SENIORS CONTEST

Disagree JJ. The exact same scenario is possible - even more likely in
the finish cylinder. One of the more recent weaknesses of the finish
line was introduced by GPS. The rules now state that the finish is
based on your trace and not whether or not you turned inside a physical
feature. To my mind, this is proof positive that our rules makers
aren't thinking their decisions through carefully, but are acting based
on technological possibility and ground crew convenience. I, for one,
don't check the panel for anything but airspeed once I've committed to
a gate finish. I can judge my altitude well enough, and I'm much more
interested in traffic than which way the nav arrow is pointing. Not the
case in the cylinder. I've flown through the latter enough now to know
I'm not comfortable with the amount of panel time I need to plan
execute my finish.

BTW, here's one of the hazards of flying empty. You are much more
visible with your comet tail in the finish gate/cylinder.

Gosh, as all the legends get older, this sport sure is getting prissy.
I'm all for safe... but sterile? ;-)