Details

Written by: Doug Pilcher

Category: Club Business

Published: 28 February 2018

Present:  Mike Karnes, Gil Major, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Brad Davy, Adi Kochav, Alex Dreiling, Steve Sides, Jeff Marsuchek, Clark Hymas, and Doug Pilcher

Meeting began 9:01 p.m. EST.

Rule Change Proposals – Mike Karnes

Mike presented the following RCPs to the BOD for approval.

1.  With the Freestyle RCP, there were only 13 votes from the membership, with 11 votes agreeing with the RCP as written.  The 2 votes that didn’t like this RCP did not like the K factors.  Currently, no one sees any issues with the K factors.  A motion was made to accept the RCP as written by Gil Major and seconded by Adi Kochav.  With a roll call vote, the motion passed unanimously.

2.  With the RCP for Single Sequence Rounds, there were a total of 23 votes from the membership, with 12 members agreed as written and 11 members did not care.  This RCP would allow the CD to fly single sequence rounds, as long as it is announced prior to the contest.  The CD wouldn’t have to request a deviation from AMA to change the contest format.  The only difference with this RCP versus the current rule is that a deviation is not required.  The downside to this RCP is that the CD is committed to single sequence rounds.  Adi mentioned that it could be published that there is a potential of dual sequence rounds.  This RCP was created to potentially increase electric participation.  This would make it to where single sequences would become the normal and it didn’t get wrote that way. Steve does not like single sequence rounds.  A motion was made to call for the vote by Doug Pilcher and seconded by Brad Davy.  With a roll call vote, a vote of 4 (yes) – 7 (no), the RCP is rejected by the BOD.

3.  With the RCP for Resumption of Scored Flight, there were only 12 votes from the members with 11 members in agreement and 1 didn’t like the wording, but changed his vote.  This has moved them into a single section and single procedure for resumption of scored flight, which is section 10.13.1.  A motion was made to call for vote by Gil Major and seconded by Brad Davy.  With a roll call vote, the motion passed unanimously.

4.  With the RCP for Snap Rolls, this was the RCP that was rewritten and posted.  The original RCP was not accepted, so it was rewritten.  This is the RCP that everyone was in agreement with.  Pitch departure was removed and it was posted without the word “rapidly.”  The judges may now start saying that it wasn’t fast enough.  There is no speed to set pitch departure.  The definition of autorotation has the word “autorotation” in it.  Clark would prefer what Ty wrote up on the Redbook review and believes that this should be used as the definition of “autorotation.”  A motion was made to approve this RCP by Gil Major and seconded by Brad Davy.  With a roll call vote, motion passes unanimously.

5.  The RCP on Turn-Around and Positioning Maneuvers was rewritten.  There were 17 members who voted on this RCP, 15 approved, 1 member rejected, and 1 member doesn’t agree with the proposal.  Brad questioned the statement: “comment about the once pilot is inverted that they have to enter.”  The problem with that is we make a statement about excluding mechanical issue or safety issue.  They can come back to upright and resolve the issue.  Brad is recommending that we remove “excluding the mechanical or safety interruptions.”  Then, this will become the CD decision.  Mike agrees.  This will also eliminate the vertical line.  A motion was made to approve this RCP with eliminating “excluding mechanical or safety interruptions” by Gil Major and seconded by Doug Pilcher.  By roll call vote, motion passes unanimously.

6.  With the RCP for Break-in-Sequence, there were 9 members that voted.  Six members didn’t agree and 3 rejected and wanted to keep the Rule as written.  This doesn’t distinguish between break and break-in-sequence.  There were 2 elements in this change.  The first one is trying to clarify on what constituents as a break-in-sequence.  The rule book said that it may occur.  The second part was to add the option of the pilot to make a verbal call at any point and now they are automatically constituted in where the break-in-sequence occurred.  This isn’t eliminating the corrective maneuver criteria.  A motion was made to call for vote by Gil Major and seconded by Doug Pilcher.  With a roll call vote, with a 3 (yes) – 8 (no) vote, this RCP was rejected by the BOD.

Challenge Coin – Adi Kochav

Adi presented the quotes for the challenge coins.  He sent an email with the new quote and design with the new slogan to the BOD.  The new design has the diamond-cut edges and the velvet case.  Adi things the acrylic case looks too cheap, and the velvet case would look more presentable.  The coin is about 2.5 inches.  The BOD loves the new design and slogan.  Adi is working with Blake Stewart with Signature Coins in Orlando, Florida.

