The 2005 soaring season has begun. It is time to be thinking of
accumulating distance towards the World Distance Award.

The tasks that you fly in contests such as SSA contests and the OLC can
also be counted towards the distance for the WDA. The distance used for the
WDA does not have to be the same as used in a contest (i.e.: SSA contest may
use a Start Cylinder, but you may use the release point for the start of the
WDA distance). Also, any soaring distance that meets the minimum distance
rule is acceptable. The use of a lot of short distances is actually
encouraged. The objective of the program is to get a lot of soaring pilots
to do a lot of cross-country soaring.

For those of you not familiar with the WDA program there is a full
description in the Sept, 2004 issue of SOARING magazine. Rules, forms, and
a list on participants can be viewed/downloaded from John Leibacher's
Soaring Server at:
http://soaring.aerobatics.ws/Awards/WDA/
There is a rule that flights counted must be less than 12 months old. If
you register now, you will be able to use most of last years flights.

Register for the program and talk up the WDA program with your soaring
friends. More participants is always better. Lets get more pilots involved
in cross-country soaring. Both experienced and inexperienced pilots are
encouraged to participate. You experienced pilots can encourage the less
experienced.

Good soaring,
Duane Eisenbeiss, WDA Administrator