FLARM and Triathlon

On Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 7:30:07 AM UTC-5, Jim White wrote:
Leeching scenarios

We can't agree on the problem, much less the solution. So let me go in a different direction using another sport as the analog.

FLARM makes it easier to follow someone closely if leeching is your strategy. But I agree that's not usually, or even often, a formula for success. Far more common are those who use leeching to move out of the middle of the pack throughout a contest to finish in the top ranks.

Jim's scenarios are very interesting--and realistic. But I'm not sure I'd use the word "leeching" to describe them, however, because they involve pilots using FLARM to make decisions. The only decision made by a self-respecting leech (a contradiction in terms?) is whom to follow that day. Jim describes pilots using [FLARM] technology to get better information to make better decisions. And regarding scenario #1, the leader starting behind the 2nd place guy on the last day to shadow him and insure a win, XX, George Moffat himself--the anti-leech--did it at Marfa one year in the 60s to Wally Scott, IIRC.

Philosophically, I don't have a problem with using other gliders to make better decisions. We see markers up ahead, we listen to radio calls, and (yes) we even use FLARM in Stealth mode.

And I'm not a technophobe, notwithstanding BB's Hillaryesque insistence that anyone who opposes technology-driven change in any form must be part of a vast elderly Luddite conspiracy. We're flying with gliders, instruments, and GPS-enabled flight computers that we could only dream about when I started competing. I just don't like the fact that FLARM makes it easier to leech, in the classic sense of the word: always following, never leading out..

Many triathletes--individualists by temperament and sport--don't like their competitors drafting behind them in the cycling leg to get a free ride for long periods of time, reserving energy. Google "drafting" and "triathlon" and you'll think you're back on RAS with just a few key words swapped.

So how about taking a page from the triathlon playbook and simply banning leeching? In triathlon, the rules define a drafting zone behind a cyclist into which another cyclist can't enter unless he/she is overtaking. It's messy, with different governing bodies and rules for amateur vs. pro events. And even when illegal, it's not always enforced all that well, especially when there are a lot of nearly equivalent pro racers and not enough officials.

But in soaring, we don't need officials! We already have most of the technology to define and enforce "no leeching" rules.

We know it when we see it in the air. We can also watch two gliders on a SeeYou replay and appreciate good pilots flying together to improve their mutual performance. They spread out to cover more air on the runs. They explore different parts of the thermal early on. They climb at different rates. Whomever gets to the top leads out first. Sometimes they part and go their separate ways. Little to none of the above is true for leeches.

So can we use technology--i.e., post-flight analysis of logger traces--to impose penalties for leeching? Yeah, it sounds messy. More post-processing work. After-the-fact penalties. More protests from innocent and not-so-innocent pilots.

I don't know what the algorithms and rules should be. Points assessed based on getting to the top and allowing someone else to lead out repeatedly? Or percentage of time in a run where you're in trail? Accumulate a certain number of points and start to incur time penalties? Number of times you enter a thermal behind the same guy within X seconds at the same altitude? 9B, you must have some ideas.

Yeah, more rules complexities. More dependence on technology. But do you want to use open FLARM at major contests? Figure out a way to prevent certain pilots from abusing the benefits of that technology.

No, this isn't a troll. I'm serious. I'm sure I'm not the first to propose it. Have at it.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.