US Competition Pilot Poll and Election

Hank,

Thanks for reminding us of the 2011 poll. I downloaded the comments to Section 6 over the weekend. Makes interesting reading. And you recall correctly, out of the very long list of people responded, there was only one person who cited The Rules as a major inhibitor. If I get time, I'll do some keyword mining, but you only have to read the comments quickly to find out that the main issues a

- Time off from work/family
- Distance to contests (see point 1)
- Comfort/skills
- Costs (a little different from what I uncovered but then again this poll would naturally have that "bias" since it's focused on people who ARE competing) Note that more focus was on Total Cost (including hotels and travel) rather than "just" the competition-specific costs (with a couple notable outliers)

There's an obvious trend here if we can address it. I've got some thoughts, but it clearly revolves around smaller but well-structured contests which leverage technology (remote scoring, quality of competition, etc.) to be able to create a new type of "regional". I really think that small competitions (maybe a single class limited to 15 pilots - combined FAI, Sports, etc.) which could be run on a "pop-up" basis when a period of good weather is coming could actually be doable by many clubs and FBOs. It would require "re-engineering" the entire process of running a contest, but if enough smart minds put their energy to it I'm sure it could be done. It's like the GTA and Chicagoland models but maybe taken up a small notch.


On Sunday, October 23, 2016 at 4:20:36 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sunday, October 23, 2016 at 2:35:21 PM UTC-4, Papa3 wrote:
Regarding the data. There were 580 people on the SSA Pilot Ranking List in the year that I did the survey. I got 66 responses. Depending on how you want to look at it, the respondents were either about an 11 percent sample or a 6 percent sample (about half of the people had competed in a sanctioned contest and half hadn't). By anyone's measure, that's a statistically significant survey.

If you want to have a facts-based discussion on the issue, then go ahead and design and execute a better survey.

And maybe use your real name - it makes it so much more transparent.

Erik Mann (P3)




The 2011 pilot poll asked about participation and barriers to participation in topic 6. I recall that the responses very much agreed with those shown in the P3 poll.
Time and money mentioned a lot. Rules and tasks- not much.
I agree with P3- it is good to know who you are exchanging views with. An experienced competition pilot or somebody that rode in the sniffer once?
UH

On Monday, October 24, 2016 at 11:42:54 AM UTC-4, Papa3 wrote:
Hank,

Thanks for reminding us of the 2011 poll.

Link to the poll for those who are interested in doing their own analysis/homework.

http://www.ssa.org/files/member/2011...esults%203.pdf

On the time and format issue, several national contest lately have been set up to start on a weekend and finish on the next weekend.

Unless you are local to the site, that makes the contest effect THREE work weeks, which is a no go for me, and probably many others.

I finally have a glider that is competitive in handicapped classes, sports, would have been in the Club, but the latest change to that class limits span to 15 meters.

The format that has been used successfully by the 1-26 Association for the Championships for many years has started with practice on Mon and Tues with the contest beginning on Wed. That leaves time for travel on both ends so you do not turn a National into a Regional contest. I would strongly urge this type of format for any contest that is not a regional.

Kevin
92

On Tuesday, October 4, 2016 at 11:51:38 PM UTC-4, Sean wrote:
I have been saying that the opinion poll is often designed to "steer" its readers towards particular responses for years now.

But, I have another, broader question.

Why do we mindlessly waste our time every year squabbling about US rules and opinion polls when we could simply "put the US rules out to pasture" and rejoin the international FAI system? Why is it "religion" that we continue forward with US rules? Why are US rules so important? Should we at least be considering FAI? At least asking the opinion of all our US contest pilots?

Of course, using US rules requires us to also develop and maintain our own custom scoring software tools? The truth is that Winscore is barely supportable. If our single developer, for whatever reason, suddenly quits supporting it we are in deep trouble. Winscore is a hard program to learn and few can use it effectively.

One the other hand, a proven international soaring rule system, called FAI, exists. The FAI rule system is used by most countries and the vast majority of total soaring contest worldwide, including the WGC, use the FAI rules. By leaving US rules behind (out there somewhere, happily eating fresh grass in a lovely pasture) we would save ourselves tremendous amounts of mind-numbing debate, significant volunteer effort (rules committee) and simultaneously rejoin the world soaring community in a common, familiar and effective soaring rule system (and ranking system).

