On Jan 6, 11:49 pm, Marc Ramsey wrote:
AK wrote:
How often do you go to competition without a ground crew and if you do
how do you deal with this situation? Are contest organizers of any
help considering their workload?

I flew in six Region 11 and 12 contests, 15m or 18m class, all without a
crew, and made it home on all except one task. I always arranged ahead
of time to share crewing duties with another crew-free pilot at the contest.

I'd say roughly half the pilots at the contests I flew in had no formal
crew. It definitely helps to fly in contests close to home, as local
knowledge is often key to getting home on soft days. I was always
prepared to backtrack towards the nearest airport where I could get an
aero retrieve.

It is obviously best to fly conservatively, but that doesn't necessarily
mean you'll be at the back of the pack, I finished 1st once and 2nd
three times. Don't let the lack of a crew stop you...

Marc

Heck, that even happens around the home field! This past summer I
flew my diamond
goal flight (woohoo!) along with 2 buddies (both with lots more cross
country time than me),
but my radio fritzed out early in the flight.

When I got back to the field after 4.5 hours I could see the other two
trailers getting
packed up to go and thought, "Gee, I fly slow!" Actually, I was the
only one that made it back!