700 agl / 1 mile finish

On Friday, May 24, 2013 8:04:27 AM UTC-6, Evan Ludeman wrote:
Man, what a pain in the ass at Mifflin.



Returning on the back side of Jacks with weak ridge and no thermals, you leave the ridge at 1900-2000 because you *cannot* get higher and fly through a ton of sink (netto 4 - 6 kts down is common). The closest point of the ridge to the edge of the finish cylinder is 1.6 SM and the 700' agl finish is 1520. You'd probably prefer to cut the corner if energy allows, but that makes the distance more like 3 miles. Twice I was hanging on my flaps at 42 kts at what I guessed to be the edge of the cylinder (when the gps says 1.0 mile, you've generally finished several seconds earlier). Eyes on the panel, about 1530 feet, right in the GA traffic pattern (amazing how many GA pilots don't read Notams and show up at closed airports!). This is safer than an eyes out finish at lower altitude? I don't think so. I fly a '20. What's a Libelle pilot supposed to do in that situation? We never found out because none of the low performance guys had to try to make this work.



I don't have a problem with penalizing actual unsafe flying. However, we're now erring on the side of penalizing (severely) *potentially* unsafe flying. Two guys I know of (there may have been others) drew no speed points after hitting the cylinder below 1320 agl. In both cases the airport arrivals were reasonable energy and safe.



Evan Ludeman / T8

QT, John, the race should end when the pilot finishes. What the PIC does after that is he's responsibility. No CD should be ever be responsible for what any PIC does aboard his aircraft or to ensure that PIC has enough altitude to fly a "normal pattern".

Write rules to race by. Safety is everyone's wants and goal, BUT the PIC is the final authority as to the operation of his aircraft and the FAR's support that.

Keep it simply, finish altitude is determined by the CD. What the PIC does before or after he finishes is his responsibility to ensure he operates his aircraft according to the FAR's.

Any finish below the finish altitude receives distance only, no speed points. Stop this, well, we want to be good guy, and if you almost make it, will give you some speed points. Make it a "hard deck" rule. Remove the "hope I get a bump up" which can result in an unplanned or unwanted happening and require a "good judgement" approach to the finish.

Tom Kelley, #711.