Sean,
The rules against artificial horizons have been around for years.
Although I believe we are an honest bunch it does not hurt to help things
stay that way, we weigh sailplanes at contests too!
I have 22000hrs, 3800 in sailplanes and I have only once inadvertently been
"sucked" into cloud [in South Africa at the top of a 15knot thermal] In
that case I pushed hard and came out of cloud - I then cruised at almost
VNE with the wheel down and airbrakes open for 60 kms!!]

I am sure the butterfly people can build a vario without the AH.

I reckon if the capability to cloud fly is there then some will try,
without training this is unsafe [let alone illegal]

I have cloud flown legally in the UK and NZ and do not believe it enhances
safety.

Tom

At 04:17 16 February 2012, Sean Fidler wrote:
Tom C-=20

So Flarm is good (I fully agree) and artificial horizons are bad? Please
a=
llow me a brief moment to probe this statement. How exactly would it be
ba=
d for an honest pilot (such as Kempton for example who very much
accidental=
ly flew into IMC) to have a quality artificial horizon instrument just in
c=
ase? Did you read this article? Have you ever had to perform a benign
spi=
ral because, essentially, you=92ve made a mistake and you were screwed?
Ev=
er just had to ride it out and hope? Have you ever practiced one? A
rule
=
leaving the lives of honest pilots (many who may be newer, etc) to
chance,
=
at least to me, seems completely insane for a sport that is meant to be
fun=
, enjoyable and of honest men.

What percentage of pilots do you, Tom C, feel would cheat if they had the
o=
pportunity to install a proper AH instrument? Please weigh that with the
r=
est of the honest, no cheater (your opinion of course) pilots who may,
howe=
ver slim the chance, benefit GREATLY from the artificial horizon
instrument=
if they were allowed to include it as an everyday instrument and not
have
=
to turn it on, off, uninstall, install, etc for contests?

What is being demonstrated by those in support of the rule (as it stands
at=
this moment) is that they are fierce competitors so deathly afraid that
so=
meone is going to be able to cheat =93past=94 them that safety for any
fair=
pilot is utterly outlawed to prevent it. If you, (insert your name here
n=
ew contest pilot) ever get caught making a mistake and flying into a
cloud.=
...be damned! You careless *******! It=92s your fault for making that
mist=
ake. Tough taffy. But does this rule really prevent cloud flight if
someo=
ne really wanted to? Can all the instruments be policed? At what cost
to
=
safety? At what cost to contest attendance and enjoyment? All because a
f=
ew of you really competitive types (in control of the rules today) cant
liv=
e with any chance that some crazy fool could cheat. =20

I won=92t get into the fact that I (and a whole bunch of other pilots I
kno=
w) have unknowingly been flying illegally with my Android phone all last
su=
mmer ;-0! See, nobody cares until you start getting close to them in the
s=
tandings. =20
Tom K, I have to disagree that forcing pilots to go to Sears to get a
throw=
away phone is smart, good or not irritating...but it comforts me that
you
=
recognized that under the current rules smartphones (65% market share and
i=
ncreasing about 10% per year) are illegal and pointed this out. Maybe
this=
should be for National contests only guys? Would that be a fair
compromis=
e? Should we really have this kind of rule in place for our little
regiona=
l? Please say no.

Whatever the result of your decision, I strongly suggest another SSA wide
e=
mail from the rules committee specifically pointing out that as of today
-
=
any usage of an iPhone, Android, Blackberry or Windows Phone (or PDA,
most
=
Tablets, etc) are absolutely illegal. Then perhaps consider locking your
d=
oors and hiding under your desks for a few weeks and hunkering down
tight.
=
Not sure if that would be a positive result. =93Any pilot attending a
reg=
ional should go and get a throw away phone,=94 etc. Yeah sure those
cheap
=
crapola throw away phones are going to work in BFE when you land out in
the=
country somewhere. But I digress.

Think about this carefully. Do you really think that you=92re going to
be
=
able to prevent any pilot truly intent on cheating via cloud flying if
some=
one really wants to with today=92s technology? Are we going to randomly
ra=
nsack everyone's cockpits on the grid assuming that any contraband found
is=
a DSQ? Throw the new guy out of regional who is caught with a
smartphone
=
in his pocket? If yes, then what of the last 3 years? Like baseball=92s
s=
teroid investigations, should we hold investigations? Subpoena phone
recor=
ds to ensure that data and calls did not occur during contest flights of
th=
e top pilots? Confirm the device model of these calls? Or are we just
goi=
ng to let that slide and start now that the butterfly vario is available?

=
Nobody is going to cloud fly let alone manage any level flight with an
iPh=
one. Now we have to tell all the pilots at the regional to go buy a dumb
p=
hone, program in some numbers, etc. Seems paranoid to me at best.

I really hope for all of our sakes that an inadvertent flight into IMC
fata=
l accident never happens, because if the lawyers get ahold of this thread
w=
hile suing us we are probably going to get killed in court. Absolutely
kil=
led. That would not be fun to watch.