I didn't get the whole part of this thread on winners. We pretty much know who the top 5 of any contest are going in to it. And accidents seem spread pretty evenly across the scoresheet.

The amazing thing to me as a constant safety guy is just how many risks I see guys in 26th place taking for a few more points. Ballistic trajectory over the last trees to make the airport and get a rolling finish. Flying through thunderstorms. Flying low over totally unlandable terrain. Last minute landouts often coming to grief. Flying 200 feet in to the clouds in start gaggles. Past VNE starts, back in those good old days. Aggressive gaggling. The land-out "patterns" described in the safety reports. Endless very low energy scary finishes back when we had the line (50 feet, 50 knots, middle of the airport is not a great place to be). Flying after all night retrieves and 2 hours sleep. Flying gliders with home-brew repairs after contest damage. None of these pilots does anything nearly so nuts in weekend xc flying..

Yes you say, give them a lecture to stop it, it's not worth it, you're not going to climb out of 26th place this way. And we have been giving that lecture for 50 years, with no discernible result. What do they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

Meanwhile, when we put in a low speed start system and higher finishes, those crashes ended.

John Cochrane