New Butterfly Vario

On Feb 14, 4:15*pm, "Paul Remde" wrote:
Hi,

The LX8000 and LX9000 use an AHRS sensor box with built in g-meters, etc.http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/lxnav.htm#LXNAV-AHRS

Paul Remde

"Mike" wrote in message

...
On Feb 14, 12:08 am, Max Kellermann wrote:



Mike wrote:
XCSoar has an artificial horizon? I did not know that.

Yes:

http://git.xcsoar.org/cgit/master/xc...enderer/Horizo...

The code has been there for many years, but is disabled, the comment
says why. (Not my opinion/decision, I would not put artificial limits
on technology used by XCSoar)

This code will be reinstated when Johnny (and the rest of the
OpenVario project) finishes his new vario design, which includes a
real AHRS. The OpenVario project started long before Butterfly
announced their vario, but since it's a spare time project of a few
soaring geeks, it takes a bit longer.

*Max

Is this also the source of the faux AH found in L8000?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Paul:
As in my warning about Butterfly, you and other vendors should ensure
that the pilots buying the devices from you that are represented to
have A/H functionality, know that these devices are not permitted
under current and future SSA competition rules.
Notwithstanding the disagreement by a vocal few, this policy is not
going to change any time soon.
It would be a big service to your customers to ensure that they are
informed and an even bigger service if you make a point of ensuring
that your suppliers know that there is a clarification of policy in
effect and a methodology for compliance.
There is adequate time before the majority of the contest season to
get this accomplished.
If there is a question about whether a product falls into this
catagory, the RC will work hard to give you a determination.
I guess Richard, Rex?,and Tim and I don't know who else would also be
well to heed this suggestion.
I don't think you want to be getting the angry call from your customer
on contest practice day that you sold him an instrument he can't use.
Thanks for you cooperation and service to the contest community.
UH
RC Chair

In article writes:

Paul:
As in my warning about Butterfly, you and other vendors should ensure
that the pilots buying the devices from you that are represented to
have A/H functionality, know that these devices are not permitted
under current and future SSA competition rules.
Notwithstanding the disagreement by a vocal few, this policy is not
going to change any time soon.
It would be a big service to your customers to ensure that they are
informed and an even bigger service if you make a point of ensuring
that your suppliers know that there is a clarification of policy in
effect and a methodology for compliance.
There is adequate time before the majority of the contest season to
get this accomplished.
If there is a question about whether a product falls into this
catagory, the RC will work hard to give you a determination.
I guess Richard, Rex?,and Tim and I don't know who else would also be
well to heed this suggestion.
I don't think you want to be getting the angry call from your customer
on contest practice day that you sold him an instrument he can't use.
Thanks for you cooperation and service to the contest community.
UH
RC Chair


As an alternative, hopefully pilots will refuse to particiapte in
activities that prohibit devices that enhance safety.


Alan

* As an alternative, hopefully pilots will refuse to particiapte in
activities that prohibit devices that enhance safety.

* * * * Alan

Or pilots will refuse to participate in activities which are enhance
safety, like leaving that 10 knot thermal with some margin below
cloudbase.

On Feb 15, 12:56*pm, John Cochrane
wrote:
This is going to turn into a massive challenge to enforce...silly.

My view on enforcement, etc.

We don't have detailed scrutineering now. We rely a lot on pilot
honesty.

Honesty is helped a lot by a feeling that everybody else isn't doing
it. Right now, US contest pilots don't cloud fly.


John Cochrane

John, you, as my friend, will allow me to ad this to your post.

Sportmanship is the word that has been missing on some of these
posts.

Sportsmanship typically is regarded as a component of morality in
sport, composed of three related and perhaps overlapping concepts:
fair play, sportsmanship and character. Fair play refers to all
participants having an equitable chance to pursue victory and acting
toward others in an honest, straightforward, and firm and dignified
manner even when others do not play fairly. It includes respect for
others, including team members, opponents, and officials. Character
refers to dispositions, values, and habits that determine the way that
person normally responds to desires, fears, challenges, opportunities,
failures, and successes, and is typically seen in polite behaviors
toward others, such as helping an opponent up or shaking hands after a
match. An individual is believed to have a “good character” when those
dispositions and habits reflect core ethical values.


Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will
be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness,
ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors.

We stand alone on our acts yet the respect and camaraderie we have
towards each other comes from the sportsmanship we display during
events inwhich we enjoy being envolved in. Thier can be no sport
without sportmanship.

Thomas Kelley #711.

15 pages and 146 messages...interesting.

It makes me wonder about other times when technological advancement has reared its head in the soaring world...was the outcry this loud?

Was there this much noise when GPS replaced map and compass? Data loggers vs. TP pix? Radios? Varios? Carbon fiber vs. Glass vs. Wood vs. Fabric? Ballasting vs. Dry? And on and on....technology marches on, and you can only delay its implementation, not prevent it.

There will come a day when ALL soaring computers will have this technology installed and available. What then? Outlaw them all and we go back to charts and cameras?

To me, this is an opportunity for policy-makers to get in front of this technology wave by acknowledging change is coming AND trying to direct that fact in a way that grows the sport and enhances safety.

As a high-time power pilot and 25 year airline guy, I understand as well as anyone that inadvertent IFR or getting caught over a solid cloud deck can happen in this sport (as it can in any type of GA) and a strong consideration for me had been to find a system that wouldn't make something like that kill me.

It blows my mind that an attitude exists in competition soaring that because a small minority of competition pilots will cheat, the other 99% will have to carry the burden of their lack of integrity by disabling an obvious safety feature. May I respectfully submit that the small minority, by their actions, will make themselves stand out in short order? Allowing the RC or other enforcement agencies to then concentrate their energies on correcting the behavior of the miscreants? Why do the folks who follow the rules and now find themselves in a tight spot have to pay the freight for the ne'er-do-wells?

I have to admit, as a yet-to-fly-a-contest-but-strongly-considering-it newbie, this entire approach towards this technology troubles me, especially as someone who has had more than my fair share of hard IFR, planned and unplanned. If that's the final iteration of this rule, then I have to say I'm not pulling out a gauge or disabling a feature just so I can fly in the contest-world...there are other areas of soaring that hold my interest as well where I can fully participate and not have to do so....Which is a shame, because I'd heard they needed guys like me to keep soaring comps from becoming even more endangered or less frequented than they already are. Sean, I think you're on the right track to promote this technology, and I support your position.

My 2 cents...

Rob S.

ZAP

Or pilots will refuse to participate in activities which are enhance
safety, like leaving that 10 knot thermal with some margin below
cloudbase.

wow i goobered that one up. how about:

Or pilots will refuse to participate in activities which degrade
safety, like staying in that 10 knot thermal all the way to cloudbase
instead of leaving with some margin.

Please read Kempton Izuno's article (2005) "Into the Bowels of Darkness" on page 12 of the link below or in the following copied text.

