Contest Safety

MaD wrote:
Sorry to disagree here. It is normally not faster. If it turns out to
be, it means you seriously misjudged your final glide

I often do misjudge my final glide, as do many of the other pilots in
the US contests I've flown in. Sometimes it is due to lift along the way
that I didn't predict. At some airports, it is not possible to land
safely within several miles of the airport. Finishers tend to be high
until they are certain they can cross this bad area, then speed up.

or the last
thermal was something like 4m/s

Yes, we have these also.

AND the runway is extremely short.

Our Regional contests are held at Ephrata (Washington State). Is 3000'
extremely short? It is very wide, and easy to land normally on, but not
when arriving at Vne.

And yes, at most contests I've flown so far it was possible to land
straight ahead arriving with close to Vne at the beginning of the
runway.

At some contest airports I've flown at, this is also possible. Usually,
the glider must then be pushed off the runway, and the pilot must wait
an hour or more until there are no more gliders finishing before the
glider can be pushed back down the runway to the tiedown area. If it is
a wide grass field instead of narrow paved runway, it would be possible
to retrieve the glider right away, but that is rarely the case.

As mentioned, that speed is not the one you should try to have
at that point.

Western US conditions often mean the final glide is flown very fast.

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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA