On Friday, May 24, 2013 12:11:03 PM UTC-4, John Godfrey (QT) wrote:
On Friday, May 24, 2013 10:04:27 AM UTC-4, Evan Ludeman wrote:

Man, what a pain in the ass at Mifflin.







Returning on the back side of Jacks with weak ridge and no thermals, you leave the ridge at 1900-2000 because you *cannot* get higher and fly through a ton of sink (netto 4 - 6 kts down is common). The closest point of the ridge to the edge of the finish cylinder is 1.6 SM and the 700' agl finish is 1520. You'd probably prefer to cut the corner if energy allows, but that makes the distance more like 3 miles. Twice I was hanging on my flaps at 42 kts at what I guessed to be the edge of the cylinder (when the gps says 1.0 mile, you've generally finished several seconds earlier). Eyes on the panel, about 1530 feet, right in the GA traffic pattern (amazing how many GA pilots don't read Notams and show up at closed airports!). This is safer than an eyes out finish at lower altitude? I don't think so. I fly a '20. What's a Libelle pilot supposed to do in that situation? We never found out because none of the low performance guys had to try to make this work.







I don't have a problem with penalizing actual unsafe flying. However, we're now erring on the side of penalizing (severely) *potentially* unsafe flying. Two guys I know of (there may have been others) drew no speed points after hitting the cylinder below 1320 agl. In both cases the airport arrivals were reasonable energy and safe.







Evan Ludeman / T8





Help. I need a realistic solution for the times and places where for some good reason the race must end somewhere other than the airport. This situation really does arise.



It seems to me that a graduated penalty all the way to the ground is just another way of saying "the race always ends at the airport."



For example, at Minden you must not have gliders arriving at the airport below pattern altitude as part of a normal task completion.



So ideas please.



John Godfrey (QT)

RC Chair

Make Minden (and similar) the exception. If it takes 1000 agl and 2 miles to be safe and accommodating at Minden, do it. I believe that's been possible under existing rules for several years. It's the new 700 agl guidance applied to benign venues that's coughing up hairballs in combination with the -200' "death penalty" (not my name, but that's what guys are calling it)..

Personally I advocate: 500 / 1 mile guidance (with provision for changes to suit special cases like Minden) and a *modest* penalty for being low, say 10 pts per 100'. This makes it absolutely advantageous to follow the rules, doesn't turf a pilot out of the running for a distance miscalculation as happened last week (going for the show finish a little early, 200 low, but fast). If an absolute floor is required at a place like Minden, so be it..

Yes, I know you can hit 500 / 1 mile at 60 kts in an 18m ship and not make the airport at ______ and I'm sorry someone decided to try that. That's why I aim for 100' high, level and fast a half mile out. No penalties, no fuss, eyes out and alert, two or three split second checks to make certain I'm not inadvertently descending (and I'd really rather not be bothered with that, to tell the truth).

Sometimes I think we should make the finish gate bottom 500 feet /under/ ground. Airmanship, guys. Airmanship.

Evan Ludeman / T8