Instead of having just one meet called the Nationals to determined the US National Champion, why not have a Nationals Series that includes all the USHPA sanctioned meets? The National Champion would be the pilot at the end of the series (2009 series) that has the most total points from two (or perhaps three) of the meets in the series (all the sanctioned meets).

That way all the USHPA sanctioned meets get to claim a part of the glory as part of the Nationals Series. We sanction them, why not support them?

The National Champion is not determined by the circumstances of one meet.

The NTSS ranking (used for National team selection) matches more closely with the National Championship.

The values of all the meets are used in determining the National Champion, so that one little less well attended "nationals" doesn't determine the National Champion.

Pilots from all over the country have a better shot at the National Championship.

This idea will be presented to the USHPA BOD meeting starting tomorrow. Email your Regional Director if you want to comment on this idea.

You'll find their email addresses here: http://www.ushpa.aero/member_ushpa_directors.asp. You have to login first as a USHPA member.