X-no-archive: yes
In article , Martin Gregorie
writes
I'm certain there are hang overs from the old days, but under the
current rules you can do the distance with an uncalibrated barograph
and witnesses to the take-off and landing. The barograph is only there
to make sure you didn't get a relight along the way.

That is just the point! The soaring performance is just as valid if it
is done with a Flight Recorder or with Camera & Barograph. The rules
have to allow for both.

Declarations: It is the last declaration before Takeoff that is the only
valid declaration, It does not matter if it is a Paper Declaration or an
Electronic Declaration, both do/should have a Time/date stamp (but make
sure that any paper declaration has the time zone as well as the time),
and the latest one is the one and only true declaration. If you happen
to declare something inadvertently by a bad attack of button pushing,
then you have only yourself to blame.

It would seem from the experience of the originator of this thread that
at least part of the failure was due to his peers not giving sufficient
instruction on the do's and Don'ts required to verify the flight. There
is a basic assumption that a pre-silver pilot (except Al) does not have
an in depth understanding of the requirements and it is up to whoever
briefs him/her on the flight to advise on who preparations to make.

If you get it wrong on a Silver attempt (which is fairly easy to do
again) you should learn how to get it right for more difficult flights.

Tim Newport-Peace

"Indecision is the Key to Flexibility."