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Old March 11th 18, 12:47 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Dan Marotta
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Posts: 4,601
Default 18m Nationals weight restriction at Seminole

Andrzej,

That sounds quite fair to me but this is the first time I recall hearing
that proposal.

Dan

On 3/10/2018 10:06 AM, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
On Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 11:15:06 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
The one thing about all of this that sticks in my mind is Andy's
original post where he listed as one of the determinants, "sandy grass
runway".Â* Did everyone forget that?Â* Higher weight with a fixed tire
footprint means sinking deeper into the ground resulting in higher
rolling friction (drag).Â* And don't fortet the limited field length,
fixed tug power...Â* It makes perfect sense to me.

On 3/9/2018 3:42 PM, Tango Eight wrote:
Andy: AK has a legitimate gripe. At Seminole, he had the expectation of flying at rough parity for reasons he's laid out and that any reasonable E. Coast pilot concurs with. An 1150 gross weight limit gives a significant advantage to the 29s and JS-3s **in this environment** that does not exist otherwise.

AK: I agree with Dave, you should go fly.

Rules Committee should reconsider this.

T8

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Dan, 5J

Dan, no one disputes that the take off weight needs to be limited for this location.
Establishing the maximum weight for a safe take off and then determining the weight for each type of a glider to establish a common wing loading for all participants would be the only fair way to resolve this problem. In such case no one would fly above the safe weight and everyone would be allowed to fly at the same maximum wing loading to ensure a fair contest.
In this case a small minority got screwed by the organizer and a few pilots who pushed for this arrangement. No wonder contest participation is dropping.


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Dan, 5J