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Old March 28th 06, 06:33 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default OLC participation and "red marks"

The latest SSA Newsletter says:

"OLC entrants in the USA will hopefully at least double in size again
this year - with more and more pilots going
out away from the home airport. OLC has grown significantly over the
past three years, with participation
coming from many different groups. We are looking at posting scores and
rankings by Region, or by
State. And, as this year at Arlington, awards will be presented at
Memphis Convention next year."

More participation is good, but for that to happen OLC will have to be
attractive to pilots. I looked at all US flights starting on Saturday,
March 11. During that time, 262 flights were made with a score over
the 50 point minimum, and 70 of those flights had the "red mark." I
think it probably is safe to say that not one of those 70 red marks was
due to a pilot who was cheating.

When over a quarter of pilots get no score for their flights, a lot of
pilots will decide not to continue to participate (and the above
statistics probably are skewed due to pilots who already have dropped out).