12th World Helicopter Championship (2005 – Rouen, France)

Report of the Jury President

According to Rules and Regulations, the Jury was duly appointed by CIG: Alfred-Pierre Herbert (President), David Hamilton and Konrad Geissler as members. The Jury met in Rouen three days before the opening and was formally declared operative.

We inspected all facilities together with the Chief Judge Wolfgang Perplies and the Organizers and found them to be up to the required standards.

Before and during the Championsip, judges were thouroughly and daily briefed as to their assignments. On Navigation-Day, the navigation course was checked by two members of the Jury.

The work of Wolfgang Perplies (Chief Judge) - together with his assistant Irina Groushina (Assistant Chief Judge) – was outstanding at all times. Pilots and Judges were left without doubts as to their tasks. Jury members were at all times, before, during and after competition flying at the competition side.

The Chief Judge dealt with a couple of complaints and was able to clear them all with the parties concerned. The Jury had no protests during the whole Championship.

According to Rules and regulations, the Jury President is also co-involved in assuring the payment of sanction fees be the organisers “before” the opening of the WHC. However, the contract signed between FAI und the organisers stipulates payment of such dues clearly “30 days after the Championship”. By the Organisers handing me a cheque over roughly 7000 Euro, we were able to avoid any conflict of interpretation. However, this needs to be clarified for future Championships. The cheque was duly handed over to the President of CIG, which in turn passed it on to the Secreary General FAI for crediting the CIG-account.

The Jury was duly dissolved at the end by the Jury President.

I have three matters of great concern that it is my duty to point out:

1. The quality of some of WHC International Judges had deteriorated. In some cases it is getting close to sub-standard. CIG Bureau and Commission are recommended to act swiftly to correct this unsatisfactorily situation. The commission must ensure that the countries themselves (NACs) stop presenting yearly lists of Judges that are not qualified or have lost their qualification by not judging regional, national or international competitions for years.
   CIG should develop a system whereas the NACs themselves train and check their Judges and report their qualifications and actual training to CIG together with their application for judges-approval at the yearly CIG spring-conference.
    
2. It has become obvious that crews have continued to carry mobile telephones with them during competition flying contrary to the Rules. There were and continue to be complaints. I recommend that the WHC Rules be amended to prohibit the carrying of mobile telephones during the Navigation Event. If a crew is found with a mobile telephone or seen using one then the entire national team should face disqualification from the whole Championship.
    
3. The appointment of a Deputy Chief Judge was an excellent step to take. Championship Rules should be amended to include the mandatory appointment of a Deputy Chef Judge.

Alfred-Pierre Herbert
President of Jury,
12th WHC 2005 Rouen/France

6th September 2005

12th World Helicopter Championship (2005 – Rouen, France)

Report of the Chief Judge:

There was intensive cooperation between organiser and chief judge in preparation and carrying out of the championship.
During the last months before the championship there was a very close and trustful contact between the Organiser and the Chief Judge to prepare the judges scoring sheets and other material. In clarifying questions about rules interpretation possible complaints by competitors could be prevented or reduced in advance.

The Commission’s appointment of a Deputy Chief Judge was a welcome action reducing the heavy workload.

The Organiser’s support team setting up the event locations was heavily worked to keep the events smooth going.

The problems associated with scoring and complaints were handled by the Chief Judge and the Assistant Chief Judge. It was not always possible for either of those officials to be on the competition area. No Local Event Director was appointed by the Organiser. The overall work was left to the individual judges.

A majority of Judges came well prepared and briefed. This allowed the Judges briefings to be reduced to essential matters.

Comments on Judges has been made by the President of the Jury. These will be discussed at the next CIG Meeting.

I had to deal with 12 complaints. Half were solved to the benefit of the competitor, because they were caused by problems of transferring the data from judging sheets into the computer program. The rest of the complaints concerned information about the observed use of mobile phones, alleged forbidden training during competition or the wish to have controlled look at individual scoring sheets.

During the championship some correction of the new developed program was necessary. Individual results could not be published on a common list, but only on special lists for every competitor.

The rules forbid the use of mobile phones. It is necessary to have immediate clarification regarding possession and actual use of mobile phones.
In one case of actual use of a mobile phone after navigation event permission was given by the organiser, because there was an urgent personal reason for the use. It was monitored.

At the beginning of championship the nervous atmosphere among the Organiser and the competitors led to heavy discussions about the equipment, material and alleged modification of cockpit doors.
So for instance there was a claim that the dimensions of the precision area was too long. A check measurement showed a difference of 40 cm more for the 50 m line.
Situations like this led to one hour delay for the event.
Sometimes competitors or their team captains were not flexible enough to accept minor, but from the location, necessary modifications of the Drawing Annexes of the Rules.
To prevent such situations re-occurring in the future, there must be a longer time schedule for briefing and inspection of the competition area.
A later beginning of the daily events ( 10 to 11 o`clock ) is recommended to give the competitors a longer period of night rest and can be in organisers and spectators interest.

Although I was not present in the ‘Campus’ I was aware of comments regarding consumption of alcohol and noise into the early hours mainly by supporters. Steps should be taken to prevent this happening.

During the events, on the competition site, it is necessary to have a scheduled lunch break for the judges. Also during the navigation Judges must be provided with food and drink before they leave the airfield.

In the future we should also strive for championships of the “ short ways”.
The experiences from the competition, for instance the duration of Fender Rigging event or modification of Navigation event will be discussed in CIG Rules Sub-Committee.

Finally I congratulate the Contest Director and his team for achieving a high standard in a very short organisational period (less than 4 months).

Wolfgang Perplies
Chief Judge