#popcorn time on a snowy Monday in Michigan. Thanks Evan!

On the surface, I tend to agree with Evan. Motor-gliders can take slightly (or significantly) more risk. Over many attempts to break a record, this ability to stretch further accumulates and ultimately, IMO, makes a HUGE difference. I can see this in contest soaring more and more. Motorgliders make great sense on a practical level, but they are simply not pure gliders. We should respect that and not "downplay it" or pretend that difference doesn't exist. It does exist, no question about it. Anyone who downplays the advantages motorgliders enjoy on cross country flight (especially contest or record flying) is, simply put, not being honest. The data cannot show this difference, of course, nice try. Regardless, an clear advantage exists for motorgliders and therefore allowing them into the pure glider record category is arguably unfair. It will ultimately hurt record flying (for the foreseeable future) as some pure glider pilots who currently pursue records will choose not to bother as they cannot afford the additional motoglider expense. It also leaves a bad taste in certain cases, which I can understand.

In 20 years most all gliders will be motor-gliders. But that doesn't change the fact that they do have a clear advantage, especially in long record flights. Pure glider records deserve to be highly respected. Motorgliders can disable still their motors easily for record attempts and prove that they have achieved a true "apples to apples" soaring record vs pure gliders. Or they can just have the motorglider record which will become more and more competitive and prestigious over time as motorgliders begin to outnumber pure gliders.

That said, I also strongly believe that the time for the US having its "own systems for everything" (rules, records, handicaps, etc) is at an end. Each case of the US running its own system has proven to be incredibly inefficient and provides no measurable positive value to our sport. Why do we allow this? Why do we waste our time? In many cases the great effort required to managing our own custom US systems is arguably highly negative. We should simply adopt the FAI systems and participate in the soaring world as all other soaring countries do, rather than standing alone in the far corner of the soaring world with our arms crossed and mumbling about the genius of our (for example) scoring system (like the SSA GOBs force us all to do today).

Let's put an end to all of this US nonsense across the board, shall we?

Sean