Letter to editor in SOARING Mag

Roger Bard has a letter to the editor in this month's SOARING mag. His point is "Why even bother" to fly the OLC contest and he lists four reasons why..

Answering his "reasons why not" is the following: 1&2. A Nimbus 4 is not required since results are handicapped. Ron Schwartz flew his 1-26 to 11th in the world, and he did it from that soaring mecca known as New Jersey. Fifth place was a Ventus 2 (Uwe) and ninth place an ASW27 (Ramy.) 3. Yes, the winner flew above 18,000" legally for some flights. Most of the other winners are not instrument rated pilots and stayed below 18K. 4. One does have to be at the right place at the right time to win anything. That is true of soaring and many other sports. Wally Scott kept his ASW12 assembled in an Odessa hangar and picked his days. Hardly something to be upset about, but rather admired.

A better use for OLC is to learn and compare your flight with club members and pilots flying in similar conditions. Much can be learned from studying traces and Wx, take off times, average climb rates, course deviations, and final glides. Anyone that posts six flights is a winner.

Richard Walters

On Monday, February 4, 2013 11:01:19 AM UTC-7, R Walters wrote:
Roger Bard has a letter to the editor in this month's SOARING mag. His point is "Why even bother" to fly the OLC contest and he lists four reasons why.



Answering his "reasons why not" is the following: 1&2. A Nimbus 4 is not required since results are handicapped. Ron Schwartz flew his 1-26 to 11th in the world, and he did it from that soaring mecca known as New Jersey. Fifth place was a Ventus 2 (Uwe) and ninth place an ASW27 (Ramy.) 3. Yes, the winner flew above 18,000" legally for some flights. Most of the other winners are not instrument rated pilots and stayed below 18K. 4. One does have to be at the right place at the right time to win anything. That is true of soaring and many other sports. Wally Scott kept his ASW12 assembled in an Odessa hangar and picked his days. Hardly something to be upset about, but rather admired.



A better use for OLC is to learn and compare your flight with club members and pilots flying in similar conditions. Much can be learned from studying traces and Wx, take off times, average climb rates, course deviations, and final glides. Anyone that posts six flights is a winner.



Richard Walters

Rick,
Well said! One can really learn a lot using the OLC when you look at your flight and then compare your flight with the flights of others that flew on the same day and from the same location. In the past it was often quite difficult to obtain information from pilots on their flights. In many ways it seemed like a bit of a secret, but now using the OLC you can easily study OLC flight information and really improve your flying and decision making!
Thanks - Renny

My reaction to the letter was the same - the author's attitude "if I can't be at the top, I'm not going to bother" seems so defeatist.

OLC has been a great boon to cross-country soaring. Although our club has been at the top end, at least in terms of OLC points, we have found that it encourages a lot more folks to try than we ever found before. Our club two-seaters are often carrying loggers and we see a lot more logged flights each year. Even the seasoned cross-country and contest pilots are flying longer and further - often teasing out lift at the end of the day when we would formerly been on the deck drinking beer as the sun set!

Most important, though, even if you are into contests, it can act as your own personal benchmark.

Mike

On Monday, February 4, 2013 1:01:19 PM UTC-5, R Walters wrote:
Roger Bard has a letter to the editor in this month's SOARING mag. His point is "Why even bother" to fly the OLC contest and he lists four reasons why. Answering his "reasons why not" is the following: 1&2. A Nimbus 4 is not required since results are handicapped. Ron Schwartz flew his 1-26 to 11th in the world, and he did it from that soaring mecca known as New Jersey. Fifth place was a Ventus 2 (Uwe) and ninth place an ASW27 (Ramy.) 3. Yes, the winner flew above 18,000" legally for some flights. Most of the other winners are not instrument rated pilots and stayed below 18K. 4. One does have to be at the right place at the right time to win anything. That is true of soaring and many other sports. Wally Scott kept his ASW12 assembled in an Odessa hangar and picked his days. Hardly something to be upset about, but rather admired. A better use for OLC is to learn and compare your flight with club members and pilots flying in similar conditions. Much can be learned from studying traces and Wx, take off times, average climb rates, course deviations, and final glides. Anyone that posts six flights is a winner. Richard Walters

The simple answer to Mr Bard's "why bother?" is that OLC gets a lot of folks out flying XC and extending themselves instead of sitting around home being bored.
The number of participants shows that many pilots don't agree, even if thay don't have an open class glider in wave city.
UH

If you get discouraged by Jim Payne doing another 2000 miles in wave, you can set OLC to display flights in your club and your region. Then it's a lot of fun to see who went further/faster in the same conditions where you are.

John Cochrane

I really enjoy the OLC. I can compare my flights this year to last, look at which paths seemed to be faster, and it provides a place to keep my .igc files I'm not likely to lose!!
It's fun to play with the categories too! I downloaded the 'Best Flight' spreadsheet, and found you can sort by aircraft. Then I found that I had the BEST FLIGHT IN THE WORLD - IN A Speed Astir (a couple years!). Too much fun!


On Monday, February 4, 2013 10:01:19 AM UTC-8, R Walters wrote:
Roger Bard has a letter to the editor in this month's SOARING mag. His point is "Why even bother" to fly the OLC contest and he lists four reasons why.



