Judging criteria?

[Redbirdman]

Could someone help explain the "Judging criteria at Copperstate " regarding age of the aircraft?
i see the "show" aircraft are divided into various categories, whether home built, kits, etc.....but my question involves the "factory built" category which is divided into various years of manufacture. It appears the newest year included in "judge me" is 1970. Is that correct?
i don't really care about being 'judged'.........(people have been judging me all my life!)....but I would like to "show" our 1978 Tomahawk. Not so much to show how shiny she is but to show they still exist and make pilots aware they may be included in "light sport" eventually if we play our cards right.
redbird

[Bill Greenwood]

How was Copperstate this year if you or anyone else went? What was the weather like?

[Redbirdman]

http://www.copperstate.org/csj/

Last year and the past five years (that I know of) we're absolutely beautiful!....but the 2012 show is not till next weekend.

[Bill Greenwood]

My first flight lesson in 1978-79 was in a Tomahawk, then I moved to a Cherokee 140. I did do my spin training, (one flight) in the Tomahawk.
It spun redlly, nose well down and recovered ok.
Then there were some fatal stall/spins in Tomahawk and there was an A D to put wing stall strips on the wings.
Have you ever spun yours?

[Eric Witherspoon]

Redbirdman - I've brought my airplane to Copperstate the past 3 years, and if I get the annual done this weekend, I should be able to make it again this year .

If you fly it in, you will be able to "show" it. They just park the airplanes in the order of arrival. They do reserve a row or three near the East end for "special" stuff such as warbirds and round-engine biplanes. The rest of it just fills in on the west ramp. If you show up later, after the west ramp is pretty much full, they start back-filling spots that open when someone leaves. So there's really no way to know where it will end up, except really early will be somewhat closer to the terminal building.

They don't seem to like to put planes of the same type next to each other - they want to promote spectator traffic so that if there's one type you are interested in, and there's two or three of them there, you will need to walk around a lot to find them...

There's no reason to worry about the "judge me" on the prop card. My guess is most don't bother. I've submitted mine a couple of times to provide a medium against which the good ones look better . Got to keep those judges in practice using the whole scale (or whatever it is they use). Maybe they'll have a "20-footer" class one of these days (no judging from closer than 20 feet!)

You just reminded me I arrived a little later last year, and the pattern was a bit out of control. Downwind extended over 5 miles past the airport. Other times I've had people cut in at a typical "45 to the midfield downwind", as though they were oblivious to the NOTAM. The earlier the better, before it gets crazy.

[Redbirdman]

Thanks Eric.......I'll just fly down there then. I went down there today (a 15 min flight from my house) and went through the procedure from joining at the trucks stop and following I 10 south etc......
last year I drove down early and camped out watching everyone arrive. My granddaughter flew down in one of the stearmans and met me there. It was a beautiful day in more ways than one!
And Bill, no I have not spun the tommy yet. But I have wrung her out just to see how stable she really is. I think for now I will contain my spins to the Pt-17 (of which they are very comfortable and lots of fun).......
Ed

[Redbirdman]

here is a video we made last year......the music is kinda noisy but it should bring you to a lot of other Copperstate videos.......... if you choose the direct to you tube options...
(cut an paste) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9LSu...eature=related
ed

[Kurt Flunkn]

Could someone help explain the "Judging criteria at Copperstate " regarding age of the aircraft?

The Official EAA Judging Standards Manual is located here:

http://www.airventure.org/awards/judging_manual.pdf

To quote from this, a Contemporary Aircraft is constructed by the original manufacturer, or its licensee, on or after January 1, 1956, up to and including December 31, 1970.

Cheers,
Kurt

[Redbirdman]

Thank you Kurt.......that is some document! However I think Eric answered my question with the 20 foot rule.
i was really more interested in 'showing' and parking than competition for a trophy.

As long as they fill in the tarmac with those that arrive early and I am not relegated to some dusty back row dirt tie down I would be happy.
I think Bill ( up there) said it all. It seems no matter where I go with the Tomahawk, there is always one person that comes up and tells me "they took lessons" in one. Yet I hardly see any flying anymore. It is very common to see them in parts or a heap behind FBO's though. So I thought it would be nice to bring her out for all to see and reminisce, the same as us older guys did with the champs and J3's.....
ed