http://www.pacificsoaring.org/westwi...2_WestWind.pdf

Into the Bowels of Darkness
© Kempton Izuno 2005 . All images by author.
Writing about soaring is easy with an achievement to share or a flight you are proud of. Enthusiasm and pride
are in great supply. But the flight(s) will come of which you are less than proud or downright embarrassed about.
Or worse, a flight from which you don’t return...
Since you are reading this article, you may presume I’ve not had one of the latter flights, but a few have been
close. Coming to the edge of disaster and living to learn from it is an incredible gift. In my case, a SOARING
Safety Corner article (see sidebar) read 30 years ago, is what saved my bacon after I was sucked into a cloud.
A Major Thank You to Bruce Carmichael for writing “The Spiral Dive”. May you, dear reader, never have this
experience.
Prelude
The forecast looked good for the central Nevada Great Basin area, so I planned for several days based out of
Tonopah, Nevada. Launching out of Hollister, California on June 17, 2003 in my ASH-26E, I slid across the
Central Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains, arriving at Tonopah in the late afternoon.
Part of the normal summer soaring routine in the Great Basin is working cumulonimbus clouds (CB). Now CB in
most parts of the world are BIG (50 miles or more across) and should be avoided. In Nevada, with the dry land,
dry air and high ground, there often can be small (3-4 miles across) CB cells with strong lift which do not block
your path. These “small” cells really speed up your flight and are the smallest CBs, but still hold significant risk.
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Warning Signs
The forecast for June 18 showed scattered CB cells with bases around 17,000 ft, strong heating and a very light SW
wind. The first leg along the Monitor range is great, with strong lift and a light tailwind. Turning near Elko, I head
northwest following a line between towering cu to my north and overdevelopment (OD) to the south. Rain shafts are
becoming more widespread under the cu to the south, but this does not overly concern me. There’s a ways to go
before turning south and I expect that by that time, I’ll be west of the high ground and clear of the OD. Averaging
16,000 ft or so, the path ahead looks good.
FLASH! Lightning appears around the rain shafts to the south of me while the sky ahead is 40% cu, and to the far
north, along the Oregon border, it is dark with more overdevelopment. Confident I can make McDermitt, I press on. By
2pm however, it’s clear bases are dropping on track, so 20 miles short of McDermitt I turn south along the Santa Rosa
range. Lift continues to weaken producing a stair step descent as I aim to get back to the strong lift on the edge of the
OD area to the south.
By 3pm I’m down to 9,200 ft just north of Winnemucca having averaged only 50mph for the last hour. Frustrated at the
slow speed, I’m really hungry for the BIG lift to get going again. Now under the first of a number of dark based clouds,
I make three more climbs, each better than the last, reinforcing my decision to move back to the OD area. The lift is
good (15,000 ft bases with 6 knot climbs), but I think, there MUST be better lift nearby. Cloud cover is now 70+% with
rain shafts. Anxiously, I scan the sky for a “young” cloud to get my expected 12+ knot climb. The stage is now set. I’m
in high risk weather with a very impatient attitude.
Trouble…..BIG Trouble
Threading my way between rain shafts 25 miles ESE of Winnemucca, I spy “the” cloud. With a very dark and clearly
much higher base than the neighboring clouds, plus no rain shaft, I think, “YES!, this is the boomer I KNEW was
around here! Now it’s going to be easy!”. As with investing, right before things go bad, there is often overconfidence.
Let us now watch our hapless pilot moment by moment. This is the only inadvertent cloud flight with a GPS flight
recording of which I’m aware, so for the first time we have a numeric history along with the emotionally charged
recollection. All numeric data is “as is” from the SeeYou program.
3:33:50 PST 8 kt. CLIMB The edge of the cloud is coming overhead. This is good lift!
3:34:02 12 kt. CLIMB A few seconds later I hit the start of the strong lift and instinctively slow up.
3:34:50 17 kt. CLIMB The black cloudbase is coming up fast, better push over and head for the edge. I start perhaps
a 30 degree bank to the right.
3:35:32 28.6 kt. CLIMB “Oh, s**t, THIS is the core!” Faster than I can comprehend, I’m in the cloud. Unaware, I almost
immediately relax the controls which allowed a LEFT turn. I mistakenly believe I have the controls neutral in hopes of
coming out the side of the cloud. But….in a few seconds I realize I’m not coming out the side; it’s still dark grey and
worse, the wind noise along with the G force is building from the spiral dive. I know that if I pull back on the stick it will
