Hard Deck

Agree with Stu . Well said

In any competitive sport the rules structure selects for participants with specific skill sets. Soaring is no different. Paragraph 1.1 in the SSA rules for national soaring competitions, states that the purpose of the competition is to select a national champion, rank the contestants and select a team for international competition.
Times have changed and perhaps we should revise the mission statement to include a focus on safety measures and compassionate tasking to enabling everyone to compete and have fun But as it stands, it is abundantly logical to adopt the FAI international rules for our national soaring competitions.. I know everyone is sick of SF’s relentless promoting of this concept but he is right.
Hard decks, short tasks, big circles and safety finishes are great for most of the pilots, crews, and organizers but are unlikely to produce a world champion anytime soon.
OLC camps, safaris and regional competitions are excellent places to tinker with the rules and are where most pilots (myself included) should be flying anyway.

Dale Bush

As a competition pilot and director, I totally agree. Best intentions, many times have unintended consequences.

In Italy many years ago a high-finish was assigned in a flatland competition area. A few pilots did ballistic pull-ups on the line, while looking only at their altimeter. One of them had a half-turn spin on the line as a consequence.
As a Director, I only assign high-finishes when two local conditions are present:
- a smallish airport, not allowing mass finishes;
- terrain elevation, surrounding the airport, may involve very low flying over significantly populated areas.

I guess more rules needs much more briefing information, anticipation of problems, education, practice.

The hard-deck may be bringing this kind of unsafe behavior at the deck altitude. Yes, pilots will try anything to avoid crossing the deck.


thanks for the very interesting discussion to everyone!

Aldo Cernezzi
www.voloavela.it



On Monday, February 5, 2018 at 6:11:40 PM UTC-5,

John,

like it or not/agree or not,

i also see pilots cirlcing at 550 feet, pulling and milking like hell,
maneuvering aggressively, close to stall trying to stop themselves from
getting DQ'd by nicking,or sliding down into the hard-deck, further provoking
an impending stall close to terrain. i know, it sounds absurd, but people
will do it, flat land or not.


it's those unintended consequences... i think the hard deck creates some
problems, and solves none.

ND