IMAC Board of Directors Announces Changes to Contest Standards, IRPS

Posted by Mike Karnes

Posted on 12/7/2015

The IMAC Board of Directors approved a couple key changes to the IMAC Contest Standards for 2016. While these changes are certain to be discussed during judging schools, by Regional Directors with Contest Directors, and in the forums, it is important for ALL members to be aware of them.

The first, and most important change, is that we listened the membership and have adopted a recommendation for the Basic class. In the past, most contests flew a single sequence round of the known sequence for Basic during the unknown round. In order to help Basic pilots get used to the extra pressure associated with an unknown, the single known sequence for Basic will be scored as an unknown. In other words, the sequence cannot be dropped, and it will count for 20 percent of the score.

Note to ALL CD’s: The contest must be scored in this format to count as a legal IRPS contest.

The process for doing this is easy when using the Score program. Make sure you download a 2016 copy of Score 4.13 from the IMAC website. When you open the program you will notice that the Basic Unknown has already been added to the list of sequence choices.

A second change involves the handling of the unknowns. In the past, the Contest Standards required the Unknown Manager to  be a “non-competitor.” In many cases, CDs have been using a Basic pilot as the Unknown Manager because that individual was not flying one of the unknown sequences. The Board believed it was appropriate to change the contest standards to permit this practice. For 2016, the Unknown Manager must be a person that is not flying the unknown sequences.

Finally, we revised the Contest Standards to reflect the new contest scheduling function. The unknown request is now integrated with the contest schedule function, so CDs do not need to request unknowns separately. The CD must designate an unknown manager when requesting the contest, or enter “pending”. If the CD does not identify the unknown manager, they must tell their Regional Director who the unknown manager will be at least 10 days prior to the contest. Regional Directors will be monitoring this closely. The Regional Director will edit the contest once the Unknown Manager is identified.

The IMAC Regional Points Series (IRPS) has been modified slightly to add a third level of tie-breakers. Previously, the tie breakers were the number of pilots competed against in the season, and then placement in the Regional Finals contest. There have been cases where these were not sufficient to settle the tie. The new level of tie breaker, if the first two cannot resolve the tie, will be a total of the raw scores in the top 5 IRPS contests, with the highest raw point total winning the tie.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please ask them in the forums. You’re probably not the only one with the question.

Happy Flying!