So, what is the TRUE, measured value of carrying on with our own custom "US only" soaring rule system?

What advantage do we "enjoy?" because we have our own unique rule system? What is the "return on investment" vs. the "cost" of further supporting US rules (and being isolated)?

Measurements. Do the US rules result in increased contest participation in the USA vs. other nations which use FAI? Easier contest administration? Increased safety? Better racing? Improved competition skills development? How about US international competitiveness? Junior interest? I don't see any of those measures showing any measurable improvement for the USA. In fact, relative to Europe , US soaring has fallen well behind in many of those measurements when compared to FAI countries since the US changed to US rules? Have they not? Who can prove me wrong? Data? Where are we better off?

Again, what is the TRUE value in maintaining our own unique US soaring competition rules? Why are we the only country that has its own unique rules? Why is the question of adopting FAI never part of the US rules committee's discussions (or our comedy relief opinion poll) or just in regular, broader discussions?

Are the US RC members expected to be open-minded and creative thinkers looking for the best general direction or are they US rule "church" arbiters dedicated only to the continuation of the US rules (and destroyers of any other ideas)?

What measured facts make carrying on with US Rules so critical? What would the result of a return to FAI be (the same rules used by all other soaring countries)? These are simple, basic, sensible and fundamental questions that, in my opinion, should be asked regularly by the SSA in general. Yet they NEVER are asked, formally or informally.

Is this discussion blasphemy? If so, why is that blasphemy?

Wouldn't the effort spent supporting the US rules committee be better spent on other SSA priorities? Surely we have more critical objectives? Hard things like finding ways to get more families, children and youth pilots interested in soaring. Or like youth soaring competition development. Or growing contest participation. Etc.

And yes, the question on Flarm is fairly obvious.

But more important that predictable stuff, the US rules, and its annual opinion poll have become a big yawn. As if this yearly tuning exercise is going to yield a big break-thru. What is the goal of all this US rules drudgery? What do we expect to happen? A sudden turn around in participation? Not likely. We need some big thinkers. We need some new ideas. At least we need some different voices at the table. It's getting really old.

To that point, both Michael Westbrook and I (both current US team members and both significantly younger than the average US RC member) had our US RC nominations "thrown out" by our "wise and powerful" regional directors. We were therefore not included on the current US RC election ballot. Non "good old boys" need not apply I guess...

Once again, watching the US rules "fanboys" react to my question about measured value reminds me of the feeling one has while watching a D-list horror movie. You sit there knowing what is coming well before the "it" happens. Then the music changes slightly, and you already know what is going to happen. Like Jaws. The first notes. Pause, then a few more. And so on. With the US rules, we can all tell what is "coming" simply by glancing at the first few questions in the now infamous "opinion poll." Or better yet by what RC election nominations the regional directors choose to "reject." Despite all this, for some unknown reason, most of you still sit there and watch the scene play out. All the while thinking to ourselves, how can the person on the screen be so blind. Then, once the "horror" has occurred, we find yourself shaking your head and wondering, why did I waste my time yet again?

But there are still some good reasons to keep pressing ahead with my simple question. It is clear that the US rule "fanboys" are uncomfortable with engaging in a direct answering to my question. Well, they should be uncomfortable. We all should have been thinking about value from the moment the US rules experiment began. I believe that our RC "holy men" never actually thought about value and that that was/is a massive fiduciary failure.

Again, my question is simple. "What measured value justifies the SSA continuing to use our custom US soaring rules vs. FAI which is used happily, safely and successfully worldwide?"

I look forward to a well thought out list.

Not a one of the key fanboys has addressed my question directly and shown any real value. Probably because they simply have no meaningful response. My question has probably caught them off guard. I find that shameful and telling. Justification of the US rules should be a slam dunk for all of you.. An immediate, ready to go, canned response that demonstrates value, why we are using US rules and why we plan to continue. That should be front and center on the SSA website too. Here is why we use our custom soaring competition rules in the USA and reject FAI. A, B, C, D, E, F.... Of course, this content is simply not there.

