Effective January 2001
1. To help members develop flying skills by competing against an equally skilled group.
2. To allow advancement to a higher level skill group.
3. To challenge all members to develop their design, building, and flying skills.
RMSA usually schedules at least one contest per month, March through November. Tasks are chosen to provide variety and challenge for all skill levels. At the beginning of each year, the Board of Directors normally obtains AMA sanctions for nine regular monthly contests to be counted toward Open class season points. The Board or individual contest directors may from time to time also request or schedule additional specialty contests. All AMA/RMSA sanctioned Open class unrestricted contests will count toward season point totals and awards. RMSA also schedules at least 4 contests for Hand Launch class for HLG season championship points. RMSA may also conduct season awards programs for other classes of events such as 2-Meter and Rudder/Elevator/Spoiler classes as determined by the Board of Directors at the beginning of each season. Specialty contests, fun flys, etc. are non-point events.
The Colorado Challenge Cup is normally held in July and sanctioned by the club holding the cup for the year and is a counting event regardless of the club holding the event.
To encourage AMA members to participate in national level competitions, any national contest spanning two or more days with 30 or more contestants may be counted towards season total points.
Contests must be of a class compatible with the RMSA class they will be counted against, e.g. Open Thermal Duration (including F3J and F3B) for the RMSA Open class, or HLG for the RMSA HLG title.
NO MORE THAN ONE NON-RMSA CONTEST CAN BE COUNTED TOWARDS SEASON POINTS TOTALS!!
Novice New members with limited flying experience. Novice pilots are limited to Rudder-Elevator-Spoiler sailplanes. Pilots flying full-house sailplanes are automatically promoted to Sportsman.
Sportsman Members with contest experience and have advanced by contest points.
Master Member having advanced through contest achievement from other classes.
New Member Classification
At AMA/RMSA contests, all members are expected to identify themselves as novice, sportsman or masters pilots based on the above guidelines. New members should elect to place themselves in the Sportsman class if they are accomplished RC pilots (power or glider) or have had significant prior contest experience. The Novice class is intended to encourage new flyers to enter the club contests. New members with vast contest experience may petition the Board to be placed directly into the Master class.
Reclassification
Members may petition the board for consideration of changing classification either up or down based on extenuating circumstances. The board will examine the merits of the petition and make a recommendation based on fairness to the member and other competitors.
Class points are given as follows;
1st place in class = 3 points
2nd place in class = 2 points
3rd place in class = 1 point
Advancement to the next class requires the following:
1. Novice to Sportsman = 12 points and 1 class win or 3 class wins.
2. Sportsman to Master = 21 points and 2 class wins or 4 class wins.
In all cases there must be at least three competitors in your class to be counted towards advancement points. No class points are carried forward at advancement, however class points are carried forward to the next contest year.
Normalized scores from each contest will be used to develop advancement points and annual awards. Annual awards shall be given at least through third place in each class. Only the six best Open contests are counted towards annual Open points. For Handlaunch only the best 3 contests are counted. In addition only one of the special noted contests may be counted toward the six best.
The RMSA club champion shall be recognized as a true champion pilot, showing both skills as a pilot and the willingness to compete against his peers inside and outside of RMSA. Points for the club champion trophy shall be computed from the total of the normalized, documented scores from all AMA sanctioned contests entered during the year by that competitor. Normalized points from outside contests must be documented, and submitted to the club scorekeeper prior to November 15 for that contest year. Annual awards shall be given in the class where the pilot spent most of the year. Example: If the pilot advances from Sportsman to Master by virtue of contest points during mid-year, he/she will be eligible for an award only in the class where he/she spent the majority of that year's club contests. In the event of a tie for any standings, co-champions will be declared.