Kilo Charlie wrote:
This pilot is one that I have and would anyday share a thermal with.
He is
an excellent racing pilot and would never put someone else in danger.
He
has won more than one contest. To imply that he is some crazy unsafe
wacko
is unfortunate. I would not reveal myself if I were him but would
say that
I can see getting into the same situation. That IS the point
here.......with the so-called "safe" finish there are times when it
is in
fact unsafe! To date I have not felt any safer with a single change
that
has been made in the name of safety. I honestly think that from a
pure
safety aspect the old start gate and 50' AGL finish line was safer
than the
mega-gaggle cylinder starts we have now and the finishes into a
circle from
varying angles. I don't argue the point that contest organization is

simpler with the cylinder however.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

Casey and Everyone else,

I agree completely that you simply cannot regulate judgement and
safety. Any rule that is created will have some edge that someone will
end up testing. The pilot being talked about had the option of a
rolling finish, but his competitive drive and the rule made him do
something he would not normally do. I think I know who this pilot is,
and yes, I have also raced with him and had a great time doing so. If
it sounded like I was implying he is a wacko, my apoligies to him.
That was not my intent. I was simply trying (apparently
unsuccessfully) to ask if he now thinks that he excercised good
judgement. Isn't that what this is all about? We have to excercise
good judgement, in spite of the rules. He used his judgement and maybe
let the rule influence his judgement in a not so good direction. End
result: In this case, an interesting story the person who experienced
it can tell.

I, too, hate seeing rules made "in the name of safety". It is one
person's opinion, and the opinon of as many other people that choose to
see it that way as the expressor. I miss the fast, low finishes. I
miss pilotage (heading out into 8 to 10 mile visibility, northbound out
of Monahans towards Seagraves, with no GPS or compass, with the first
road to be found about 25 miles out, according to the sectional). I
miss standing my 604 on its tip from over 10K AGL to try and photograph
only half of a half mile long runway. I am not at all fond of running
around at ever increasing speed near the top corner of a start cylinder
or at cloudbase because the top of the cylinder is above cloudbase.
All these things get the heart going and we must use our judgement as
to what we are willing to do.

Would we maybe be less unhappy with a rule if it wasn't put to us as
being a "safety improvement" but just "this is the way it is going to
be."?

Please, Casey, Don't Adjust my Meds! I really am a good guy!

Steve Leonard
ZS
Wichita, KS