In article ,
says...
(David Martin) wrote in message . com...
I flew in the 15M Nationals at Hobbs. Interestingly it was the first
contest that I flew the TAT task. I like it! I understand the 15
minute rule but don't like it and think it should go away.

I'll second that! The rule seems intended to fix something that
doesn't need fixing; the desire to finish close to minimum time. If
they want us to fly longer just make the task longer! Why call a task
and, essentially, say: "Here's your task, but we really don't want you
to do that, we want you to do this...".

The 15 minute rule isn't about flying longer - that's an issue to
discuss with your competition director. You'd have to have tasks a The
rule is about increasing the importance of the cross-country part of
the flight relative to "final glide" part of the flight.

Its all these wacky rules that
turn newcomers off to competition flying.

Actually, it appears to be the experienced pilots that are getting
confused and upset, not the newcomers. If you are new to the sport,
you tend accept what's there, because you don't know any different.

Some of the pilots I've talked to that are becoming interested in
racing seem more concerned about the safety aspects, rather than the
rule details. For this reason, I think rules that enhance safety and
the perception of safety (actual safety should have the priority, of
course) are important to promoting contests.

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Eric Greenwell
Richland, WA (USA)