only tighten the radius of the dive and the G forces. The little voice of JJ’s whispers in my ear “You’re going to die”.
3:36:02 9 kt. CLIMB Trying to ignore a fast rising panic, I recall a SOARING article describing a spiral dive recovery.
When in a spiral dive, do not pull back on the stick. Rather, neutralize the stick in pitch, then push to one side and see
if the G force lessens. If it does, then you guessed correctly and are leveling the wings. I push to the right and feel
reduced G. I then pulled back to slow the ship down.
3:36:38 15 kt. CLIMB The wind noise rapidly drops off to a moment of silence. Quick!, throw out the landing flaps, dive
brakes and gear to (hopefully) give me enough drag to get out the bottom of the cloud. I momentarily consider a spin,
but having never tried one in the 26E (intentional spins are not permitted), I pass. Unbeknownst to me, I’m pitched up
at 80° vertical. Without a horizon reference I had let the nose come up almost to the vertical. Suddenly, I’m falling
backwards, which only heightens the panic. “OK, I know, I shouldn’t be here in the first place, pulezzzzzeee can I
leave now?!!!!”. A loud “CLUNK” aft further spooks me, then a sudden negative G force pushes me towards the
canopy. “What the…..?!”
Now remember, I have no outside reference as it’s all dark grey. The clunk was the rudder shoved to one side during
the momentary tailslide, and the negative G force was from the sudden pitching over from nose high to nose down. An
already terrifying experience becomes worse.
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3:36:44 6 kt. CLIMB The second spiral dive starts but at least all drag devices are deployed.
3:37:44 9 kt. DESCENT Airspeed is 110 knots and increasing. The landing flaps are red lined at 76 knots so I’m now
a test pilot. Seconds seem like hours. Reviewing the trace shows I only lost 360 feet in the past minute! Add to this an
irrational claustrophobic feeling that I need to unbuckle and get out of the cockpit.
3:38:08 38.9 kt. DESCENT
It’s getting lighter…I’m coming out the bottom! Now drop a bit more to make sure………
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3:38:14 36 kt. DESCENT
Ok, gently pull out…….
3:38:38 5 kt. DESCENT
Back to level flight. thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU! The feeling of relief is overwhelming.
The 2.5 minutes in cloud seemed like an entire day.
At that one moment, I am the luckiest guy on earth. Almost four hours of soaring lie ahead to get back to Tonopah, but
that does not matter. I cannot believe I’m alive and intact. Later inspections showed no damage to the flaps. Had the
flaps failed I likely would not be here.
Since Then
Now you have the story, but why did it go this way?
-Poor situational awareness. I can clearly recall how distinctly higher and darker the cloudbase was compared to
surrounding clouds. Did that worry me? Of course not! Like the moth to the flame, it only served to push me closer.
Hey, and I knew that lift rates can be 15 knots or more near cloud base but I had not seen that kind of climb all day.
So when the vario passed through 12 knots, I stuck with it not seriously considering that it could DOUBLE in a few
seconds. I was complacent. The unusually fast RATE of increase should have alarmed me a few seconds earlier than
it did. Gavin Wills comments further:
“Climbing at 10 knots beneath the cloud, it will take 60 secs to gain the last 1000 feet to cloud base and climbing at 20
knots it will only 30 secs which will be a little more than a single turn to do 1000 feet! Therefore be cautious and if the
lift increases towards cloud base consider action 1000 feet below cloud and carry it out by 500 feet. Action well below
cloud is essential in strong lift as one does not always have a sense of rushing up to the cloud.”
Keep your eyes out of the cockpit. Situational awareness means actively looking for and analyzing details such as the
speed & direction of the cloud shadows, the vertical rate of cloudbase tendrils, other aircraft location, or the growth
rate & state of the overdevelopment. What is the situation ahead? What is the situation behind in case I have to
retreat? What is the safety margin I need at this moment? In one minute? How do I keep it? In a “Sudden Loss of
Margin”, you think you have enough speed/altitude/clearance until *poof*….it’s gone in a few seconds. And, if you
survive, you’ll look back and say, ”Well, I’ve done this for years and that’s never happened before! How rude!”
-Remain calm, be fair to yourself and keep thinking. Poor situational awareness got me into this, but luck and recalling
the article improved my chances. An extreme emotional state will bias your judgment. During the flight, don’t beat
yourself up over a slow speed and don’t get too confident when you hit super lift.
What about Next Time?
First, make sure there is no “next time”!
-Avoidance is the first line of defense. Keep a wider safety margin. Bob Semans shared his personal rule that as you
climb, keep a 45° angle between the horizon and the cloud edge. Thus, as you climb you move yourself closer to the
edge of the cloud. I now follow this rule.
-FAR 91.155. Between 10,000'and 18,000’ cloud clearance of 1,000’ below 1,000'above and 1 statute mile
horizontally. Not only does this help avoid “cloud suck” but in today's GPS world, IFR flights are direct with clearance
approval, staying clear of clouds is more important than ever. An IFR flight could pop out of a cloud and there is a
glider, up at cloudbase not realizing he is suppose to be 1,000'lower. This 1,000'clearance allows the margin to take
evasive action.
-Install a turn & bank. Low current drain instruments from PC Flight Systems, TruTrak Flight Systems, MGL Avionics,
etc. indicate turn direction. Some units are “instant on”, others require a warm up time. Turning the device on because
you’re worried about getting sucked into the cloud probably means that you are already in a very high risk position in
the first place. Some Garmin units have an EFIS display but GPS jamming can happen out in the Nevada area.
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-Practice true blind flight in a glider. The instrument is virtually useless without practice. Practice what? Maintain your
instrument scan. Ignore your senses and act only on what you read. Sustained concentration for what may be a
seemingly long time. Know the lag of the instrument relative to your stick and rudder actions. Keep a constant
airspeed. And that’s only if you enter under ideal conditions like wings level and flying the instruments BEFORE you
enter the cloud. One instructor points out that it’s not just practicing steady blind flight, but handling upsets, unusual
attitude recovery and doing so on a monthly basis as this skill goes stale quickly. A two seat glider (not power plane)
with a safety pilot, preferably instructor, with the student’s canopy covered would be ideal. The only US pilot I know
with current instrument-only soaring experience is doing so on top of Navy training and weekly instrument flying.
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-Benign Spiral. This is an option only if you know how to set it up AND have practiced this in your ship beforehand.
Some gliders may hold a benign spiral in calm air, but an upset may tip the glider into a spiral dive. Practice with an
instructor, then on your own on a calm blue day. The benign spiral is also appropriate for wave flying if you get caught
above a layer of cloud.
In conclusion, my hope is that this story fosters further discussion on flying overdevelopments, risk management and
emergency recovery. With more flights in the central Nevada and Great Basin area, those of us who choose to fly
there need to actively work on reducing the chances of another similar incident. I was lucky, but I used up most, if not
all, my lifetime supply of luck on this flight. I continue to fly the Great Basin with a greater respect for CB and a wider
safety margin than ever.
Beauty and the beast. Somewhere over central Nevada, July 2003
Further Reading
Little is written about inadvertent cloud flights of which I’m aware, so I can only offer the Carmichael article and the
sobering “Dunderhead’s Thunderhead” SOARING article of January, 1974. The reference to JJ’s little voice is from
John Sinclair’s excellent article “My Ph.D. in Fear” at: http://www.valleysoaring.net//story/jj/jj-fear.html
The British Sailplane & Gliding magazine has more material as cloud flying is permitted there.
Many thanks to my reviewers John Sinclair, Gordon Boettger, Kenny Price, Gavin Wills, Marc Ramsay, Cindy
Brickner, Bruce Tuncks, Eric Greenwell, Toodie Marshall and my wife Genese.
From the August 1973 SOARING Safety Corner:
"I am enclosing an account of a foolish early soaring experience," writes SSA Aerodynamics Chairman Bruce
Carmichael, "which I am willing to bet will be repeated by novices for years to come. This one includes a recipe on
how to save oneself from one's stupidity, so I offer it for what it is worth."
THE SPIRAL DIVE Outside it is gray. I am in cloud-and without blind flight instruments! No way to tell which direction
is up. The wind noise around the canopy has risen to a shriek. My 1-26 is in the dreaded spiral dive! The load factor
crushes me into the seat. I open my mouth to shout in fear, my jaw sagging under the acceleration. I taste the copper
18
of adrenalin pumped into my blood stream. I am not frightened-I am terrified! My scalp tingles as my hair stands on
end. Then, on the brink of stark unreasoning panic, suddenly, across the years. I hear the calm voice of my old flight
instructor. Ray Parker, speaking as clearly as if he were in the cockpit of the 1-26 sailplane with me...
