Paul Remde wrote:
Hi,

I find the US contest rules very unclear as to what is required. The 2006
Sports Class Regionals rules on flight recorders are copied below. It is
unclear to me that a Garmin would be an acceptable system. I believe the
rules have changed in recent years on this matter.
6.7.4 Altitude recording
6.7.4.1 ? A Flight Recorder may record altitude derived
from a calculated position. The estimated altitude inaccuracy shall be
applied in a way unfavorable to the pilot (if the flight log does not
include a reliable estimate of this inaccuracy, a value of 75 feet shall be
used).
6.7.4.2 ? A Flight Recorder may record a calibratable
pressure altitude. If such a device is used in circumstances where altitude
is needed, the altitude inaccuracy determined from the best available
calibration data shall be applied in a way unfavorable to the pilot.
6.7.4.3 ? If a Flight Recorder records both calculated
and pressure altitude, pressure altitude will be the primary data source and


Hi Paul,

In practice, I can tell you that GPS Altitude Only recorders (ie.
6.7.4.1) have been used and accepted in regionals for several years.
Frankly, I don't think there has been a huge amount of thought applied
to the issue of altitude concerns; to some extent, it's pretty clear
that only if someone wanted to protest a result would anyone really
scrutinize this.

My point was/is that, in the case of someone who is may be just getting
into competition or testing the waters, a COTS GPS unit is a perfectly
acceptable solution. We need to stop making people think that they
need tons of sophisticated equipment to compete (not that you were
doing that, BTW, just editorializing)

Erik Mann
LS8-18 P3