Sean,

I'm not saying "follow the better pilots", I'm saying be aware of where other pilots are and factor that into your own decision making. That way, if you become aware you're out in left field because you read the sky wrong, you have a chance to correct your mistaken judgment before it's too late.

I agree with you, following someone without thinking (ie, leeching) teaches you nothing. But going to a tricky site, making poor decisions and landing out denies you a lot of in-flight learning opportunity that you sacrificed a good deal of time and money to try and get.

What I'm saying is that less experienced pilots can use non-stealthed Flarm to get hints during contest flights and use those hints to make their own decisions without leeching. Denying them those hints is equivalent to teaching someone to swim by throwing them in deep water.

-John, Q3

On Saturday, November 28, 2015 at 12:50:10 PM UTC-5, wrote:
John and Richard,

I do remember the days when I had no clue how to fly cross country. Luckily, I had an experienced pilot like W3 to fly with at the home base. I quickly realized that following him was no way to get better. Instead, we have gone to setting a task and starting together for fun. After a few clouds we end up making different decisions and splitting off. After racing around the course we compare results to see who did it better and how. This is really fun and much more gratifying.

I go to contests to do the same thing. I put up my best effort and compare it to other pilots at the end of the day. Contests are a great way to improve your soaring skills. I recommend making your own decisions and flying your own flight to anyone who enjoys getting better.

Displaying other pilot's contest ID's and climb rates via FLARM not only make the results of other pilots at the end of the day less meaningful, but each pilot will not have the same sense that they accomplished the flight themselves. Not entirely so, but to some extent. Surely, racing pilots will make some use of this data if available. This is what I mean by watering down the sport and decreasing the adventure of it all.

XC