Several years earlier a group of us were in a shop at Mississippi State College watching Ray, the world’s most
meticulous aircraft woodworker, building the sleek fuselage for his famous sailplane, the T-Bird. He had been warning
us to stay out of clouds unless we were qualified instrument pilots.
"If you should be foolish enough to get drawn into a cloud," he said. "there is a way to extract yourself. You will find
that in spite of knowing better, you will, in your fear, instinctively pull back on the stick to slow down as you would in
level flight. In the spiral dive, this tightens the turn and could increase the load factor until you pull the wings off. The
first thing to do is to neutralize the control stick and block it there with your other hand so that even in panic you will
not pull back....
I popped the stick forward and immediately the load factor diminished. The wind noise was still high. His voice came
again... "Now move the stick to one side. If you guess right, you will slow down, if you don't, push it to the other side."
I moved the stick to the right. The wind noise increased in pitch. Hastily I pushed it to the other side and the wind
noise diminished. "Now the excess kinetic energy from the spiral dive will throw you into an accelerated stall unless
you lower the nose."
I pushed forward on the stick as the wind noise went to zero until I was flying again, then back to neutral. Ray's next
instruction was to pull back and, as the speed slowly fell off, to put full stick and rudder into a spin entry. I had never
spun the 1-26 and was afraid it might not enter a good spin, in which case I would be completely disoriented. I was
hoping to fly out the side of the cloud but after a lengthy wait, with the altimeter winding up at a frightening rate, I once
more unwittingly slipped into a spiral dive. I was as frightened as before, but at least I was not in panic this time. I
went through the same recovery procedure, guessing right this time on the roll out, and once more tried to fly out the
side of the cloud.
How did I get into the cumulonimbus cloud? I had climbed up under the base of the cloud and found, to my delight, a
hollow inverted bowl caused by the huge central updraft. I circled up inside this bowl. It was a scene of immense
grandeur, with the earth clearly visible directly below my steeply banked turn and the vaporous cloud skirt hanging
down in all directions. Sounds were curiously muffled and resonant. I failed to notice how my rate of climb was
increasing until I was sucked into the cloud and visibility went to zero. What a difference between the clear white
boiling walls outside of the cloud and its dark damp interior! Many times I had cruised up the windward side of a cloud
and marveled at the beauty of a sun dog or the sailplane's shadow on the cloud ringed with a perfectly circular
rainbow. Now the light and spectacle were replaced with darkness and fear.
Before long I was in the third spiral dive. I promised myself that if I recovered from this one I would try to spin out. The
method worked again, and I gradually slowed down on recovery then kicked full left rudder and full back stick, locking
the 1-26 into a tight spin. After a few seconds I glanced at my altimeter. Again my hair stood on end and my heart
pounded: instead of rapidly descending, I was barely moving down! The updraft was so powerful that it was carrying
my 1-26 up almost as fast as it was spinning down. I had on summer clothes and no oxygen supply. Now I
remembered the stories of German sailplane pilots who were carried up in cloud after bailing out with parachutes.
They froze or died of hypoxia. I spun for what seemed an eternity. Later, fellow pilots asked me how fast I climbed in
the cloud, what speed I reached in the spiral dive, and what altitude I reached in the cloud. I have no idea. I felt I was
fighting for my life and have only impressions, not readings. It would probably be safe to say the rate of climb far
exceeded any I had encountered in clear air, and that the speed in the spiral far exceeded redline. Lord knows what
altitude I reached, but at least I did not pass out with hypoxia.
Finally I saw a road rotating below me and spun out of the bottom of the cloud. I held the spin for another 200 feet and
then recovered. Life seemed very sweet as I charged joyously out into the bright sunlight. I have not flown in cloud
since that day in the mid 50's. As so many pilots have done, I learned a lesson the hard way. Thanks to Ray Parker I
survived. Bless you, Ray.
Bruce Carmichael appended a warning to his story: "While Ray's recipe worked for me in a 1-26, it might not in a highperformance
ship. It is possible that in this case a pilot might accelerate to too high a speed in the initial spiral and
tear off the wings on reversing the bank during the resulting pull-up. The point is that a novice should not go into

