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Attention US Standard Class Pilots
I think we are caught between a rock and hard place regarding participation in the Standard Class Nationals. I personally don’t want to open it up with a handicap system, but practicality needs to be addressed. I am modestly in favor of it because I don’t want to see the STD Class Nats disappear..
The competition pilot pool is relatively stagnate (and aging). Prior comments on traveling to competition sites, vacation limitations, family situations have already been addressed. Younger people just don’t have the same interest in aviation that we did. They are involved in other fun things to do. Fewer are becoming glider pilots and only a small percentage will become competition pilots. The reality is, competition pilots in the US have moved to higher performance ships. Not withstanding a handful of top US pilots who remained in STD, the bulk of the elite and upper tier competition pilots have migrated to 15 M years ago. Now, we see these pilots moving to 18 meter. Many are equipped with the ASG 29, which can allow huge flexibility on which contest to enter (Sports, 15M, 18M, and Open). A quick FAA inquiry shows a 2 to 1 ratio of Ventus 2's and ASW 27/ASG29's to LS8's and Discus 2's. New Discus 2's or LS8's entering this country are almost at a standstill. With most of the competition pilots favoring 15M or higher performance gliders, the pilot pool for STD class is dwindling fast. Then, to exacerbate the problem, we have overlapping competitions dates that eliminate some potential STD entries. What is the long term answer? I really don’t know. I suspect anything will be a band-aid. Perhaps handicap the Standard Class. Have more contests in the middle of the US for easier access to pilots. How about specific sites for competitions? No overlapping dates. For example, Sports Class at Parowan, STD at Hobbs, Open at Uvalde, etc. Easier said than done. This may, I say may, increase participation, but it has a host of inherent problems. I fear this downward spiral won’t end anytime soon. |
#2
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Attention US Standard Class Pilots
On Feb 11, 6:41*pm, wrote:
I think we are caught between a rock and hard place regarding participation in the Standard Class Nationals. I personally don’t want to open it up with a handicap system, but practicality needs to be addressed. I am modestly in favor of it because I don’t want to see the STD Class Nats disappear. The competition pilot pool is relatively stagnate (and aging). Prior comments on traveling to competition sites, vacation limitations, family situations have already been addressed. Younger people just don’t have the same interest in aviation that we did. They are involved in other fun things to do. Fewer are becoming glider pilots and only a small percentage will become competition pilots. The reality is, competition pilots in the US have moved to higher performance ships. Not withstanding a handful of top US pilots who remained in STD, the bulk of the elite and upper tier competition pilots have migrated to 15 M years ago. Now, we see these pilots moving to 18 meter. Many are equipped with the ASG 29, which can allow huge flexibility on which contest to enter (Sports, 15M, 18M, and Open). A quick FAA inquiry shows a 2 to 1 ratio of Ventus 2's and ASW 27/ASG29's to LS8's and Discus 2's. New Discus 2's or LS8's entering this country are almost at a standstill. With most of the competition pilots favoring 15M or higher performance gliders, the pilot pool for STD class is dwindling fast. Then, to exacerbate the problem, we have overlapping competitions dates that eliminate some potential STD entries. What is the long term answer? I really don’t know. I suspect anything will be a band-aid. Perhaps handicap the Standard Class. Have more contests in the middle of the US for easier access to pilots. How about specific sites for competitions? No overlapping dates. For example, Sports Class at Parowan, STD at Hobbs, Open at Uvalde, etc. Easier said than done. This may, I say may, increase participation, but it has a host of inherent problems. I fear this downward spiral won’t end anytime soon. I think another reason for declining participation in sailplane racing is OLC. It does fulfill the competition demon somewhat-cheaply at home. |
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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. |
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Attention US Standard Class Pilots
Chip - This is _slightly_ off-topic; but I'd also like to point out
that Contests themselves have changed since 1968, too! Tasking is different, rest days are different, and site selection is different (from what this young pup can tell - it seems we've skewed more and more towards holding contests only at sites that maximize strong weather and the most flyable days). These all have an effect on the contest experience, both for the pilot _and_ for the family. Fewer rest-days and fewer sites (with hotter weather and/or less-convenient locations) could explain some of the decrease in appeal for a family vacation. And, as you pointed out, the world is a different place. While there are still some families and organizations that promote camping and travel-by-car, the bottom-line is that there are more distractions and more items competing for our attention (at all age levels). Mike - This is also a bit off-topic; but I have to disagree. I think some people who've never flown in a contest *think* that the OLC is a good substitute; but anyone who's done both knows that there is vastly different strategy involved and a totally different approach. The key, IMHO, is to find a good way to showcase those differences to the general SSA membership (or at least the XC pilots out there). It will always be a niche-thing; but there are plenty of pilots who'd enjoy the closer camaraderie and more-intense (or at least more-tense) challenging flying that contest tasks provide, in a concentrated form (i.e. flying tasks several days in a row and letting that be the focus of your consciousness for that time). Finding ways to "pitch" this stuff is the tough part - communicating the excitement and adventure and challenge to the uninitiated is the trick. In the Northwest we've started an event called the "Dust Up" that runs over Memorial Day weekend every year. Its a 3-day unsanctioned Sports-Class contest oriented around first-timers. We hold seminars in the months leading up to it, to get people prepared, and we promote it to all the clubs in a 4-state area. We focus on making it informative and building people's confidence in completing tasks and getting the basics of contest-flying down. That hopefully builds their interest in a full contest and/or satisfies their curiosity about what contests are really like. In the first 3 years its met with good success, the only downside being that a short event is susceptible to weather issues. This year we have a big crop of up-and-coming new pilots so we're making it an XC/Badge event; with the goal of getting them flying XC this year and trying contests next year. Gotta turn the wheel and support pilots through the full development cycle, if we want them to stay with the sport! ....OK, back to talking about the Std Class Nats! :-) Take care, --Noel On Feb 12, 11:54*am, Chip Bearden wrote: 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 |
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