On Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 12:32:48 PM UTC-7, ND wrote:
On Wednesday, August 5, 2015 at 11:06:24 PM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:
On Wednesday, August 5, 2015 at 7:50:45 PM UTC-7, XC wrote:
I've seen a pilot in a Regional who didn't practice all year and never was very good locate a top competitor pre-start using FLARM, follow him around the course and win the day in a FAI handicapped class because he was flying a 15m glider and the top competitor was flying an 18m glider. I started with the two of them split off and did my own thing.

XC

I have to agree with JC. In fact I would prefer that the range be greatly increased. If I get a Flarm warning that I was not expecting, I consider that a failure of situational awareness.

The story about a mediocre pilot in a 15m following a top pilot in an 18 meter is quite far fetched - at least where I fly pretty much impossible as described. If performance in this sport comes down to simply aping another's actions, then it isn't quite the skill sport that we thought.

False. I've seen it too. i've seen mediocre pilots post excellent speeds because they mimed an excellent pilot's decision making. does that mean he had the right stuff? no. it means he copied someone's homework. it IS the skill sport we think it is. it's why Jerzy can go faster than everyone else by 5-10 MPH more often than seems possible. because to win over and over, tremendous skill is required.

Well I did qualify that with "where I fly", which is out west. Perhaps true for the flatlands and hillocks - I don't know. But if Jerzy can go 5 - 10 MPH faster than everyone else, I'm doubting that a novice in a 15m will keep up with him in an 18 no matter how many Flarms are involved. Not where I fly, anyway.

There are many technologies that have changed the sport over the years. This one not as earth shattering as many others gone before. The purists among us really should be flying with wooden wings, Clark Y airfoils, and a pellet vario. But the point about ADS-B makes this almost an academic argument?