True. But what of iPhones, Andriod phones. They have the same electronic gyro sensors as the Butterfly?

1) QT, Dave, and a few others: Sorry, I guess I was being too clever
and my comment was misinterpreted. I wasn't questioning when the new
start rules were put in place. I *know* when they were put in place.
I was driving at the fact that the newer start rules themselves stop
people from cloud-flying before going through the gate. The 2-minute-
below-start-cylinder-height rule effectively removes any incentive to
cloud-fly, as long as the start cylinder height is set 500' (or more)
below the day's cloudbase. It doesn't have to be some onerously-low
start height; anything reasonable will do as long as its below
cloudbase.

2) Tom, UH, and John: If we're going to talk about the honor system
and sportsmanship and stuff (all things I support and concur with you
on), then WHY are we so adamantly in-favor of this rule, and having it
so detrimentally iron-clad-no-matter-the-unintended-consequences?

Let me try to state the issue clearly one more time:

The rules right now have ZERO exceptions for any device that could
*possibly* be used for an AH (whether or not it is used for such
purposes). But a large number of smartphones have MEMS gyros in
them already. The rules -AS WRITTEN- make it illegal for contest
pilots to fly with these smartphones. If they want to be contest-
legal, they must buy a different cell phone (or fly without a cell
phone and risk landing out with no good way to contact their crew).

-----
QUESTION 1: Is it really our intention to stop people from flying with
cell phones?
-----

....If not, perhaps we should come up with a better rule!

Similarly, the rules -AS WRITTEN- don't say that if the device its OK
to have something in the cockpit if its is a "bad AH" (regardless of
what people here have said). They say if it *could* be used, then its
forbidden... period. Ergo, you cannot carry that equipment in the
cockpit. This rules out a bunch of PDAs, PNAs, and other cheap/free
software. This is the same software that allows new pilots - like me
- to get into contests and fly them on a reasonable budget. XCSoar
and LK8000 have helped me to win contest days and consistently finish
in a high position at Regional contests around the western US over the
last 3 years. It was HUGELY beneficial not to have to buy a $3000
flight computer! If I had been required to do so, I *never* would
have become a contest pilot. The ironclad AH rules cut off all
current and future contest pilots who fly on a budget using free
software and readily-available hardware that makes XC flying safer and
easier. Since the AH is driven by software, there's no way to
physically disable these features and guarantee they stay turned off
for 2+ weeks.

We've got UH and others working hard to increase participation
(witness the positive discussions about the Standard Class)... Yet
here we are, putting up big barriers to participation!

-----
QUESTION 2: Is it really our intent to make it harder and more
expensive to participate in contests?
-----

....If not, perhaps we should come up with a better rule!

Some of you are adamantly stating that we must have these rules, but
then you imply that we won't enforce them.

-----
QUESTION 3 (and 4): If we're not going to enforce the rules, why the
hell have them in the first place? If people know they're not going
to be enforced, what's it going to do to stop them?
-----

....If the rules don't actually have an effect, perhaps we should come
up with a better rule!

-----
QUESTION 5: If someone is hell-bent on winning, why not protest
everyone in the contest who has a modern cell-phone in their cockpit,
and then just walk out with the trophy?
-----

....That's a hell of a lot easier than cloud-flying, and a whole lot
smarter!

Finally, if someone is insane and wants to cloud-fly, there are any
number of MEMS-gyro-equipped PDAs, PNAs, tablets (or the afore-
mentioned smartphones) that they can hide in the cockpit until after
takeoff. And if they're devious enough to do that, what is this rule
doing to stop them?


In Summary: I just don't understand. I simply don't. Yes, cloud-
flying used to happen. Yes, its a danger. Yes, it should be
prevented. But you're telling me that the best solution is an
outdated rule that does more harm than good and can't really be
enforced? And that we'll all just look the other way when it comes
time to fly?

There has to be a better way.

--Noel
(who may not be able to fly contests in 2012 because he uses free
software on a PDA)

Amen Noel.