SSA 2018 Rules Finish Penalty

On Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 4:48:54 PM UTC-5, jfitch wrote:
On Monday, January 1, 2018 at 8:00:28 PM UTC-8, John Cochrane wrote:
This is simply not true. Crashes are not inevitable. When there is a huge points advantage to clearing the fence by 10 feet and plopping it down for a rolling finish, people will do it. The crash results prove it. The high finishes have essentially cured the longstanding problems. Be clear: the issue is not low high speed finishes. The issue is the possibility, and hence the competitive necessity, to accept Mc 0 + 10 feet final glides, and the consequent last minute 1-2 mile out landings, or last minute low energy maneuvering at the airport. If the rules allow it, and you don't do it, you will lose contests.

BTW, I finished 250 feet low at Uvalde, it largely cost me the contest, and I'm not complaining. Yes it was a safe approach to the airport. But I did not make the task.

John Cochrane

I agree with John. If you cannot with reasonably certainty nail a 1000 ft high finish line to avoid a penalty, by the same logic you cannot with reasonably certainty nail a rolling finish to avoid death. The flying skills required in either case are identical - only the consequences are different. To assert otherwise is completely illogical. In fact, allowing low finishes replaces skill with risk taking as the major competitive advantage in final glides. The idea that "airmanship" or "experience" are the difference is specious: accepting a lot of risk and finding a little luck will put you on the podium ahead of someone whose greater experience informs him that it is not worth the risk. A high finish removes the risk and makes only experience and skill count.

The attitude of many here seems to be that soaring is inherently a risky sport, so don't bother with making it less so. I can tell you that where I fly, the most often mentioned reason among fellow pilots for not flying contests is that it is too risky - competition rewards risk and to be competitive they would need to fly with higher risk of a crash than they would otherwise. For those who want glider competition to just be about who will take the greatest risk, there are many other sports that offer that attraction.

John, no one is talking about removing the penalty. Bob is simply saying that the penalty is too harsh. Arriving at 400 feet agl with 100 pts penalty would still send a strong message not to do it. Why does it need to be 400 pts? The 400 feet agl is a lot of altitude, so it is less about safety and more about punishment, very discouraging when a day ends early.

I personally never take final glide risks, once however even with plenty of altitude to spare I came close to getting a small penalty. Even if you do everything right and have spare altitude things can happen.

Knowing I could reach an airport at 400 feet is better than looking for a thermal at 800 feet 3 miles out, sometimes over unlandable terrain, not to mention in the path of many incoming gliders. Yes I have seen it myself.

Again small penalty is also discouraging and probably sufficient.