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ACRO E-mail Archive Thread: Forms and Flimsies

Thread: Forms and Flimsies

Message: Forms and Flimsies

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From: "Michael R. Heuer" <CIVAPres at compuserve.com>

Date: Sun, 09 Mar 1997 16:10:25 UTC

Message:

  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