At 05:00 12 March 2005, Kilo Charlie wrote:

Oh for God's sake JJ.....you know full well that a
low pass is LEGAL re the
FAR's when over an airport. If you don't believe that
then explain why
there have been numerous instances of the FAA being
present during finishes
at airports around the US for years without a single
citation.

A low pass may be tolerated by the FAA when done down
the runway. Our finish gates are normally not situated
so that the sailplane makes a low pass right down the
runway. Anyway, the big potential problem isn't getting
a citation from the FAA, it's being named in a law
suit. Those of us that run soaring contests have an
obligation to do everything in our power to make the
event as safe as possible.
Bill took some of us to task for being 'Wooses' and
said we should run our contests like they did in the
'66 nationals at Reno-Stead. Quote from Sterling Starr's
excellent article, 'Ten pilots, because of landing
damage and other problems, were unable to compete.'
And this was only after 4 days. I'll take our present
rules, but we have an opligation to do this as safe
as we possibly can.
JJ