On 8/6/2011 10:41 AM, Scott Alexander wrote:
On Jul 23, 11:58 pm, Mike the StrikeStringm...@msn. We're not taking
pictures of easily identifiable turnpoints with Kodak cameras
anymore!! Maybe our accident ratio of 2 out of 60, would be much much
lower if people had these suitable fields marked on their GPS.

I think it would be nightmare for contest management to provide a list
of "suitable fields" over which they have no control, that are not
controlled by any authority, and are privately owned.

Even setting aside the legal issues, what criteria should be used for a
suitable field? The range of ability and ships means some fields will
not be suitable for everyone. Who determines the field is still suitable
each day of the contest? A field can fine one day and full of cattle the
next, a fence is installed, sprinklers moved, hay bales moved in for
storage, and so on.

Pilots can and should be warned of local hazards, and they are already
made of aware of places like dry lakes that are known quantities that
won't change, but a list of "suitable fields" for contest could easily
lead to more damage if pilots trust fields that can change day to day,
or even during the day.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz