I think this is the nub of it. As an aspiring soaring pilot, I try to
learn from my betters, but not repeat their mistakes nor fly outside my
competance zone.

If I download and look at an Andean wave flight, I do not immediately
think - Oh, I can also go and fly at 30,000 feet in rotor and next to
large mountains, because I would probably kill myself due to lack of
oxygen, structural damage and CFIT. That does not mean that the flight
should not have been posted.

Similarly if I review an open class competitor flight with a marginal
final glide low over difficult terrain and some low scrapes, I would be
foolish to attempt to emulate it.

Nor if I see a flight with a mistake eg clipping airspace, landing late,
starting engine too low etc etc do I think - Oh I should try and emulate
these mistakes. No, I think that I should try to avoid a similar mistake
myself or that I have a different level of risk assessment.

If I thought of flying in the US (unlikely due to disagreements about
global politics) then I would study US flights, but not so that I could
repeat mistakes.

I suspect that the vast majority of pilots try to learn from the
mistakes of others, rather than try to emulate them.

But then I regard the OLC as an opportunity to learn and share
experiences rather than a full-blooded competition.

I have no problems with the authorities analysing OLC flights which
might result in a competition win/place or badge claim or record claim
or ranking for entry into a restricted places competition eg nationals,
to a detailed scrutiny, but my views are that the remainder should be
left so that pilots can learn from others' experiences.

Why don't you limit detailed scrutiny to flights which might impact on
your local US competition places ie probably the top 5-10 pilots?
So what if some infringements alter the different positions between
persons ranking 50th and 60th.

Rory, UK


Author: Doug Haluza
Date/Time: 03:00 15 September 2006
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"The OLC is intended to be a public forum. One of the main purposes of
the OLC is for pilots to be able to share their flight experiences with
the entire worldwide soaring community (and anyone else who may be
interested). The posted flight logs are downloadable so people can view
your flights by design, not by accident. So there should be absolutely
no expectation of privacy."

"But the biggest issue is monkey-see monkey-do."

"You should expect that other people will be studying your flight logs
to learn from your example. Some of these people may not realize that
they should not emulate your bad behavior because they are dumb like a
post. Others will do it to try to beat you because they are dumb like a
fox. Niether of these is a positive result."