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 Individual results could not be published on a common list, but only on special lists for every competitor.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