On 11/9/2010 2:21 PM, jcarlyle wrote:
In the contests I've flown we had a definite grid time, which occurred
well before the sniffer launches. If your plane wasn't there at grid
time, you went to the end of the line when you arrived. We also would
never let a tow plane wait. If you weren't ready to launch when the
tow plane came and you were number one, you'd be pushed out of the
grid and go to the end of the line. Further, no one would ever be
allowed to push a glider across an active runway after the launch had
started.

These things aren't being done in this video, which is why I called it
disorganized and slap-dash.


Well, they've been pushing gliders across that active runway during the
launch for at least 35 years, so it's more organized than it appears.
It's also a glider-only runway, and there are two other large runways
with landable taxiways for airplanes and gliders. All the contests I've
flown there, about 25 over a 30 year period, the gridding and launching
went the way you think it should. I wasn't there for the one in the
video, but it would be a surprise to me if it was disorganized and
slapdash - never was the times I flew there.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz