Attention US Standard Class Pilots

As the owner of an ASW 24, I support the proposed handicapping system
for Std. Class and I applaud the Rules Committee for pursuing this
idea. I don't think my ASW 24 needs it, but I'll take it whatever help
I can get.

Lots of good thoughts already posted. I share concern over the future
of Std. Class. The reason a handful of top pilots still fly there is
because they can qualify to go to the World Championships. The day the
FAI Standard Class disappears is the day those guys (and Sarah) stop
showing up. It's the same reason many of them started showing up at
the Sports Class Nationals. I'm OK with that. Contrary to some of the
complaints about the top pilots "spoiling" the Sports Class for less-
experienced pilots, I WANT to fly against the top talent in our sport.
I learn more. I evaluate myself against the best. And, as a result, I
enjoy competition flying more, though I know any success I enjoy will
be uneven. I'm not trying to spark another discussion about Sport
Class but I do see some parallels here regarding viability and appeal.

Beyond my admitted self interest in insuring viable FAI classes where
I can fly (e.g., Montague and Parowan--my most likely venues--are both
out of reach this summer, being 4 days away), I'm glad to see this
proposal for what it says about recognizing the "real world" problems
facing competitive soaring, which have to do with money, time, and
life style. It's easy to get caught up in the quest for ever-
increasing performance--whether it's a new sailplane or a new vario-
flight computer--and in the "purity" of top-level competition. We can
forget that ours is a tiny sport that is difficult to learn and even
more difficult to afford. Soaring will never have mass appeal, but
this proposal will help make at least the Standard Class--of which
there are many great sailplanes in this country--a little more
attractive.

I do concede that this proposal opens the door for the Std. Class
being subsumed into the 15M class. I wouldn't have a big philosophical
problem with that. The performance differences are relatively small
and I like big contests with lots of good pilots. I think the
proliferation of classes over time has been marked by incremental
improvements for small numbers of pilots (often most able to afford a
new sailplane) but a gradually deteriorating economic outlook for the
sport overall: i.e., less stability, higher cost to compete in any
given class, smaller fields (read: less attractive to host a contest),
and lower attractiveness of contests to sponsors (see below).
Advocates of free enterprise would observe that contest organizers
have, for some years now, being doing commercially what we will likely
end up doing "officially" anyway: i.e., merging multiple classes of
national and regional contests to cover the substantial fixed costs
and achieve the necessary economies of scale.

On that subject, I'll throw in something no one else has mentioned. I
flew my first contest in 1968. I realize we live in a different world
now (duh!). When I was a kid, my family accompanied my father to his
contests--and had fun. There were always other kids and entertaining
stuff to do. The contests were big and well organized. My twin girls
benefited from some of the same things when they came along later
although in recent years the number of young people at a national
contest has dropped even more precipitously than the number of crews,
which in turn has shrunk even faster than the number of pilots. Going
to a nationals or big regionals just doesn't strike me as something
most pilots can pitch to their families as a vacation anymore. And
that's not a good thing. It just makes it more difficult for even a
dedicated contest pilot to justify taking off for several weeks for
the boondocks of America to indulge his desire to fly. I've done it
three ways: with my entire family (great fun when done right), solo
(fun but different), and the last time with one of my daughters (she
and I both had a great time despite miserable weather and some of my
worst flying ever). So I will say strongly that anything we can do to
make our sport appealing and accessible to any of the parties
involved, whether it's owners of not-quite-latest-technology
sailplanes or family members or contest sponsors, is a good thing.
Thanks, UH/QT/BB and the rest of the Committee for floating this idea.
It's an example of the kind of thinking we need.

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