Mike, you left out one important thing: a PIC knows when there is
something that could be wrongly interpreted about his flight. One
knows if they did go (or could have gone) above 18,000 feet, or went
into a normally closed area, or landed legally after a strict
geometric calculation of sunset time, etc., etc. And if one knows,
they'll either (1) not post the flight onto a public forum like OLC,
or (2) they'll add comments to the OLC posting. If (1), no problem. If
(2), then if some bozo rips the file off OLC and doesn't take the
comments, the PIC is still covered (although I can see it might be a
hassle for a bit).

My comment was directed at the idiot who knows he violated airspace
and/or flight rules and posts his flight anyway. Sort of a "hold my
beer and look at this" attitude.

-John


On Mar 23, 9:28 am, Mike the Strike wrote:
You can't deduce a violation of flight regulations just by looking at
an igc file. Many pilots, including me, have made flights into areas
that might be deemed illegal (for example above 18,000 feet or
normally closed military flight areas) quite legally with the express
permission of ATC. Even the "no flights after sunset" rule that we
argue about is a bit iffy. Sunset time is a variable that depends on
many factors that simple geometric formulae don't always correct for
and I know a couple of motorgliders and one self-launcher that are
equipped with lights and may fly after sunset quite legally. Some
pilots are now planning night wave flights.