11 Disqualifications

11.1 Officials

The Contest Jury and/or the Range Safety Officer or his/her deputies may disqualify any entry that in their opinion did not comply with the competition rules or which in their opinion was not reasonably safe in operation.

 

11.2 Scope

An entry may by reason of flight characteristics be disqualified for that flight, but it is not necessarily disqualified for the entire event.

 

11.3 Scoring

For the purposes of events in which a total score is computed from the sum of the performances of two or more flights, a disqualification shall result in a score of zero for that flight. This rule may be superseded by the rules of a specific event. A disqualified flight may not be considered as a return in any event where at least one return is required. If a contestant flying in an event requiring at least one returned flight has one disqualified flight and another not returned, the contestant shall receive only flight points for the event.

 

11.4 Expulsion

The Contest Director may disqualify any contestant from an event or from the entire meet on the grounds of failure to practice or observe reasonable safety measures, published or otherwise; for poor sportsmanship; for failure to abide by the orders of the Range Safety Officer or his/her deputies; whose ability to safely fly model rockets is, in the opinion of the Contest Director or Range Safety Officer, impaired by alcohol, drugs, or condition; or for misconduct in general.

 

11.5 Catastrophic Failure

A model rocket experiencing a catastrophic failure shall not be given a disqualification. The flight may or may not be considered as an official flight, only if in the opinion of the Range Safety Officer the model performed a safe and stable flight, and at least nominally complied with the competition rules (e.g., a glider glided). The contestant shall in this situation have the option of having such a flight ruled as either official or unofficial. If the model did not meet these requirements, then it shall be ruled an unofficial flight.

When he has the option, the contestant shall inform the applicable Contest Official of his/her decision to accept or reject the flight as an official flight as soon as possible; but in any case, prior to any subsequent flight by the contestant in that event. The contestant shall be permitted to substitute another model; in the case of craftsmanship events, or other events as specified, an identical model must be substituted, although it does not have to exhibit the of craftsmanship and detail of the original.

 

11.6 Recording Data

Performance data on an entry that has been disqualified during or after its flight shall be recorded, even though the flight may not at that time be considered official, in case of later reversal of the disqualification ruling.

 

11.7 Shock Cord

A broken shock cord shall not cause a disqualification of the entry’s flight unless a part of the entry falls to the ground and lands in a manner that the Range Safety Officer considers hazardous. This rule may be superseded by the rules for a specific event.

 

11.8 Correctable Conditions

Disqualifications for static conditions are not permitted. In this case the modeler shall be instructed to correct the condition prior to the official flight. If the contest officials do not discover a condition until during or after the flight has been made, such as flying with the wrong motor type, the flight will not be considered official. Ex post facto disqualifications are prohibited.

 

11.9 Self Penalizing Flights

Models whose flights are safe, but do not recover in the manner they were designed to (refer to Rule 15.3), are not necessarily disqualified. If the recovery problem was of a safe nature which did not tend to give the model a performance advantage contrary to the event and the model still performs the basic requirement of the event, the flight is qualified. For example, parachute duration models whose chute does not deploy, a glider with a streamer hung onto it (while still gliding stably), or a helicopter model which flips multiple times (while primarily autorotating about the vertical axis) are penalizing their flight performances.

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