Thanks for another excellent post JJ. The clear advantages
of a motor glider you pointed out must be the reason
why sales are quickly shifting to powered ships. An
alternative method of handicapping them could be to
restricting the air intake like racecars do or maybe
a cork in the exhaust would stop this madness. Don’t
these people know that risk taking is just part of
the sport.
Interestingly this is the same dilemma that faced early
push lawn mower operators when some finally put a motor
on one and we know how that turned out.




At 09:54 18 September 2003, Jj Sinclair wrote:
There are several questions concerning motorgliders
on this years SSA / SRA
pilot poll. Some of the questions may have been spurred
by my letter dated 7/11
03 which follows

Members of the rules committee,
A few years back, we allowed motorgliders to have their
engines available for
in-flight retrieves, in regional and national competition.
I thought it was a
mistake at the time, but nothing much happened. No
motorglider won the
nationals. The top pilots didn't rush right out and
buy a motorglider. This is
changing, I have flown with several motorgliders in
open class in the last few
years. Some very capable pilots are flying motorgliders
and they enjoy a
distinct advantage. Allow me to give an example; At
region 8 championships on
day 2, the sky had been completely overcast for hours.
The 5 contestants in
open class were working warm areas of freshly plowed
ground. We all made it to
the last turn point, some 30 miles from home. None
of us had enough altitude to
attempt a final glide home. Two landed at the turn
point, but the two
motorgliders started a final glide for home over mostly
unlandable terrain.
They were hoping for a bump to get them home. Not getting
the bump, they both
started their engines a few miles from home and got
distance points to the
location where they started their engines. A few years
back, I tried a similar
final glide without sufficient altitude in my non-motorized
Nimbus 3. I ended
up a mile short with a broken ship.

I contend this is clearly an unfair advantage. I recommend
we consider
returning to the rule that allowed the motorglider
to have their engine
available for in-flight use, but they must land to
get distance points. Any
in-flight use would result in zero points for the day.
They would still have
the option of using a constructive landout, as is the
case with non-motorized
ships. The constructive land out is claimed after a
landing, but not at the
point of engine start. This rule would make motorgliders
exactly EQUAL to
non-motored sailplanes, but still allow them the option
of using their engines
if the situation warranted its use. Allowing the engine
to be available would
also negate the argument that motorglider insurance
may be invalidated if their
engines were disabled. After landing, the motorglider
would have the option of
selflaunching and flying back to the contest airport.

Before the present rules were adopted, the motorglider
was scored at the last
achieved turnpoint, after an engine start. Returning
to this rule wouldn't be
fair because they could still make a final glide without
sufficient altitude.
If they didn't make it, and started their engine, they
still get scored at the
last achieved turnpoint. There would be no reason not
to try the unsafe final
glide.

On a lesser important note, some creative rules interpretation
is occuring at
the regional level. Some regions have optained a waver
of the 'All launches
will be by aerotow' rule. I would ask that no more
waivers be granted because
selflaunching allowes the motorglider to drive around
until they find a good
thermal, before shutting down their engines.The non-motored
contestant must
release shortly after reaching release altitude. The
creative rules
interpretation has also led to something called an
'In-flight relight', where a
low motorglider just flies within 1 mile of the airport
and then starts up his
engine and performs his in-flight relight. This is
also clearly unfair to the
non-motored sailplane who must land, possibly with
water, shove his sailplane
back to the end of the runway, and wait for a tow plane
to come out. I request
that more specific language be use to make these practices
unavailable in the
future.

Thank you for your consideration of the indicated rules
changes. I request
these issues be placed on the fall pilots poll.
JJ Sinclair
PS. Please don't interpret my position as bad-mouthing
motorgliders, we need
them to fill out our fledgling 18 meter class and to
bolster our dwindling open
class. Zero points for engine use, may seem harsh,
but after your careful
consideration, I believe you will come to the conclusion
it is the only way to
level the playing field again.

JJ Sinclair