With the current quote, if we order 200, we must pay the mold fee twice.  If we order 300, we don’t pay for the mold fee.  If we order another 100 coins, the cost would be around $700.  The cost for each coin if we ordered 400 would be around $10.10.  Adi believes that every contestant should receive a coin for free and the extras we can sell at Muncie or on the website.  Adi will ask Blake what the lead time would be for another order if we sold out. 

Steve believes that we will have around 100 pilots participating.  if the contestant receives one, the caller will buy one.  They also believe that the event staff should also receive a coin.  These coins would not be available to the public until the contestants receive their coins.

Treasurer Report – Phil Vance

As of January 18, the account balances were:

Checking -     $22,334.62

Pay Pal -        $22,621.23

Total -            $44,955.85

As of February 19, 2018, the account balances are:

Checking -     $22,597.38

PayPal -         $25,467.60

Total -            $48,064.98

The current balance in the IWC fund is $7,673.10.

Regional Issues – All RDs

The NW region is two weeks from their judging school.  They are looking at 23-25 participants in attendance.  The SW region just had a contest.  Alex is currently working on their judging school in Colorado.

The SC judging school is next weekend.  Doug is looking at an attendance of around 25 participants.  Their schedule starts the first weekend in April.  The NC has scheduled another contest.  Mike’s judging school is coming up in April and before that, is the Toledo Show.

The NE has their judging school set for May 12.  They will also be having a basic-only contest in early May.  The regular contests start the last weekend in April.  The SE just had their first contest in Miami.

Adi reported that there will be a judging school in Israel.  There should be around 16 members in Israel.  The Czech Republic and Turkey are joining IMAC and are having their boot camps.  France is having a boot camp and will be signing up members.  Luiz signed up 6 members in Mexico.  He will also be flying to Argentina.  Currently, there are 94 members in the International Community.

Meeting adjourned 11:03 p.m. EST.

Details

Written by: Doug Pilcher

Category: Club Business

Published: 31 January 2018

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.

Details

Written by: Doug Pilcher

Category: Club Business

Published: 15 January 2018

Operating Statement for the year-ended December 31, 2017

IMAC REVENUES

Membership Dues                                  $ 21,848.67

IMAC Regions                                                740.00

Red Book Sales                                              494.00

AMA NATS                                                  2,296.50

IWC Registration                                        2,820.00

IWC Sponsorship                                       3,605.00

IWC Website (Test of PayPal Link)              425.00

TOTAL 2017 INCOME                                                       $ 32,229.17

IMAC EXPENSES

AMA Nationals                                      $     8,684.51

GoToMeeting Account                                   295.00

IWC                                                                 159.00

IWC Website Test (Test of PayPal link)         425.00

National Judging School (2017)                  6,525.77

Office Expenses                                                97.11

Postage/PO Box Fee                                       167.82

President’s Awards                                         102.00

Printing                                                            397.00

Regional Expenses                                       5,569.09

Regional Judging Schools                               158.68

Shipping                                                            40.80

Software/Upgrades                                        139.99

Trade Shows                                                1,932.27

Website (Maintenance)                              3,531.00

Website(IMPACT Software – link)                 119.88

TOTAL 2016 EXPENSES                                                     $  28,344.92

2017 SURPLUS/(DEFICIT)                                             $    3,884.25

ADD: 2016 RET. EARNINGS                                            $  39,998.97

12/31/17 END. BALANCE                                               $  43,883.22

Details

Written by: Doug Pilcher

Category: Club Business

Published: 31 December 2017

Present:  Mike Karnes, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Steve Sides, Doug Pilcher, Brad Davy, Alex Dreiling, Clark Hymas, Adi Kochav, and Jeff Marsuchek

Absent: Gil Major

Meeting began: 9:00 p.m. EST

Rules Committee – Brad Davy

The Rules Committee has 4 RFA, request for action, proposals they are working on.  The first one is about turnaround and positioning maneuvers, Rule 13.5.  There has been a lot of discussion.  The Rules Committee is

recommending adding some more words.  All turn-around figures are considered positive in nature and must initiate from upright flight.  The language is modified in the half-cubans and the reverse half-cubans.  Altering the single 1/2 roll on the 45 line the pilot may omit the 1/2 roll to establish inverted entry line and this exception permits the outside 5/8 loop.   The language is similar for the 1/2 loop up with single 1/2 roll on exit or a 1/2 loop down then have to do the single 1/2 roll on entry.  If they eliminate the 1/2 roll, the pilot must establish an inverted entry line or reduce altitude following sequences on high inverted exit and can pull immediately.  They are adding pull to vertical up or push to vertical down line with an upright exit from the line.  The single 1/2 roll is permitted on this vertical line only if the required to orient the aircraft properly for entry for the first maneuver.  Also, it is added that following an inverted exit from a sequence, a pilot must perform any of these maneuvers to get to an upright flight attitude.  They can do a single 1/2 roll to upright; push to vertical upline with a push to upright; or they can do a pull to a vertical downline followed by a pull to upright.  They have tried to get rid of the ambiguity on what can and cannot be done.

