The SSA-OLC

I am new to the R.A.S. and I am an aspiraring contest pilot who flys XC
every chance I get,but I have never persued a badge or a contest.I read
with some interest and amusement the thread about the OLC sunset
warning.This inspired me to look up all of the OLC information on the
SSA website.I also looked up the German OLC site.I had heard about OLC
in the past, and had a bit of a clue what it was about, But I never
thought about participating.In my state, we have a active Yahoo group
where pilots post flights during the season.This is not a contest, just
a way to report on the local happenings.I drew alot of insperation from
these flight reports on Yahoo, and I thought it would be of benefit to
some of the local pilots if I posted on OLC.What I found that was
interesting is that the German OLC website states that the OLC exists
for this purpose and to encorage more cross country flights, but the
SSA website made almost no mention of this.And judging by the gist of
most of the comments on the "Sunset" thread the SSA OLC is not for
educational purposes, but much more of a hard core contest.According to
pilots like Eric G and Paul M, the posting of "Look what I did" flights
is discouraged.So this begs the question that if a pilot is not out to
win, why even post a flight on the SSA-OLC? How did the SSA get a
monopoly on the OLC in the US, and why did they change its intent?
Another thing I found during my research on the SSA website was a memo
regarding FARs.It started out with "The SSA is not out to interpret or
enforce FARs" and yet it ends with a statement that the SSA will
partner with the FAA to go after any pilot who violates the regs.This
same kind of mentality is expressed on the "OLC Sunset Warning"
elsewhere on the site.Now let me state that I fly for a living, and I
have every motivation BOTH from a monitary standpoint and a safety
standpoint to follow the regs, but lets say my flight recorder does
something stupid and now I have the same outfit that I pay dues to
HELPING the FAA come after me?Bizarre
I have a backround as a check airman and safety inspector, and we
looked at rules violations from a standpoint of education and
prevention, not the punitive standpoint the SSA has.
So in conclusion, I was hoping the list members could field a couple of
questions, First, if a pilot were to post an ocasional short flight,
say 2 to 3 hundred miles about once a week, is he gonna get laughed at?
And two, is there a way to bypass the SSA-OLC (and forgo all the
politics and flaming), and just post to the OLC in Germany?
Thanks,
K. Urban