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Silver Badge Fun (?)
First of all, I don't know if "bollocking" is a nasty word,
but I certainly wouldn't want one. Next, I want to make it clear that my main issue is that the rules seem to be complex to account for the old "barograph and people watching" style of badge flying, and have a lot of requirements that are superceded by GPS loggers. I also want to make clear that there is a large drop in numbers as we go from local flying to XC, and I think that some of it is because the Silver is daunting, and made moreso by the complexity of the rules and the realities like mine. It's also important to note that a Silver badge is a way to qualify for Sports regionals and that plus gold 300km gets one qualified for other classes. I have heard my own club members naysay the badge program because of the complexity, and when my PW-5 syndicate talked about the Avenal regionals, I was surprised how few had Silver badges and wouldn't even enter a sport class if it had been available (in the 1-26 or 2-33). So I really like the badge program for encouraging X-C, and would like to see what I think are more consistent rules which make common sense and are simpler (mostly with regard to gps). I think this would ease that transition from local to X-C flying. First, despite the threat of a "good bollocking," if a pilot does wander 50km from start and then lands (without having any declaration), that meets the Silver. If one disagrees with this rule, please start a new thread. I interpret this to mean that Silver is more about the X-C skill than the finding the exact turnpoint and doing photos, but also that this was the only way to validate (historically) that the flight was done. Only the altitude of the landing airport was known (how can one show from a baro trace that the pilot was above the airport at X feet?). If the pilot did an out and return without a declaration, and took a photo of some random point, how can it be verified? A gps logger solves these problems. We don't need to use the airport altitude, we can find a point 50km away and see what it's altitude was. We don't need to look at random photos, we know where the glider went. Does it make common sense that a pilot who flies 50km out, then makes it halfway back and lands out has less skill than the pilot who landed at the 50km away point? No. If one ends up over the landout airport with altitude gain but then lands there with too much loss, does this show less skill than a pilot who lands at an airport 300 feet higher but never made any gain? No. Is a wandering flight to a 50km away landing really better than a wandering 50km x 2 out and return? No. If you think the 50km undeclared flight to a landing is wrong and would like this eliminated, I'd understand, and this would make the rules consistent. Then there is a goal flight required in the Silver just like the Gold (which very specifically says pre-declared O&R or triangle). But I think the Silver distance is NOT a Silver goal flight, and should not be treated as one. I think the inconsistency violates common sense. I think that a pilot who can show on a gps that there were two points during a flight which were 50km apart and met the altitude rules has earned Silver distance. That pilot either flew twice that distance during the flight or had a landout. Either way, that pilot's flight was just as noteworthy as the pilot that wandered exactly 50km away and landed. GPS loggers allow us to validate and recognise this flight. |
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