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ACRO E-mail Archive Thread: Forms and Flimsies [International Aerobatic Club] [Communications] [Aerobatics Images] Disclaimer: These aerobatics pages are developed by individual IAC members and do not represent official IAC policy or opinion. |
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Thread: Forms and Flimsies
Message: Forms and Flimsies
Follow-Up To: ACRO Email list (for List Members only)
From: "Michael R. Heuer" <CIVAPres at compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 09 Mar 1997 16:10:25 UTC
Stephen Seidel asks about the origin of the names for the Forms A and B as well as the name "flimsy" ... it brought back some memories. Actually, there are three forms: A, B, and C. Form A is the scoresheet held by the Assistant Judge and on which the grades are marked as the Judge calls them out to the Assistant. Forms B and C are the ones actually held by the Judge to follow the sequence as it is flown by the pilot. Which one is used depends on the wind direction. These names (letters) were actually adopted by IAC just a few years ago. They have been the CIVA standard for many years. We also adopted the CIVA standard forms as well as the names (with the addition of the IAC positioning grids) so there would be uniformity no matter where you attended a contest anywhere in the world. The forms were actually designed by the Swiss Champion and long time world competitor, Eric Mueller. Eric proposed these to CIVA in 1989 and IAC followed a couple of years later. Calling the forms "A, B, or C" is a very simple method when you have contests where multiple languages are being spoken by competitors. These letters can be understood by all. Prior to IAC's adoption of these forms, you would hear "scoresheet", the "left to right", and the "right to left". This system is much cleaner and simpler. "Flimsy" has an interesting ancestry. When I first started attending contests in the 1960's, competitors would often furnish onionskin forms for the judges. These forms were very thin, transparent, and "flimsy". Why we used them, I am not really sure and they didn't last long on the aerobatic scene but the name stuck. Mike Heuer President of CIVA