On Oct 5, 7:23*pm, John Cochrane
wrote:
I had the honor of giving the Ralph S. Barnaby lecture at the fall
Board of Directors' meeting. The title is "The evolution of US contest
soaring," which I sort of talked about but couldn't resist adding an
editorial here and there. If you're really, really bored at the
office, you might enjoy the talk:

http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john...Papers/barnaby...

John Cochrane

39 to 1 @ 80 knots is good. 39 against a proposal and 1 for is not. It
should send a very strong message that we do not like your proposal.

Lets suppose the the 600 foot altitude AGL was accepted. No more ridge
flying. A release at New Castle is usually less than 600 feet above
the ridge. Some pilots are safer at 500 feet than others at 2500.

Judgment cannot be legislated nor can safety. On needs to be
responsible for their own actions.

We could have a relatively safe contest that consisted of a spot
landing at an assigned time provided only one glider was airborne at
any given time.

Flarm may help, it will definitely make an already expensive sport
more expensive. It will also contribute to more heads in the cockpit.

Around 1985 things started down hill. Everybody had a competitive
glider and showed up expecting to win. Aggressiveness in lieu of
experience was a large factor.

New pilots will never be encouraged to fly xcountry when taught by
instructors that have never flown xc or don't even have a silver
badge. Same applies to spins


AH