On Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 10:25:13 AM UTC-5, Tango Eight wrote:
On Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 9:58:45 AM UTC-5, ND wrote:
I invite you to apply hard deck logic to this flight.

John's been really clear about this... read it again Andy. His intent isn't to mess with ridge & mountain flying in any way.

Away from the airport, away from the ridge, he's proposing a 500' stairstep with a 500 agl minimum. In the big valley at Mifflin (elevation 800-ish) that's a 1500 msl hard deck. Can you thermal safely out of the Mifflin valley from 1500msl on a nice easy day? Certainly. John's proposal is to give you an administrative landout **before** you become dangerous to yourself.

best,
Evan Ludeman / T8

Hi Evan,

yeah, i know what he's trying to do. it would just be interesting to see how to apply hard deck logic to that situation specifically. how would the hard deck taper to meet the ridge..? et cet.

as far as administrative landouts over the valley, or a flat land location.. let's say that you or i are down low and we've busted the hard deck just barely. Rats! toast for the day. contest blown. but seconds later we feel a bump we consider to be solid, we might still decide to turn. what i'm suggesting is that you can take someone's speed points away with the hard deck, but you can't stop them from circling. pilots might still be inclined to try and circle if they think they can avoid a retrieve and potential damage to their 'sheen. that's my argument.