f1rocket
Well Known Member
If so, I thought I'd share with you what I learned this week. If not, or you are not interested in being judged, then you can skip this thread. Before I start, I want to cut off any criticism that this thread might spur. I AM NOT pointing a finger any of the judges or judging standards in any way. I agree with all the rules and I am fine with them. I personally know any number of the kit built judges and I like, admire, and respect them all. They do a great job.
I checked into the judging standards this week because I was trying to figure out whether I wanted to go through the trouble of having my airplane judged again. I have to take a lot more stuff with me, plan on staying with the airplane, clean it all the time, take the cowl off, etc. Since I won a workmanship award last year, I decided that was good enough for me. However, I learned some important things that I didn't know before.
Be careful about what category you have your E-LSA judged in. If you build an E-AB RV-12, its a no-brainer. You are in the kit built category. However, you have options if you are an E-LSA RV-12. You can still be judged in the kit built category, but I wouldn't recommend it. Think about it, you are competing with all the other outstanding kit built airplanes where the builders are free to modify and customize their entry to the nines. As you already know, you have to follow the plans so your mods are essentially limited to cosmetic enhancements, unless you went wild after your certification hours were flown off. So it's really not an "apples-to-apples" competition. I don't know if it's possible to win a Lindy with an E-LSA, but I bet it's highly unlikely. If you've seen past Lindy winners, you know what I mean. Also, once you are judged in a category and you win an award, you are not allowed to be judged in any other category and you are only eligible for a higher award in your original category. Since I can only win a Lindy, there's no reason for me to be judged again and I'm okay with that.
So what is the other option? You can (and probably should) be judged in the LSA category. I had to dig a little to find the LSA category stuff since it is included in the Ultralight section of the judging guidelines. This is the category meant for E-LSA aircraft. However, it comes with a big catch. To be judged in the LSA category, you have to park your airplane down by in the LSA/Ultralight section of the airfield. I'm not that familiar with the South end of the field so I'm not sure if they have a very specific section laid out for LSAs but I'm pretty sure you CAN NOT park with the other RVs in HBP or HBC and still be judged in the LSA category. This explained a lot to me when I inquired last year in the Homebuilt registration tent about being judged in the LSA category and all they could offer me was Kit Built. I didn't know at the time that I could have been judged in this category had I moved my airplane. Now, I'm not sure I would have done so, but I didn't know it was an option.
Now the reasons for this rule is pretty understandable. The judges need to have all the airplanes in a certain category parked in reasonable proximity to one another, otherwise they'd be running all over the field. I get it and fully agree with it.
So use this info any way you want. The guidelines are on the Airventure web site and you can read up on them if you want. Here's the link.
I checked into the judging standards this week because I was trying to figure out whether I wanted to go through the trouble of having my airplane judged again. I have to take a lot more stuff with me, plan on staying with the airplane, clean it all the time, take the cowl off, etc. Since I won a workmanship award last year, I decided that was good enough for me. However, I learned some important things that I didn't know before.
Be careful about what category you have your E-LSA judged in. If you build an E-AB RV-12, its a no-brainer. You are in the kit built category. However, you have options if you are an E-LSA RV-12. You can still be judged in the kit built category, but I wouldn't recommend it. Think about it, you are competing with all the other outstanding kit built airplanes where the builders are free to modify and customize their entry to the nines. As you already know, you have to follow the plans so your mods are essentially limited to cosmetic enhancements, unless you went wild after your certification hours were flown off. So it's really not an "apples-to-apples" competition. I don't know if it's possible to win a Lindy with an E-LSA, but I bet it's highly unlikely. If you've seen past Lindy winners, you know what I mean. Also, once you are judged in a category and you win an award, you are not allowed to be judged in any other category and you are only eligible for a higher award in your original category. Since I can only win a Lindy, there's no reason for me to be judged again and I'm okay with that.
So what is the other option? You can (and probably should) be judged in the LSA category. I had to dig a little to find the LSA category stuff since it is included in the Ultralight section of the judging guidelines. This is the category meant for E-LSA aircraft. However, it comes with a big catch. To be judged in the LSA category, you have to park your airplane down by in the LSA/Ultralight section of the airfield. I'm not that familiar with the South end of the field so I'm not sure if they have a very specific section laid out for LSAs but I'm pretty sure you CAN NOT park with the other RVs in HBP or HBC and still be judged in the LSA category. This explained a lot to me when I inquired last year in the Homebuilt registration tent about being judged in the LSA category and all they could offer me was Kit Built. I didn't know at the time that I could have been judged in this category had I moved my airplane. Now, I'm not sure I would have done so, but I didn't know it was an option.
Now the reasons for this rule is pretty understandable. The judges need to have all the airplanes in a certain category parked in reasonable proximity to one another, otherwise they'd be running all over the field. I get it and fully agree with it.
So use this info any way you want. The guidelines are on the Airventure web site and you can read up on them if you want. Here's the link.
Last edited:
