AUSTRALIAN SCANDAL FROM GLIDING INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2020 ISSUE

"Tracking is a way to allow spectators to enjoy the event."
Apparently at the expense of the competitor whether they like it or not. Sounds well thought out.

On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules.. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish.. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

I disagree with you. It is not realistic to expect a WGC competitor - especially a new one - to overrule the judgment of the team captain or manager and "call it out" as you say. Particularly this is the case if the manager is "defending" the conduct. And, WGC rules (Rule 9.1.3) discourage individual protests and require protests to pass through the team manager. This is why the harsher penalties ( 5 year restriction on activities) was levied on the team officials.
ROY

On Monday, 2 March 2020 02:45:01 UTC-6, krasw wrote:
On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

The 15 minute delayed information was available to all competitors, so transfer of tactical information (delayed) from ground to pilot would be considered a normal activity. Perhaps the penalized competitors thought (or were led to believe) that the information they were receiving was the 15 minute delayed info, not the real time info. I don't know. I don't think it can be assumed that they knew that the info was real time and not delayed. Perhaps the Gliding Federation of Australia report might reveal if the penalized competitors knew they were getting real time vs delayed information. Is it publicly available?

On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 3:45:01 AM UTC-5, krasw wrote:
On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

Agreed.

T8

The purpose of Sailplane Competition is to compare pilots skills of interfacing with the atmosphere energy engine. This skillset determines efficiency which equates to speed. All of this identifies talent. This attempt to gain an edge thru deception leading to winning would be a hollow victory. What is the point of the competition?
The pilots are responsible for everything. I’m surprise they would go along with it. I would have forfeited if my ground crew pulled a stunt like this.
R

On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 10:46:34 AM UTC-5, Jim Hogue wrote:
On Monday, 2 March 2020 02:45:01 UTC-6, krasw wrote:
On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

The 15 minute delayed information was available to all competitors, so transfer of tactical information (delayed) from ground to pilot would be considered a normal activity. Perhaps the penalized competitors thought (or were led to believe) that the information they were receiving was the 15 minute delayed info, not the real time info. I don't know. I don't think it can be assumed that they knew that the info was real time and not delayed. Perhaps the Gliding Federation of Australia report might reveal if the penalized competitors knew they were getting real time vs delayed information. Is it publicly available?

15 minute old tactical information is almost totally useless (that's the point). The exception would be finding out that a competitor had either become really badly stuck (low) or landed out. Other than that, who flying at this level would stand for the distraction?

Current info is a different matter.

It's absolutely inconceivable that the pilots didn't understand that they were getting current info. They are all smart, capable, highly aware of their surroundings and environment, that's why they are WGC material in the first place!

T8

What is the purpose of allowing ground crew to share tactical info with pilots? Seems idiotic to me. Opens up a F1 style escalation of technology type situation.

I think it is important not to judge these pilots from the perspective of National, Regional or Provincial contest experience where the pilot is an individual self-directed entrant in the contest. At the WGC level, the FAI rules mandate that the Team Captain is the exclusive liaison with the contest officials. See Rule 3.3. Pilots are strongly discouraged (if not flatly prohibited)from communication of any type with the contest officials. Further, Team Captains and Managers are selected for their ostensible experience at the WGC level so as to guide the team and particularly new team members. The Team Captain at a WGC is not a "crew" who works at the direction of the pilot(s). More the opposite is true.

To suggest that a new member of a team should have disregarded their Captain's judgment and "call out" (in some unspecified way) what the team was doing strikes me as both harsh and unrealistic. That is not to say that the individual team members should not have been penalized as they were - because nothing else will prevent the misconduct in the future. Rather it is to say that the real culprits here were the Team officials who found the website, kept it secret, and used and forwarded the real time information to their pilots.
ROY

On Friday, February 28, 2020 at 6:54:35 PM UTC-5, johnhamish wrote:
1. The World Women's Gliding Championship staged at Lake Keepit in Australia concluded on January 17 leaving a rather nasty taste in the mouths of 9 of the 10 competing countries.

2 A collective protest from team managers saw the International Jury penalise all Australian pilots with 250 points each, materially affecting the final placings in the championships.

3. The Gliding Federation of Australia appointed a legal/knowledgeable pilot to carry out an investigation of their behalf. The 16 page report has been released with the conclusion that an appeal against the Jury decision is unlikely to be successful and so now world gliding has to wait for any advancement on the Australian policy or whether the situation is being accepted and they now move on. Officially Australia has penalised the officials involved with a severe five year restriction on activities.

4. Well meaning Australian pilots have been extremely vocal on their web site with a multitude of postings, some particularly nasty.

5. Since January 17, Gliding International has recorded all events, all emails, all reports and the adjudicators analysis. Gliding International having followed the unprecedented scene covers it in considerable detail, highlighting some of the emails posted. The jury report and the investigators report are in our 18 page article on the episode. The magazine is totally non judgmental on events. Only reporting known facts.

The issue also carries the stories on

* Schleicher new AS33
• Remarkable test flights of replica Wright Brothers Glider, and the Lilienthal Glider. Both flown together in Germany
• Airbus announce a new wing design
• How the Bush-fires in Australia are affecting gliding.
• Do you know why Glider wingspans are measured in metres?
• And an aircraft is being built with a totally new base material.. First one half built. This is a scoop!
• Washington State University have announced that small manufacturing changes can double the life/power/storage of an existing battery. This is the break-through we have all been waiting for.

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they cheated got caught and complain? pathetic.