Competition & Rules

Danny brought up a point about how current contests have the pilots calling their next maneuver and performing a "reset" before each maneuver.

I was thinking about full scale air shows and helicopter demonstrations. Interestingly, in those events, the aircraft actually do reset in order to perform a maneuver at show center. All of which is to say that I think we should let pilots decide how they are going to execute their routine. In the "Artistry" part of the judging, I suppose a judge could reward a pilot who chooses to smoothly move from one element to the next.

Food for thought!

Gents,

I reset the discussion category so it is private (apparently, my followers got an email notification due to a bug in the software 🤦🏻‍♂️). Evan Sayres has been added to the group.

Very good discussion last night! Our next steps are:

- Each person should craft what they think is a good paradigm for competition classes and judging factors for each class (what they do, not how they do it).

- We can think about how judges evaluate what competitors do (e.g. evaluation standards like, "precision," "realism," or simply just "score."

- We can include audience/fellow pilot votes as a % of the overall class score

- We can have an "artistry" factor which accounts for the "in between" flying among prescribed maneuvers

Rather than email, just post your replies in this thread.

Relaxed but competitive! HeliStorm 2025 will feature 4 different flight skills competitions. You have plenty of time to practice. Our judges are retired full scale pilots who will rank contestants based on precision, scale speed, scale maneuvers and overall realism.

Whether you are flying or non-flying pilot, register NOW to reserve your pit space and ticketed access to the private museum tour, banquet, air-conditioned pilot lounge, workshops and other activities. HeliStorm.org.