Have you gotten your Caterpillar Pin?

Big John

By the time I retired I had two of them, one from the RF-4C and
another from the F-111F. Haven't added to my collection as
yet...............?
To bring this discussion back to soaring, I went through my egress
procedure twice on one very smoky day last year at the sports class
nats. None of us could see the ground and I was using the bottom of
the Q's as my horizon. If someone suddenly appeared in front of me, I
wouldn't have had time to avoid a collision. I didn't see anyone, but
I knew 30 sailplanes were running the same set of turnpoints on the
west side flying a MAT. A friend later told me he almost nailed me,
but I never saw him. We were below IFR minimums on several days, I
know because I couldn't see Montague when the GPS said we were 3 miles
out! The conditions were part of my reasoning to withdraw from the
contest.
Cheers,
JJ