John Cochrane's point about what skill ATs test is excellent. Pilots should seriously consider if understanding gaggle dynamics is a skill that they want. For myself I'd rather develop a better ability to read the weather, read the terrain, and soar the air, as that's what I'll be doing during non-contest flying. Therefore, I'll be asking the task advisers to continue calling TATs and MATs and to skip the ATs.

-John, Q3


On Tuesday, January 27, 2015 at 10:54:15 PM UTC-5, John Cochrane wrote:
Let's talk about the real issue. The assigned task is tactical. The key skill it tests is being able to sniff out gaggle dynamics. Ideally you start 5 minutes after the gaggle, cacth them, move through the guys waiting for the gaggle and lead out just in time to flinal glide home. Or sometimes move ahead, jump from smaller gaggle to smaller gaggle, or whatever. But everyone else is trying to do the same thing.

This is not easy. Gaggle / start dynamics and tactics are a huge subject. We could write books about them. The top pilots at this are masters of an incredibly complex game. But make no mistake, that game is what assigned tasks are about.

The MAT and TAT don't allow many gaggles and markers to form. They end up valuing much more your ability to read the weather, read the terrain, and soar the air.

This is not a judgment. Decide what you like to do with your precious two weeks of vacation. I happen to like the latter kind of task. AT advocates are really saying they want the former. Doing well at IGC contests requires a lot more of that tactical skill than is typically used at US contests.

But, once again. Talk to the CD. Talk to the task advisers.

John Cochrane