy, Clark Hymas, Steve Sides, Alex Dreiling, Adi Kochav, and Jeff Marsuchek
Meeting began 9:00 p.m. EST.
Rules Change – Brad Davy
There were 3 RFAs that members sent to the BOD and the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee reviewed each RFA and submitted their recommendations for Brad to present to the BOD.
RFA 10 was intended to promote electrics in IMAC competition. With this RFA, electric pilots would be able to choose between a 1-sequence and a 2-sequence round. The committee recommended rejecting this RFA due to the fact that there should bot be differing standards on propulsion. Another RFA has been presented to the committee that would allow a CD to choose between 1-sequence or a 2-sequence round, but must be published 30 days in advance.
RFA 11 is where there are three judges in the round. If one judge gave a zero and the other two judges scored the maneuver, the judge who gave the zero, would be overruled. The judge that gave the zeroed score would be changed to an average of the other judges’ scored maneuver. If a judge gave a zero, they might simply resort into giving a 0.5, instead of a zero. The committee believed that this RFA isn’t fair to others in the competition, assuming some judges may not understand the rules completely and believed this RFA would be too easy to work around. They believed that judging needed to be kept as an independent act.
RFA 12 was proposed a rewording of the snap rule criteria, by removing references to the word “autorotation.” This would create issues for pilots that did received zeroes. If a judge was having difficulty with the current wording, then the new wording would be more complicated.
President Karnes called for the vote on these RFAs. A motion is made to reject all RFAs presented to the BOD, RFA 10, 11, and 12, by Brad Davy and seconded by Doug Pilcher. For RFA 10, with a 10-1 vote, it is rejected by the BOD. For RFA 11, with a 10-1 vote, it is rejected by the BOD. For RFA 12, with a 10-1 vote, it is rejected by the BOD.
The RCPs are not ready to be posted to the BOD for review. There is a couple more that need to be written out and then they can be posted. The RCPs will be posted on the BOD forum for review. Once completed, the Rules Committee will post to the BOD forum for review. The Rules Committee will have these completed by Wednesday or Thursday. Steve is in disagreement with 13.5, turnaround figures. Currently, 13.5 state that turnaround figures are positive in nature and must initiate in upright flight. Steve believes that we don’t need to do this. A motion is made for Mike to present the RCPs to the membership as written was made by Brad Davy and seconded by Doug Pilcher. With a vote of 10-1, the RCPs will be presented to the membership as written.
World Ranking Tab – Clark Hymas
Clark addressed concerns that he had with the “PP Data” tab that showed up on the IMAC website. It was agreed on by the BOD that “PP” was only being set up for the International region. This was also an option on the score program that could be turned on/off if needed. Clark is concerned what the end game is.
Right now, this tab means nothing. This is just information that members can compare themselves to different pilots in different regions, and currently the members really like it. “PP Data” is based only off the known rounds. Unknown rounds are not considered. Every contest is not hosted/directed the same way. The unknowns cannot be compared because not everyone flies the same unknowns each weekend; the knowns are the same for everyone. This tab has absolutely nothing to do with regional points. Adi believes that this was a good idea.
Clark’s point is that the BOD did not have a discussion about this issue before it was posted to the IMAC website. Brad believes that is misleading with the World Ranking Tab name. It was also mentioned that we will lose confidence in judging. All the pilots in the SW love this new tab that was added.
The webmaster implemented this feature because we have many pilots who wanted to see it. He simply added that panel for the guys who want to see how they compare to the other pilots in their class.
Jeff likes the tab, but believed that the BOD should have voted on it before it was posted. Brad wanted to be able to discuss the method being used. Brad would like the name of the tab changed from “ranking.” It needs a better title to explain what the data is trying to present. Gil believes that this will affect sponsorships for the pilots. He also mentioned about adding normalization scores as well, but International does not use normalization. Gil moves to table this discussion and move it to the BOD forum for further discussion. This would give the BOD more time to discuss the methodology. It was in agreement of the BOD to change the name of the tab.
2018 Worlds Update – Steve Sides
Steve has been contacting sponsors after the emails he initially sent. There are mixed results. Power Box systems are on board. The issues on Facebook are hitting our sponsors. One sponsor is providing less stuff than was initially talked about. Steve is wondering if sponsors are being contacted from, and being told not to sponsor. All sponsors are from the U.S. Adi is speaking with some potential sponsors overseas. There are some negative comments from the sponsors there as well. It is currently an uphill battle. Jeff has been in Contact with Extreme Flight.
Update on Splash Video - Doug Pilcher
The Splash video was submitted to Red Bull. Red Bull rejected funding the World’s event as they don’t sponsor events unless they create them. They did mention to get back with them 5-6 weeks before the event and they would possibly provide product for the event. It was mentioned to possibly contact Pepsi or Coca-Cola on potential advertising or sponsorship. Jeff will reach out to a friend who works for Coca-Cola. Steve hasn’t contacted anyone that is non-aircraft related.
ISC Librarian – Mike Karnes
Mike has currently taken over being ISC librarian. He has contacted a few people who he thought would be interested and hasn’t received a response yet. If any issues arise with the unknowns, please contact Mike. If Mike flies a contest on a particular weekend, Jerry Haley or Ty Lyman will send out the unknowns.
On-line Scoring School – Samantha McKinney
Many members and non-members have requested an online score training. Samantha will get with Mike and get a weekend day and a weeknight scheduled before the end of February.
Brad will be hosting online judging school starting in April.. There will be 6 sessions, which will be around an hour and a half. Anyone can schedule to attend these sessions, but NE members will take precedence. There is a limit to the number of members who can join, due to the limitations of the meeting software.
Treasurer Report – Phil Vance
As of December 31, 2017, the current balance is:
Checking – $26,474.32
PayPal - $17,408.90
Total - $43,883.22
As of January 15, 2018, the current balance is:
Checking - $24,012.80
PayPal - $20,564.11
Total - $44,576.91
Phil will email out the 2017 year-end financials to the BOD for review. He will also send out the RDs financial reports.
Other Regional Issues – All RDs
In the SW region, Alex is adding contests to the schedule. The first contest has 37 pilots. There is a contest in Arizona that might have close to 50 pilots.
The NW region is doing well. Their judging school is in 6 weeks. As of now, there are 15 guys signed up to attend.
In the NC region, Jeff is working on the schedule with the contest directors. As of right now, he has lost 2 contests from a club in Southern Indiana. Ray Morton had to move his contest, so he reserved one of the open dates available. The regional championships are scheduled for September 15 at AMA.
The SC region currently has 10 contests on it’s schedule and they are working on 2 more. They also have a judging school on the calendar.
The SE region currently has 3 judging schools scheduled. He is waiting on CDs to confirm dates of contests.
The NE is still working on their schedule.
The International region now has an IMAC member in France. Manrico is going to fly to France and Spain and help with the IMAC boot camps. Luiz is flying to Paraguay and Mexico to do a judging school.
Meeting adjourned 11:04 p.m. EST.