On Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 4:55:07 PM UTC-4, John Cochrane wrote:
Amazing. After all the angst over the past years about coming up with a "safer" way to finish because the line finish was just so dangerous, we rediscover the fun of it without any carnage!


I know you guys are trolling a bit here, but let's remember a few facts.

Elmira is uniquely suited to a finish line, because it in effect is a finish cylinder. If you don't make the finish, you glide down and land in the valley. Few other airports have this lovely circumstance.

The real problem of the finish line is not the danger of the line itself -- though there were quite a few stall/spin accidents, including fatalities, in the good old days. The real problem is the marginal final glide. Again, not a problem at Elmira. A much bigger problem out west with one runway and nowhere to land in the last 10 miles.

And, one contest without accident does not suddenly erase 50 years of statistics.

John Cochrane BB

Quite true.
But it was fun
UH