15 pages and 146 messages...interesting.

It makes me wonder about other times when technological advancement has reared its head in the soaring world...was the outcry this loud?

Was there this much noise when GPS replaced map and compass? Data loggers vs. TP pix? Radios? Varios? Carbon fiber vs. Glass vs. Wood vs. Fabric? Ballasting vs. Dry? And on and on....technology marches on, and you can only delay its implementation, not prevent it.

There will come a day when ALL soaring computers will have this technology installed and available. What then? Outlaw them all and we go back to charts and cameras?

To me, this is an opportunity for policy-makers to get in front of this technology wave by acknowledging change is coming AND trying to direct that fact in a way that grows the sport and enhances safety.

As a high-time power pilot and 25 year airline guy, I understand as well as anyone that inadvertent IFR or getting caught over a solid cloud deck can happen in this sport (as it can in any type of GA) and a strong consideration for me had been to find a system that wouldn't make something like that kill me.

It blows my mind that an attitude exists in competition soaring that because a small minority of competition pilots will cheat, the other 99% will have to carry the burden of their lack of integrity by disabling an obvious safety feature. May I respectfully submit that the small minority, by their actions, will make themselves stand out in short order? Allowing the RC or other enforcement agencies to then concentrate their energies on correcting the behavior of the miscreants? Why do the folks who follow the rules and now find themselves in a tight spot have to pay the freight for the ne'er-do-wells?

I have to admit, as a yet-to-fly-a-contest-but-strongly-considering-it newbie, this entire approach towards this technology troubles me, especially as someone who has had more than my fair share of hard IFR, planned and unplanned. If that's the final iteration of this rule, then I have to say I'm not pulling out a gauge or disabling a feature just so I can fly in the contest-world...there are other areas of soaring that hold my interest as well where I can fully participate and not have to do so....Which is a shame, because I'd heard they needed guys like me to keep soaring comps from becoming even more endangered or less frequented than they already are. Sean, I think you're on the right track to promote this technology, and I support your position.

My 2 cents...

Rob S.

ZAP