On Tuesday, February 6, 2018 at 10:55:32 AM UTC-5, John Cochrane wrote:
T8: Part of what's being tested every time we go XC soaring (never mind competition) is the ability to assess and manage risk. I relish this. If you take this out of the game... well, it's no longer the same game.


Are you f...ing kidding? You voluntarily enjoy the ability to assess and manage physical risk.. and by definition to occasionally fail with potentially fatal results? What is this, aviation or climbing Mt. Everest?

Anyway, fear not dear T8. Even with a hard deck, you will still be flying a motorless aircraft, and there will be plenty of opportunity for you to scare yourself silly even though you no longer will get contest points for it. We'll even still give you points for flying in clouds, through thunderstorms, over unlandable terrain, shoot mountain passes with 10 feet to spare, and so forth. And the risk of losing points at 500 or 1000 feet might still be enough to keep you awake, though the hard ground won't give you quite the rush it used to.

I mean, really, of all the illogic on this thread, the idea that no longer giving contest points for what a pilot chooses to do under 500 or 1000 feet AGL, removes all risk from motorless aviation, so the pilot no longer has to "assess and manage risk" is the most ludicrous. You might as well argue that we remove parachutes, so pilots get more of the adrenaline rush of assessing and managing risks.

Oppose a hard deck if you will, but please bring some faint common sense, thought and logic to the discussion

John Cochrane

No, I'm not kidding. However I have (unintentionally) exposed your rather considerable confirmation bias.

I was responding to Jon's earlier stated idea to create a hard deck thousands of feet in the air.

What I relish is the fact that it's all on me as PIC. I have to be disciplined enough to know when to say "screw this, I'm landing", or "screw this, I'm at Tatum bound for Portales, it's blue, there's cirrus, I'm unfamiliar with the terrain, it looks like the moon, I'm out of my element, I'm fatigued, I'm going to stay with the clouds and wait" (day 1, 2013 15s). I relish the fact that I know I am bigger & stronger than my own ego. That day my score sucked but the glider was safely in the box, still shiny. My tie down neighbor's... not so much.

Back to the 500' thing: at 500' over a landable field, I'm landing. Duh. What the **** is going to happen in the 120 seconds between 500' and 250' that didn't happen in the last half hour? With about 99% probability... nothing at all.

ND: The smart thing to do if the nannies do have their way is leave all that airspace out of your nav equipment and just fly your best game. You tag the airspace, well sucks to be you.

I don't think we need the rule, I will oppose it if asked. My prediction is: if such a rule were adopted, it won't be 500' for very darned long.

Evan Ludeman / T8