The truth is that they would be firing data points out as if it came out of a cannon if they had any to give. I'll bet a mini "think tank" has been commissioned to try and respond. Unfortunately, they seem to have ZERO MEASURED DATA to justify long-held positions about US rule value. Or worse, they really could care less about measuring value at all. This lack of engagement on the measured value data question (after weeks of my repeatedly asking the same simple question) proves my point, abundantly well.

I believe that the real problem is that the "US rules experiment" was that is was never evaluated as a temporary test. It simply was what we "do now." Dont ask questions, just get in line. The US rules have, in my opinion, instead become a fiercely defended religion by the circle of good old boys.. They are intolerant of challenges to their divinity and become almost angry at even the suggestion of FAI or an assigned task. US soaring competition is their property. We are just guests. We should feel lucky to be here. How dare you question us! We have been doing this for 40 years. Blah, blah, blah... "Look how stupid this is about FAI." "Look how stupid that is about FAI."

By any form of objective value measurement, the US rules have proven themselves to be a failure. Years of operation under the US rules experiment have provided us no measurable upside other than 1) being very different than FAI and 2) having OLC like tasking as it's most notable feature. We have plenty of data on the US rules effect on our sport. Down! If there were any demonstrable upside to the US rules, it would be readily apparent. What we know, for a fact, is that maintaining the US rules costs us significant time, energy, money (paying for the maintenance of winscore) and "general frustration" while simultaneously completely isolating us all (Americans and Canadian competition pilots) from the world soaring community and FAI competition standards. The USA has become the oddball of the soaring world. The only country to maintain experimental soaring rules and a soaring nation in significant decline. A country that has created a new "non-racing" sailplane competition culture (and is proud of it!).

I should note that if the FAI suddenly adopted US rules, I would be slightly (slightly, or barely) happier (but still entirely unsatisfied with the US tasking). At least we would be back on the same page with other soaring nations and friends. We could use the same ranking list, scoring software, etc. At least we would be part of the international sailplane competition community and could rest in the knowledge that we are competing in the same sport as 95% of the soaring world. But the reality is the US soaring competition is now highly, highly watered down. FAI is NOT going to adopt US rules because US tasking has morphed into something which borders on ridiculous from a competition perspective. A supposed "racing sport" that includes exactly zero racing, whatsoever.

The SSA homepage main navigation has a prominent section (ironically) titled SAILPLANE RACING. Beneath that in the sub navigation is:
-Racing Calendar
-etc., etc.

Or there is this from the first section of SAILPLANE RACING called ABOUT CONTESTS:

"RACING SAILPLANES RULE

Racing sailplanes are the most efficient flying machines ever designed by man. Computer engineered laminar flow airfoils and cantilevered composite-fiber wings carry pilot and craft at freeway and faster speeds, bending the air so precisely that altitude is traded for distance at extraordinary rates.. A modern racing sailplane converts one foot of altitude into fifty feet of forward progress, a slope barely detectible by human senses."

The definition of word "race" (Google):
race
noun
1.
a competition between runners, horses, vehicles, boats, {gliders}, etc., to see which is the fastest in covering a SET COURSE.
"I won the first 50-lap race"
synonyms: contest, competition, event, heat, trial(s)
"Sasha won the race"

In other words, there is absolutely no glider racing in US glider contests today! Zero. Pathetic.

It is a fact that our US competitions today are almost entirely made up of OLC theme 'tasks." Even at our National Championships. The Canadian national championship (this fall, for example) ran exactly zero (Z-E-R-O, aka none) assigned tasks. They even tried to call a one turn MAT (aka HAT) task on the final day (in horrible weather) to decide its champion after a close fought week of soaring held in legendary conditions. Thankfully, the one turn HAT task was impossible to begin and the day was called due to poor weather.

Check it here to see for yourself: http://nationals.yorksoaring.com

Not a single assigned area task was called in the Canadian Nationals (FAI 15/18 m class or Club) despite exceptional soaring conditions for seven days in a row. Speeds of 100 kph were logged nearly every competition day in 15/18 and 80 kph in Club. Despite these epic conditions (often faster than in Uvalde, held over the same week), only a long list of wide radius, turn area tasks were called. Just awful. A symbol of what the US tasking philosophy has done to the lost sport of sailplane racing in North America.

In fact, US rules have resulted in over 97% timed tasks over recent years. And that number is steadily expanding towards 100%. Assigned tasks (even the perverted variable distance US version) are virtually extinct in North America. Almost everything about US rules is different from FAI rules, not just the tasking philosophy. See: finish penalties, starting procedures, etc. The SSA and its "leaders" have created an entirely different sport which should be called "NOT RACING."

OLC is glider "racing?" Give me a break. Nothing about OLC, MAT's, HATS or even TAT's is racing. Some parts of US rules make sense, but the cost of being so different from the world glider racing community is far higher that a few minor improvements in a sea of watered down crud. For what measured value do we pay the price of being the isolated oddball with nearly 100% OLC weather guess tasking and ZERO RACING WHATSOEVER?

None. Zero value. The impact of US rules appears to be quite strongly negative on US soaring competition in fact. I, for one, want to participate in the same sport as the rest of the world. I, for one, have had enough with the "mad scientist experimentation" of the current "leadership." Enough!

What we see here on RAS in this thread, especially from our US rules clergymen, instead of straight objective answers regarding measured value, is panic fire and personal attacks for even suggesting US rules are perhaps not making the grade. We get sermons and lectures about how US rules aren't the real reason for our sports slow, steady decline. The subject (measured value of US rules vs. FAI) is immediately changed, bounced around, with plenty of personal insults added in for good measure, with general flailing, spirited frothing and so on.

How dare you Sean question our "divine" rules system? You have only been competing for five years. We have been doing this for 40 years. How dare you question us. Oh, and you're not on the ballot this year US team kids, but good luck next year (wink, wink). Oh, and this has nothing to do with the fact that you are open to FAI rules and openly dislike US tasking (and support established or regulatory new technologies as inevitable). It really is impressive at times to watch how these guys play their political game.

Additionally, the standard excuses for US contest soaring's decline are offered as a justification for not considering FAI and staying the failed US rules course. All points suggesting that FAI rules have value or merit are shouted down. Keep in mind that the only question I have ever really asked here has been consistently ignored by the "architects" of the US rules.

Excuses such as:
-declining contest numbers are not the US rules or US tasking philosophy's fault
-available vacation time is the problem (disregard the fact that US tasking isn't much different than staying home and flying OLC, so why bother to travel to a US contest?)
-expendable income and money
-societal decay such as kids preferring to play on mobile devices all day and not valuing outdoor activity
-the aging US demographic doesn't want to risk any land-outs
-the slow death for US soaring is inevitable
- why end the US rules experiment if we can't endure the "stress" of change
-our biased poll said this or that, etc. (interpretation of the poll)

Really? These tired excuses are what you're going with? Still?

I'll take on one popular standard excuse. Money. I simply don't buy that gliding is too expensive. The truth is that a very nice sailplane costs far less than most small pleasure boats. Hell, many gliders cost less than the average pontoon boat. Gliders also hold most of their value, even after very long term ownership. Gliding clubs are relatively cheap, and several pilots can easily share ownership of a sailplane if the demand was there. The fact is that individuals and families buy the "toys" they want most. They invest in activities that are most highly valued. I reject the argument that gliders or gliding is "too expensive." What does that statement really mean? ATV's, campers, boats, snowmobiles, and yoga classes are too expensive depending on how you value them. So are golf clubs, country clubs, swim clubs, yacht clubs or taking regular vacations. Too expensive vs. what exactly? Too expensive is simply a human beings measure of value vs. other options. 99% of businesses would be out of business in less than a year if they accepted the statement "you are too expensive" from their customers in regards to their product or service. Successful business's carefully build, grow and nurture the perception of their products value in the minds of your clients. This is often referred to as....drum roll.....marketing.. Ta da!

Academics and uppity types usually underestimate and undervalue the importance of marketing. Many viable businesses and service organizations fail quickly because they fail to prioritize marketing highly enough. Marketing is where the real value is created and converted into success. And we have very little marketing, of any measurable sort, in the SSA. Soaring is essentially our brand. Brands must be continuously invested in and maintained. Few seem to really know what the SSA is, what value it can provide them. Few know what the sport of gliding is in the United States. We rarely have press releases. We rarely have any media attention. No wonder we are where we are.

Back to money. People don't think gliders are too expensive. They do not perceive the value of gliding "well" at this time. Why should they? Look at the SSA website. It needs a total replacement and more importantly a new set of governing goals and objectives. Leadership. Look at the SSA's youtube channel. Look at our social media content, in general. We need some strategy there. Just sharing content is not going to provide value. Are we focused on existing members or attracting new members? At best, our social media content is "not very exciting" and it clearly doesn't focus on clearly defined objectives.

Any potential net new SSA "customers" will carefully choose what purchases to make and what personal recreation investments will provide the most value to them. Youth are looking for what is cool. What are their friends doing. 20s-and 30s for making friends and meeting people. 40's for family activities. And so on. These decisions on how to spend time, on what is cool are often made online today. We need to leave the 90's behind and enter the year 2016 To survive; the SSA must become laser focused and efficient at attracting net new people into the sport of soaring via well-planned marketing on its online channels. We are simply awful at this today. What we do today doesn't yet qualify as measurable. I avoid the SSA website because it makes me ill. I would suggest that it loses us more members than it attracts. Same with our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (very important) and Instagram. What the hell are we doing?

Look at this....https://www.ushpa.org

Now look at this...https://www.ssa.org

Any questions?

Marketing and building the soaring brand takes strategic planning and iteration. It takes bright people. It requires sensible financial investment. We cannot resign ourselves to continuous decline and inevitable failure any longer. The SSA website and social channels are not, OK. It is unacceptable. We must focus on re-booting the way the sport of gliding is perceived by the general public (people outside of flying or gliding today). We must focus on attracting and retaining youth members like our very lives depend on it (because when it comes to the SSA, it does depend on it). In 10 years, 50% of the SSA membership will be significantly less active, or no longer active. Shame on everyone here for not recognizing this 15 years ago.

Growth and markering the sport of soaring is where the wasted efforts of the US Rules Committee volunteers would be far better spent, in my opinion. We need "all hands on deck," focused on growth, youth and improving our marketing effectiveness (that is to "begin" to market our brand). Not down below deck endlessly tinkering with failed, valueless custom rules that we do not need to survive.

The problem is that the sport of soaring competition (in the US) has become "less important" to people in general when compared to other, equally expensive, time-consuming activities. The value people assign contest has declined dramatically (and continues to fall). It this NOTHING to do with the cost of a glider or of renting or a club. The value perception of contest soaring needs to be seriously addressed. I see many who complain about contest "cost" but have plenty of money to spend on other choices.

In soaring, right now, you can buy a great club/sports class glider for 25k.. For 50-60k you can buy a Lak17a which is very competitive in 15/18. It is not the money. Bottom line, we need the sport of soaring (racing vs. OLC) to become more valued. It's that simple.

Back to tasking and US rules. I strongly believe that the next generation of people who might have the capacity (affluent, smart, competitive, adventurous) to become seriously interested in sailplane competition are not going to be excited about the idea of spending a week flying around alone playing weather guessing games (then waiting 3 hours to see results). To most that is a game, not a racing sport. I think they will, like me, want to go racing. A love of racing is common in all cultures, worldwide. We need a change in how the sport is presented in the USA (difficult to explain or learn vs. simple racing). This might just start to attract some actual new people to our sport again. What do we have to lose?

If soaring competition is more attractive to more people, than more people will buy gliders and participate in contests. Simple. OLC style contests do not justify much in the way of a competition glider investment. Mainly, the vast majority of the pilots in those classes here in the USA have been flying gliders for 20-30 years. OLC was actually developed specifically for creating an even lower common denominator regarding required structural requirements vs. contests (require CM, CD, scorer, retrieve office, Winscore, certified loggers, special firmware for instruments, etc., etc.). That is all fine and good, but the fatal mistake our "leadership" has made was to confuse OLC with real gliding competition or contests. OLC is, at best, a feeder activity to real glider competition. What the US RC "geniuses" have done is panic and change US contests to replicate OLC. OLC is simple should be 5x bigger than contests. Hell, 10x. That's great. But OLC leaves a great deal to be desired in terms of objective competition that would attract youth pilots to a real sport. We could use more of both OLC and Contests last I checked. People out flying is great. But please don't think that you can or should change contest soaring into OLC. This is destroying the sport of soaring in the USA. It already has done significant damage. This is a fatal mistake.

The US response to OLC has been to expand the pilot option aspects of TAT and MAT/HAT tasking. 30-mile radius turn areas are common. Even on days with good weather. One turn MAT tasks are called at National Championships as critical contest deciding tasks. This is CDs and task committee's doing "what they are" comfortable with becuase they have no guidance or leadership in the rules (like FAI does). The US RC architects simply shrug their shoulders and say, don't look at me, its the CD's decision. Amazing. Utter failure.

This is the SSA in pure survival mode, desperately reacting to slowly dropping contest attendance. It's like lowering your products price as the only solution to slow sales. It is very hard to sustain. This now results in OLC tasking at the US and Canadian Nationals competitions. The strategy seems to be "keep lowering and lowering the bar." Well, now the bar is at about 6 inches. People dont even have to step over it anymore. Why even bother traveling to US contests to fly OLC? No crew, fine. We will call tiny 2 hour TAT or HAT tasks close to the airport. And so on. Have you ever considered that this "lowering the bar" strategy makes contest participation less attractive for many? What a bore.

Where does the SSA "lower the bar" tasking and rules strategy end? I say we need to raise the bar back up. Quality matters. Contests cannot be for everyone. Quality means more real glider racing and less OLC, pilot option, timed task, HAT task, self-serve crap. I believe contest pilots want a true challenge to aspire too. Contests should not be something that you are ready for two months after getting your license. It should be hard. Rewarding. Memorable. They should produce better glider pilots. The contest should be something that you have to learn how to do. Contests should not be just a slight formalization of what you already do when flying around at home (OLC). Oh, and by the way, what I am suggesting is essentially the same thing that is done at FAI contests around the world. Assigned tasking. TAT on days with weather concerns. Balance.

When I truly started gliding, I invested in a pure class (15/18). Sure, it wasn't cheap. But I learned relatively fast because I was flying a glider with the same performance as my far more experienced mentors. This was enormously valuable. We only flew to turnpoints, like an assigned task. I always worked hard to make the turnpoints by the way although some would turn when it got challenging. If I began soaring at an airport with mainly Libelles and only one Lake17a, I would have bought the Libelle. A no brainer.. What justifies buying a competition glider (or sailboat, or mountain bike, etc) and investing in a participating in a competition lifestyle (for me at least). A form of competition that is consistent, well run, objective, fair, comprehensive and most importantly, FUN! Delightful! Both socially and, of course, in the air. Head to head flying (racing) actually means something. This meaning, this objectivity, this excitement, this passion has been all but destroyed in the US. I honestly had more fun flying at home with the Ionia 18 meter gang. Most US contests I spend the majority of the task entirely alone managing my computer to make time/distance/weather estimation decisions. US contests are getting very boring for me (and others I suspect) because the tasks are no longer races. They are all weather guessing, strategy, chance tasks. I would be fine with 50% of this kind of tasking to manage weather concerns. But 97% OLC is ridiculous. Why bother? Furthermore, US contest scores take ages to get back each evening (not the fault of the scorer, but of our whole US direction). This time delay is even with a great scorer.

At least with an assigned task you have some idea of the result. Some satisfaction. Again, what we have today in the USA is 97% "go fly around for 2-3 hours and tell me how many miles you managed to make" and then "wait 3 more hours for me to tell you how you scored" culture. Is this really what you all want your sport to be about? Is that even a sport? I say no. That is more like a very expensive game of strategy/chance/guess (this assumed racing tasks require no strategy, which is of course entirely ridiculous)? Custom US rules, their OLC tasks and our custom scoring software and complete isolation from the soaring world. Mind numbing boring tasks. This is the total of the value that US rules provides us today.

Most of the excuses (posts above) for US contest soarings struggles are side effects of many years of blindly following the SSA's chosen path of TOTAL ISOLATION from the world soaring community. Soaring in the USA is now OLC.. Plain and simple. You can do OLC at home by yourself. An even more subjective OLC task type has recently been seriously (last couple years, I'm sure its still on the table) discussed by a US RC. In contrast, soaring competitions in the FAI environment (rest of the world) is about racing assigned tasks whenever possible. TAT's are called on poor weather days. Period.. The way it should be.

We have been led down this path by emotionally charged, closed minded, narrowly focused and perhaps arrogant leadership who truly think they know better than the rest of the world. I respect that in many ways (;-)) but eventually some positive performance metrics must be shown.

Timed, pilot choice gliding "competition" is a losing growth strategy.

Once upon a time, the US rules founders said: "follow us to the promise land!" FAI no more. US rules will be a great improvement. "We must pass the bill so you can see what is in it..." And you bought it. Hook, line and sinker. Well, here we are, a couple decades later, and it is clear that the US rules have failed to deliver measured value. Unless you somehow consider OLC US contests and falling turnout to be a strong success indicator?

Even though there is no measured value justifying a different rule system, they still want you to follow them up the mountain chanting:
-US rules are great!
-MATs (aka HATs) are great! "True tests of skill [sic]."
-Timed, pilot option tasks or death.
-Assigned tasks are evil. You'll land out (knock your eye out) kid!
-New technology is evil and must be destroyed so the old guys are happy.
-"Flarm is used only for leeching," confess and be saved!
- FAI is evil. The countryside is littered with dead European pilots trying to finish to low!

People! Stop drinking this Kool-AID that the SSA US rules clergy are feeding you. This is all BS.

If I am wrong, shouldn't US rules have clearly resulted in:
-more and better contests
-stronger growth vs. FAI rules counties
-better safety statistics
-happier more enthusiastic pilots all bushy tailed and excited to fly the superior US tasks?
-Shouldn't we have far better competition pilots than the rest of the world who fly those "ridiculous" assigned tasks 50-70% of the time?
-And therefore dominant performances at major international competitions?

You know, the FAI assingned tasks which result in all kinds of gliders landing out "all the time!" You know, since our US tasking is so progressive and superior.

You know, the US OLC/HAT tasks which train our pilot's to use their "creative thinking" and "weather knowledge" (WABOFBS). Allowing our superior US pilots to "use the day?"

We have no tasks in the USA which allow for a simple, fixed race track, ever. All (literally all) US tasks have some element of pilot option and/or are timed, pilot option tasks. Think about that for a moment.

These tasks must really train our US pilots to "use the weather" better than those fools who race around set assigned tasks? Our pilots should be far better at following the pretty clouds, should they not? How is it that we can ever lose in International competition again? How is it that we do not have waiting lists at our regional contests again? This has to be one of the most ridiculous arguments that I have ever heard.

Of course none of the "value" above is true. Not a single element.

We can go on...

How about the explosive youth participation the US rules are driving for us at all levels? The exciting social environment for pilots of all ages (not just Seniors)? You know. The Junior Nationals, Women's Nationals. Junior and Women classes at all of our regional and national contests? The huge youth training camps (See Europe, Austalia, Britain) our US tasking now allows us to have because FAI rules are too dangerous? (Again, WABOFBS). Utter crap. Kool-aid overdose. Shouldn't all the superior US tasks (rules) have allowed us to really grow soaring competition at a higher rate than FAI rules?

The truth is that the traveling US rules circus has resulted in zero measured value after many, many years of trying. ZERO. Negative in fact. By any measure. If I am wrong, show me how.

The time has come to try something sensible, proven and most importantly, dramatically DIFFERENT. Look, over there... (pointing at Europe and the FAI flag planted at the soaring headquarters of all European soaring nations).....it's the FAI rules! All ready to go. Waiting for us to simply pick them up and use them. But for some, the US rules have become a religion (Science vs. Creationism), and some are clearly starting to become a little radicalized. They are "clinging" to the US rulebook. They are only supporting the continuation of US rules. Any other path is blasphemy and must be attacked as utter heresy.

You guys wonder why so few bother to vote or fill out the rules pole? That's your biggest problem right there. I suggest that many of us simply don't want to participate it YOUR US rules CIRCUS anymore. It is ridiculous. It doesn't matter. The good old boys are going to do whatever they choose. They are going to "get the Flarms." They are going to kill assigned tasks and install OLC tasks. Many, many US pilots have either already checked out or are getting close to moving on. The US rules are clearly a waste of time and resources. A pure power trip for some of the most radical. US tasks are simply not fun. Many of us are tired of this endless political churn with literally NO positive measured value to show for it.

What we are reading here, in the thread responses above this one, are desperate arguments saying that we need to keep doing the things we have been doing and work on the "other problems." Those excuses are harder to quantify.. FAI rules would immediately stabilize rules and open up our volunteer resources dramatically. We would also be on the same rules and ranking platform as the rest of the soaring world. We would also no longer need to spend the time, money and effort on supporting our own custom scoring application.

I rest my case. We all know these boys are hunkered down and not going to change.

Isn't it way past time to get some "different thinkers" at the helm here. At least on the bridge. Nope. They chose to block the nominations of the only two younger pilots (both current US team pilots) for example. What a joke.

Again, US rules clergy, please answer my simple question. What value does all the effort required to maintain the US rules provide us? How is our sport in the US better because of your endless, ongoing crusades? Why not utilize the FAI rule system and move on? It's time.

If you can't easily prove the value of US rules, if you cannot quantify the value, you are simply not being honest with yourself.

Why are the racing committee pilots who post on this forum on a regular basis refusing to comment or answer these questions?

These guys will answer easy questions on this forum about winglets, tow hitches, flarm to you name it! But when it comes to the tough questions about the demise in our sport.....TOTAL SILENCE!!

holy cow - I am too new to contests to comment on such complicated subjects. (Not enough skin in the game yet)

BUT - that was the longest post I have ever seen - 5,133 words, remarkable - The Declaration of Independence is 1,317. It may not be silence - it may be slow readers


WH

Maybe because it doesn't take an hour and a half to read the "wordy"
questions...? Keep it simple, Wilbur, and without so many silly
accusations and you might get more and better responses.

On 10/26/2016 7:29 AM, wrote:
Why are the racing committee pilots who post on this forum on a regular basis refusing to comment or answer these questions?

These guys will answer easy questions on this forum about winglets, tow hitches, flarm to you name it! But when it comes to the tough questions about the demise in our sport.....TOTAL SILENCE!!


--
Dan, 5J

OK, I'll bit first.

On the subject of US rules versus FAI rules, my vote is for switching over to FAI rules in the US and Canada.

Heck, the only reason Canadian nationals are flown by US rules is to make it easier for Canadians when they compete in the US contests. By the same token, it would be easier for the US and Canadian pilots to compete in international contests if the US and Canadian comps were flown under the FAI rules.

On the subject of challenging the old boys club who are protecting their turf, good luck with that one Sean. It's doable, but be prepared for a very long battle. Remember the adage "old attitudes change one funeral at a time"..

As for the tone of your posts: I understand your frustration, but ridiculing those whose opinions you are trying to change ain't helping. Just my 2 cents.

Branko Stojkovic
XYU

Dan, didn't you know that "tonnage" and shouting at the top of your voice ALWAYS wins? ;-)
Craig

I am a 30+ year SSA member and have never raced in competition. Time and family. Helped dad at one National in Elmira and several Regionals in the early years. He got out because of time and money. I helped Sean at one R6 competition. I did not measure anything there. I was just glad to help my soaring comrades run a competition.

Now looking at this from a broader perspective, it looks like this is not just a "Rule A or B" argument. Sean's arguments are going way beyond that. Having been slapped down by the Region Director, it sounds like that really hurt.

It sounds to me Sean like you need to go to the SSA member base, convince them of your arguments and get your POV into the SSA governing structure that way. That is of course if you still believe in the SSA as being the best organization to change this through. From what I understand it is the Region members that vote their Region Directors into office.

Most SSA members do not read the RAC I believe. It is going to take much more then needling people in this thread to get your POV across.

And your arguments really need to be positive. Look at it from a plain SSA member perspective and answer their questions "What's in it for me?" and "Why should I...?" If you cannot do that, it will be very, very difficult to convince most people.