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#11
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US Contest Rules Proposed Changes for 2006
Let's calm down a minute here guys. When does this happen? It's an iffy
day, the CD has thoughtfullly set up tasks A B and C, we launch the fleet and start praying. The CD looks on the satellite and radar loops, talks to the advisers, and realizes that all three tasks are hopeless. But there is a sliver of soarble sky off to the southeast. We could just get to X and back. Now, what would you do? If the CD cannot call a new task, his choices are a) Use one of the preannounced tasks. OK, here we go off in to the thunderstorms, mass landout on its way. That's not particularly safe either. b) Cancel the day, even though X and back is doable. This might mean no contest in many cases. c) Force everyone to land, reprogram computers, grid, and takeoff again. At about 6 PM. Yes, reprogramming in the air is a serious issue. And every CD I've ever seen call a task change in the air has been aware of this issue, giving plenty of time and usually an extra safety reminder on the radio. Smart CDs tend to call a simple task rather than a complex area task in this situation. Wise pilots wait a few minutes to dodge the programmers, move out of the start gaggle, and then rejoin. I've never seen a CD call a new task and not give plenty of reprogramming time. The ability to change tasks in the air has saved many a contest day, and many a contest. And conversely, the one contest I've been to where the CD insisted on calling the task at the morning meeting and sticking to it no matter what was..., well, let's just say not a great success, with the task deep in thunderstorms and the rest of the area beautifully soarable. John Cochrane BB |
#12
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US Contest Rules Proposed Changes for 2006
Obviously you have never flown at a Spratt CD'ed contest.
wrote in message oups.com... Before I bother Uncle Hank, I have a question for the racing sages on RAS: Does anyone else think the practice of changing tasks after launch is a bit dangerous? At the last regional I was in there were several days that the task was significantly changed after the start of the launch - different turnpoints, different type of task (AST to AAT), different task times. And of course, the change was not announced until everybody was airborne and gaggled up in somewhat weak conditions. So now you have 30 - odd gliders, milling around in close proximity, and trying to write down a new task, then having to enter it into their flight computer and/or PDA. Whoo boy, that's a lot of fun! Now I understand the need occasionally to change a task at the last moment (I've CD'd local contests..), but I thought that was what the AAT was for - to be used if the weather was iffy. But here is my gentle suggestion for CD's out there - if you think you might need to change the task at the last moment, come up with alternate A, B, and C tasks before takeoff so the pilots already have the task in the cockpit when the change is announced (and can preload several tasks in some of the computers). A less ideal option is to make the original task one that can be easily changed inflight (MAT with deletable turnpoints, or different size AAT areas, for example). A nice advantage of changing to an already selected and distributed task is that the task change can be announced as soon as it is made - "15 meter, change to the B task", repeated as required to cover gliders in the process of launching, then confirmed with a roll call after the last launch. Comments? KIrk 66 |
#13
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US Contest Rules Proposed Changes for 2006
I agree with BB. I've been flying U.S. contests for over 35 years, with
many tasks of both types: i.e., set and forget vs. change in the air. It's like life (a series of compromises). Or lawyers (on the one hand...but on the other hand...). My strong preference: let the CD change the task in the air to accommodate the actual conditions so long as he/she provides enough time to reprogram the computer(s) and refold the map. Yes, I admit I still carry one--you gotta problem with that? But this is yet another reason that every contest pilot MUST be intimately familiar with his/her flight computers. In the haze at the top of a crowded gaggle in 1 kt. lift at 3,000 ft. is no place to be exploring how to change from an assigned task to an area task, or how to make a skinny triangle out of a big quadrilateral by removing the second TP. Chip Bearden ASW 24 "JB" |
#14
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US Contest Rules Proposed Changes for 2006
Interesting responses.
Obviously, some more experienced pilots are comfortable setting up a new task inflight. I'm not too bothered by it myself, I practice with my systems so I can retask quickly and minimize time heads-down. It's the "other" guy I worry about! But it still seems like the way we do it now not the safest way to do it - especially at regionals - by definition "training" races. Perhaps some guidelines for airborne retasks would be a start? To try to avoid the need to completely reprogram the whole task while gaggling in 1 knot and 1/2 mile vis? Heck, if the conditions are so bad that the A, B, or C task have to be dropped, then you probably should bail to a PST anyway! Now that's easy to retask! With all the recent emphasis on "safety" (ELTs, 500' finishes, etc) I just figured it was open season to discuss any area that could be potentially dangerous. I guess some guys like playing with their computers more than flying their gliders! Anyway, I'm curious about how other countries handle this issue (I think we've heard from the Brits?). Kirk 66 |
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US Contest Rules Proposed Changes for 2006
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#16
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US Contest Rules Proposed Changes for 2006
Mr. Dean's comments on British tasking are thought provoking. Quite a
few days I competed in the U.S. last year were retasked in the air, usually by changing among A, B and C but sometimes by modifying one of the pre-called tasks and occasionally by throwing them all out the window. At least in the eastern U.S., it seems rare that we launch with any great certainty that the current task will prevail when the start finally opens. Most of us think that's a good thing. But are we missing something? Does this mean U.S. CDs don't do as good a job of setting the original tasks as do their British counterparts? Are British pilots condemned to fly hopelessly ambitious (or undercalled) tasks more often than we are? Does the U.S. practice result in more flyable days for the same chancy weather? Is consistent British success at the Worlds partly due to their pilots being forced to compete in more uncertain weather with a beneficial effect on their proficiency? This newsgroup has been WAY too quiet this winter. Chip Bearden ASW 24 "JB" |
#17
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US Contest Rules Proposed Changes for 2006
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#19
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US Contest Rules Proposed Changes for 2006
My personal view is that these benefits [i.e., of retasking in the
air] far out weigh the issues related to task entry/ change in the air. I agree with Hank. It is safer. Moreover there are days where only a task change after some or all of the field has launched permits a scorable day at all. That said, one would still expect some difference in behavior between two similarly qualified CDs where one must set an achievable task before launch and the other has a chance to revise it at the last minute owing to the different risk/reward profiles. Two differences that might be expected are longer tasks and/or fewer landouts for the same weather in the U.S. because the task can be "tuned" to the conditions nearer the start time. Those differences might get lost in the noise from other effects--e.g., the tendency in the U.S. in recent years to set shorter tasks to reduce landouts rather than tasking to promote using more of the day as is apparently the practice in Europe. Both of these metrics could be tracked quantitatively using task length in time (not distance) and completion percentage (perhaps adjusted for experience and/or skill). Along these lines, one might also expect less dispersion in U.S. scores, with late task changes reducing the "luck" factor. Has anyone explored this? (BB, this cries out for your analytical approach!) Chip Bearden ASW 24 "JB" |
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