Answering his "reasons why not" is the following: 1&2. A Nimbus 4 is not required since results are handicapped. Ron Schwartz flew his 1-26 to 11th in the world, and he did it from that soaring mecca known as New Jersey. Fifth place was a Ventus 2 (Uwe) and ninth place an ASW27 (Ramy.) 3. Yes, the winner flew above 18,000" legally for some flights. Most of the other winners are not instrument rated pilots and stayed below 18K. 4. One does have to be at the right place at the right time to win anything. That is true of soaring and many other sports. Wally Scott kept his ASW12 assembled in an Odessa hangar and picked his days. Hardly something to be upset about, but rather admired.



A better use for OLC is to learn and compare your flight with club members and pilots flying in similar conditions. Much can be learned from studying traces and Wx, take off times, average climb rates, course deviations, and final glides. Anyone that posts six flights is a winner.



Richard Walters

On Monday, February 4, 2013 6:29:48 PM UTC-6, Uncle Fuzzy wrote:
I really enjoy the OLC. I can compare my flights this year to last, look at which paths seemed to be faster, and it provides a place to keep my .igc files I'm not likely to lose!!

It's fun to play with the categories too! I downloaded the 'Best Flight' spreadsheet, and found you can sort by aircraft. Then I found that I had the BEST FLIGHT IN THE WORLD - IN A Speed Astir (a couple years!). Too much fun!





On Monday, February 4, 2013 10:01:19 AM UTC-8, R Walters wrote:

Roger Bard has a letter to the editor in this month's SOARING mag. His point is "Why even bother" to fly the OLC contest and he lists four reasons why.







Answering his "reasons why not" is the following: 1&2. A Nimbus 4 is not required since results are handicapped. Ron Schwartz flew his 1-26 to 11th in the world, and he did it from that soaring mecca known as New Jersey. Fifth place was a Ventus 2 (Uwe) and ninth place an ASW27 (Ramy.) 3. Yes, the winner flew above 18,000" legally for some flights. Most of the other winners are not instrument rated pilots and stayed below 18K. 4. One does have to be at the right place at the right time to win anything. That is true of soaring and many other sports. Wally Scott kept his ASW12 assembled in an Odessa hangar and picked his days. Hardly something to be upset about, but rather admired.







A better use for OLC is to learn and compare your flight with club members and pilots flying in similar conditions. Much can be learned from studying traces and Wx, take off times, average climb rates, course deviations, and final glides. Anyone that posts six flights is a winner.







Richard Walters

Fuzzy is making my point: You can sort the OLC results in so many ways, if you try hard enough you might find your name on top of one of the many categories and regions. Our region 7 is not blessed with the best soaring weather and you won't find any ridges but we compete every weekend with the neighboring IN, MI, OH etc. clubs for the most points and enjoy beating them at times.

Herb Kilian

wrote:
On Monday, February 4, 2013 6:29:48 PM UTC-6, Uncle Fuzzy wrote:
I really enjoy the OLC. I can compare my flights this year to last,
look at which paths seemed to be faster, and it provides a place to keep
my .igc files I'm not likely to lose!!

It's fun to play with the categories too! I downloaded the 'Best
Flight' spreadsheet, and found you can sort by aircraft. Then I found
that I had the BEST FLIGHT IN THE WORLD - IN A Speed Astir (a couple
years!). Too much fun!





On Monday, February 4, 2013 10:01:19 AM UTC-8, R Walters wrote:

Roger Bard has a letter to the editor in this month's SOARING mag. His
point is "Why even bother" to fly the OLC contest and he lists four reasons why.







Answering his "reasons why not" is the following: 1&2. A Nimbus 4 is
not required since results are handicapped. Ron Schwartz flew his 1-26
to 11th in the world, and he did it from that soaring mecca known as
New Jersey. Fifth place was a Ventus 2 (Uwe) and ninth place an ASW27
(Ramy.) 3. Yes, the winner flew above 18,000" legally for some flights.
Most of the other winners are not instrument rated pilots and stayed
below 18K. 4. One does have to be at the right place at the right time
to win anything. That is true of soaring and many other sports. Wally
Scott kept his ASW12 assembled in an Odessa hangar and picked his days.
Hardly something to be upset about, but rather admired.







A better use for OLC is to learn and compare your flight with club
members and pilots flying in similar conditions. Much can be learned
from studying traces and Wx, take off times, average climb rates,
course deviations, and final glides. Anyone that posts six flights is a winner.







Richard Walters

Fuzzy is making my point: You can sort the OLC results in so many ways,
if you try hard enough you might find your name on top of one of the many
categories and regions. Our region 7 is not blessed with the best
soaring weather and you won't find any ridges but we compete every
weekend with the neighboring IN, MI, OH etc. clubs for the most points
and enjoy beating them at times.

Herb Kilian

Lol Herb, you seem to do alright usually but then you have to keep up with
Ted Clausing.

There's even something for us vintage pilots on the OLC now. They started a
Vintage ranking last year, and I think it has actually helped to get some
of us old timer glider pilots to go XC.

I know I'm not going to win the worldwide olc flying a Ka-6 in Wi but
posting to the OLC is still fun.

Pete

Pete, you must remember David Stevenson's 1000km flight out of New Castle in a Ka6...
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...ml?dsId=326850
May the Schwartz be with you,
Jim

In Germany, my club uses the OLC results for weekly press releases to the local media. Doing so, we have experienced an enormous increase in reputation and applicants for flight training. I would imagine that it should also be possible in the US to send articles about the recent results in e. g. local areas like described by Herbert?