A thought about handicapping.......

What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft.....
Have a handicap card for each pilot airplane combination.
If I can consistantly get 50% of the possible points earned by the days
winner,
I would get a series of normalization factors (2.00) that over time would
reflect my performance
against the group. Give me 95% of my normalization history as my handicap
and I'm in with a shot.
If I keep improving, my normalization go's down, If I keep getting killed ,
it go's up.
If Im in a different airplane, I get a different card with different
historical "stuff".
If KS always wins, He always gets a 1.00 and no help. If a rapidly
improving guy
in good hardware beats him on handicap, KS gets a bit added and the kid gets
a little removed.
It can be a dynamic number that reflects over time, airframe improvements as
well as piloting skill improvements.
It would also prop up aircraft as they age in the hands of people who fly
them a while.

Just a little free thinking to liven up the discussion.

On the other hand, Wouldn't it be cool for Cherokee Boy to be able to win
if he flew his butt off in a contest some time..............
--
Have a great day

Scott

What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft.....

You would run out of handicapped parking spots...

-Paul

At 03:35 26 September 2008, sisu1a wrote:

What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft.....

You would run out of handicapped parking spots...

-Paul

... which reply I nominate as the best one liner reply on RAS:-)

That was one of best new ideas that I have heard of in a long time. Golf
has it and it is one of that sports most valuable assets. It would be a
tuff jobb to prove that it cant be done in soaring as well. Go for it and
pardon my spelling.

At 00:32 26 September 2008, XYZ wrote:
What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft.....
Have a handicap card for each pilot airplane combination.
If I can consistantly get 50% of the possible points earned by the days
winner,
I would get a series of normalization factors (2.00) that over time
would

reflect my performance
against the group. Give me 95% of my normalization history as my
handicap

and I'm in with a shot.
If I keep improving, my normalization go's down, If I keep getting
killed
,
it go's up.
If Im in a different airplane, I get a different card with different
historical "stuff".
If KS always wins, He always gets a 1.00 and no help. If a rapidly
improving guy
in good hardware beats him on handicap, KS gets a bit added and the kid
gets
a little removed.
It can be a dynamic number that reflects over time, airframe
improvements
as
well as piloting skill improvements.
It would also prop up aircraft as they age in the hands of people who fly

them a while.

Just a little free thinking to liven up the discussion.

On the other hand, Wouldn't it be cool for Cherokee Boy to be able to
win
if he flew his butt off in a contest some time..............
--
Have a great day

Scott

That was one of best new ideas that I have heard of in a long time. Golf
has it and it is one of that sports most valuable assets. It would be a
tuff jobb to prove that it cant be done in soaring as well. Go for it and
pardon my spelling.

At 00:32 26 September 2008, XYZ wrote:
What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft.....
Have a handicap card for each pilot airplane combination.
If I can consistantly get 50% of the possible points earned by the days
winner,
I would get a series of normalization factors (2.00) that over time
would

reflect my performance
against the group. Give me 95% of my normalization history as my
handicap

and I'm in with a shot.
If I keep improving, my normalization go's down, If I keep getting
killed
,
it go's up.
If Im in a different airplane, I get a different card with different
historical "stuff".
If KS always wins, He always gets a 1.00 and no help. If a rapidly
improving guy
in good hardware beats him on handicap, KS gets a bit added and the kid
gets
a little removed.
It can be a dynamic number that reflects over time, airframe
improvements
as
well as piloting skill improvements.
It would also prop up aircraft as they age in the hands of people who fly

them a while.

Just a little free thinking to liven up the discussion.

On the other hand, Wouldn't it be cool for Cherokee Boy to be able to
win
if he flew his butt off in a contest some time..............
--
Have a great day

Scott

On Sep 25, 8:32 pm, "XYZ" wrote:
What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft....

Most likely you find that your contest is poorly attended.

-T8

This idea has great potential - for what I'm not sure.

Done properly, all pilots would get 1,000 points every day and a
championship.

The awards podium would only have to have one level, although it would have
to support 65 pilots (and their trophies).

No more esteem-devastating losses and the requisite trips to the
psychologist's office for mental hand holding.

One type of medallion (gold) would enhance the economics of contests, as
would the ability to preprint the score sheets.

There must be sundry other advantages to this idea that others could point
out to the rules committee. I'm sure they will give them all the
consideration they deserve.

Karl Striedieck








wrote in message
...
On Sep 25, 8:32 pm, "XYZ" wrote:
What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft....

Most likely you find that your contest is poorly attended.

-T8

You obviously missed a similar suggestion I made last year. In
English handicapped horse racing, horses carry extra weight based on
their previous performance. It's presumed to make more exciting
racing.

My suggestion was to add drag strips to the gliders of the faster
pilots to slow them down. The better pilots always seem to fly about
10% faster than I do, which is clearly unfair!

As for KS, we should just make him fly a Twin Astir unhandicapped!

Mike

On Sep 25, 7:32*pm, "XYZ" wrote:
What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft.....
Have a handicap card for each pilot airplane combination.
If I can consistantly get 50% of the possible points earned by the days
winner,
I would get a series of normalization factors (2.00) *that over time would
reflect my performance
against the group. *Give me 95% of my normalization history as my handicap
and I'm in with a shot.
If I keep improving, my normalization go's down, If I keep getting killed ,
it go's up.
If Im in a different airplane, I get a different card with different
historical "stuff".
If KS always wins, He always gets a 1.00 and no help. *If a rapidly
improving guy
in good hardware beats him on handicap, KS gets a bit added and the kid gets
a little removed.
It can be a dynamic number that reflects over time, airframe improvements as
well as piloting skill improvements.
It would also prop up aircraft as they age in the hands of people who fly
them a while.

Just a little free thinking to liven up the discussion.

On the other hand, Wouldn't it be cool for Cherokee Boy to be able to win
if he flew his butt off in a contest some time..............
--
Have a great day

Scott

Scott,

We tried this in our NISC (Northern IL Soaring Contest) for a total
of 3 years I believe. Pilot Handicaps were assigned by BB based on
previous results in this season-long Sports Class type contest. The
main idea was to boost participation by new pilots interested in
racing. John Cochrane assigned hugely favorable factors to new pilots
with the result that a newbie won in the first year. There was no
appreciable change in the number of participants, though, same for the
following years.
In fact, the usual suspects won in the following years and scoring
with and without the pilot handicap showed that it didn't make much
difference. The best 8 flights of the year are scored in our contest
and it turned out to be much more effective to enter a flight every
weekend vs. having a favorable pilot handicap.
We did away with the system for this year and actually are having a
very good season with more flights and pilots participating than
ever. I'd be reluctant to reintroduce this concept! Here is a link
to our rules and results:
http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.c...h/Papers/#nisc


Herb, J7

On Sep 25, 5:32*pm, "XYZ" wrote:
What happens if we handicap pilots instead of aircraft.....

Suggest you first define the objective of flying in a contest.

If the objective is to make it likely that all pilots have the same
score each day then you could divide up the points by email and cut
out the cost of travel and tows.

Andy