On Mar 14, 5:41*pm, Sean Fidler wrote:
John,

HARD DECK:

Sorry for being obscure. The hard deck is a lower limit not an upper
limit. I'm not in favor of an upper limit. Cloud flying is just not a
problem, and wave, thermal wave, etc. are great fun when you can get
them. We need some sense that something is a problem, now, before
passing complex and draconian rules.

The concept is this: there is a set of lower altitude limits, quoted
in MSL, given out in SUA files. They are roughly 500 to 1000 feet
AGL, At Ionia, 1200' MSL might do over the whole task area, and could
just be announced without needing a file. In mountain sites, these are
set by looking at the valley floor. Mountains and ridges stick out.
Altitudes can be higher over undlandable terrain to discourage low
flight there.

When you hit the hard deck altitude, you're counted as landing out.
From there on in, the race is over -- land out, scratch your way back
up and fly home, it's up to you. Do the safe thing, but forget about
contest points, the race is over for you. And no more of these stall/
spin crashes from thermalling at 200 feet. (Those ARE a problem.)

The navy top gun school does this: If you fall below 10,000', you're
counted as crashing into the ground. But they're a bunch of wussies,
we real pilots keep racing down until we hit the dirt.

The last time the concept was discussed at an SRA meeting the vote was
I believe 39 to 1 against. But, hey, we used to think the rolling
finish one foot over the airport fence was a good idea too. Maybe some
sharp CD will ask for this by waiver and we can see how it works out
(hint hint)

John Cochrane

Really, Really, Really speaking for myself and not the RC this time!
(Last time I counted noses, my fellow RC members were pretty solidly
in the 39 and very tired of hearing about it.)