The second and third RFA goes together.  They are recommending a modification to the resumption of scored flight.  Right now, this is currently discussed in two different places, and the discussions are different.  It has to do with the performance of a prior maneuver.  The language isn’t consistent.  They are recommending that a new section be added, 10.3, which will be added to the rules.  They are recommending removing the resumption of scored flight from 10.1 and 10.2.  Now, it requires the pilot to perform the last scored maneuver before resuming the flight, even if this maneuver was scored at a 0.  This would be required in all situations.

The third RFA that is connected to the last one, they are trying to clarify the rule about the break-in-sequence.  This was discussed at the last judging school.  They are recommending a modification to the discussion where “A break in the sequence in characterized in a total departure of the sequence being flown.  When a break-in-sequence occurs, the figure currently being flown shall be zeroed and a break penalty will be assessed prior to the normalization.  The judges must determine when the break-in-sequence occurred.”  They are changing it to where a “typical” situation pilot may perform an incorrect maneuver limits of 6.3.c.1, figure 10.  After a pilot exits the initial figure, they have entered the following figure. 

If the pilot then exceeds the corrective maneuver limits, they are now in a break-in-sequence and the break-in-sequence now occurred at that following maneuver.  They are recommending an addition that says: “A pilot or caller may verbally declare a break-in-sequence before exiting an improperly flown maneuver and a break-in-sequence occurs when the judges hear the verbal declaration.  The judges will be the sole determiners of if or when they hear a verbal declaration.”

The fourth RFA proposal is to permit the single sequence rounds for more than just time constraints.  They are recommending that they change Section 11, the Number of Flights, to say than an official flight or round, that the CD may opt to use single sequence rounds for the contests.  This must be published in the contest announcement.  The CD may permit single sequence rounds if time constraints limit the 2 sequence rounds.  This give the option for the CD to try and encourage more electric flights and without having to get a deviation from AMA.  They did not want to have power specific rule.

There were more RFAs that were submitted.  One had to do with single sequence rounds, which is already being addressed.  One proposal was for sound.  RFA 11 wanted to improve the determination of a zero with three judges.  If one judge scored a zero, the zero would be changed to an average of the other two judges.  Another proposal was for the judging of the snap maneuver.  They wanted to remove the word “autorotation” and simply put in “rotation.”  The committee believed that this created more confusion.

Brad says that these proposals are ready to be posted to the BOD forum for vote.  Then, they will need to be posted to the membership in January 2018.

2022 World Hosting Proposal – Mike Karnes

Mike sent out a proposal template to the BOD for review on the 2022 IMAC Worlds Hosting Proposal.  Mike would like to post on the Worlds website in January.  The BOD recommended that there should be a submission deadline.  Mike suggested the end of June 2018.  The 2022 Worlds Host will be announced at the 2018 IMAC Worlds Banquet.

2018 Forms – Mike Karnes

The only form that was discussed was the new sign-up sheet for contests.  The new sign-up sheet will have a column for receiver compliant.  There were no changes to the other forms.

International Interests – Adi Kochav

Adi has been talking to Dan Carroll about Australia possibly pay affiliation dues to the IMAC organization to become members.  Australia is organized much like the U.S. for IMAC.  They have a sanctioned club and ASAA.  The affiliation dues would be paid for the whole group, not as individual members.  To become affiliated with IMAC, this would require a By-Laws change; to be released to the membership for review; and require a membership meeting.  Australia would consider the affiliation as receiving full benefits an an individual member.  Australia pilots currently pay three membership dues.  There are 4 regions on the continent.  They currently have around 100 pilots.  The BOD would like for Australia to come up with a proposal on what they expect; the right and benefits to ASAA members; and the benefits to the IMAC organization overall.

Adi has been in conversation with some individuals about the leadership of the IMAC organization.  There are some international members that believe the By-Laws should be changed to only allow executive officers only be nominated from the United States.  These individuals believe that the IMAC organization was developed in the U.S. and that is where the executive BOD should remain.  Brad is not certain that his provision would be legal in the By-Laws.  It is discriminating and prohibits someone from serving due to the country of origin.

For the 2018 IMAC Worlds, Adi wants to know if the international pilots can borrow planes, etc. from pilots or companies in the U.S.  At the 2014 Worlds, Jtec provided airplanes for the U.K. team.  Mike is currently looking see if this is even a possibility.  Mike has also spoken with Greg Alderman and he is going to make sure that the hobby shop in Muncie will be stocked with batteries.  The Worlds staff will make sure that they have what they need to compete, but providing airplanes could be tough. 

Adi wondered where we stand on the freestyle criteria.  It was the consensus of the BOD that we spend a little bit more time on the criteria and make it more readable.  There is merit and principal on what they are trying to accomplish, but we don’t need a complete departure from where we are.  It was mentioned to pen this up for discussion in the forums and see what the membership thinks of the proposed change in criteria.  This would also allow the membership to weigh in on the other changes that need to be made.

Score Program and PP for International – Doug Pilcher

It was decided last month the U.S. will stay with IRPS.  Many pilots have requested that PP, percentage of perfection, be added to the score program and we have it in the new version, 4.25.1.  This hasn’t cost anything to IMAC to show PP.  The new version of score will be released in a week.  There will not be an IRPS for International, only a PP.

In the Box Newsletter – Doug Pilcher

Doug has posted to the BOD forum that template for the newsletter.  Rich Whitlow, from South Central, is willing to head this up.  It is going to take everyone to generate the content, along with some members.  Rich has listed potential content, such as articles written by members, financials, and secretary report, etc.  The newsletter could be released via social media and have it linked back to the website.  One of the concerns of the BOD for the newsletter is generating content.  Brad recommended that a committee be created to be responsible for generating the content.

2018 Worlds – Steve Sides

Mike and Doug are working on several different things.  We need some profile information on some people.  Phil has spoken with Roy and he will be able to get the same trophies as 2014.

It has been discussed on what we could do along with the Worlds to recognize the sponsors. Doug mentioned that we could put their banner on the IMAC website.  This recognition would show appreciation towards our sponsors. 

Treasurer Report – Phil Vance

As of December 18, 2017, the following is our current balance:

Checking              $27,103.69

PayPal                 $15,629.72

Total                   $42,733.41

Regional Issues – All RDs

The NW region is going well.  The region has been invited by the SW region to do a contest in California, which could potentially create a conflict.  Currently, they have one contest in Western Oregon/Washington area.  They have lost several contests on this side of the region in the last 3-5 years due to housing development.  There is a potential for 2 contests in Western Washington and 1 in Western Oregon.  There is a lot of interest right now and they are waiting for winter to get over with.  Clark is looking at having a contest in Eugene, which hasn’t had a contest in at least the last 5 years.  There is a potential of 5-19 members from that part of the region.  He currently has ARDs in every state except  for the Dakotas.

In the SW, Alex is still working on the regional awards and trying to clarify some scheduling.

In the NC region, Jeff has sent out emails to all CDs.  He would like to get a majority of the contests scheduled before the end of the year.  The Osh Gosh contest is scheduled for the weekend before in Wisconsin.  There will be a basic primer near Cincinnati.  Two contests were cancelled this year and they may not reschedule for 2018.  Currently, none of the Michigan contests are scheduled.  Jeff has been approached to see what he thinks on improving the America’s Cup.  The America’s Cup is between the U.S. and Canada with the 4 contests around the border.  They want to improve it, but cannot get feedback from anyone.  Jeff did get his date for regionals at Muncie.  The awards from DA and HiTec were very well received at the 2017 regionals.  The Nats Warm-Up contest will be tight this year, due to the Nats beginning on Tuesday.

In the SC region, Doug has 8 confirmed contests, and working on 3 more.  Alex and Doug have been working together with an “On-the-Border” contest (SC-SW Smackdown) which will be held in El Paso.

In the SE region, Steve has a couple of judging schools and contests scheduled.  He has lost one contest due to the President.  He was working on a waiver, but they are within the 30 nautical miles for when the President comes down.

In the NE region, Brad had nothing new to report.

Meeting adjourned at 11:17 p.m. EST.

**Addendum:**  The RFA’s were reviewed and discussed in December 2017 meeting.  These were then posted to the BOD forum for vote.  The formal RFA’s confirmation of rejection vote was made in the beginning of the January 2018 BOD Meeting.