Thomas Knauff wrote:
Accidents have ocurred when a pilot performs a high speed, low level
finish
along the centerline of the runway, or over the airport, then fails
to
control the aircraft properly and crashes. In some cases, these
displays
have influenced other pilots who do not have the experience or skills
to
perform a similar maneuver safely.

To discourage unsafe finishes, would moving the finish line to the
side of
the runway so the finish occurs essentially on the downwind leg, so a
pilot
would then only need to make essentially a 180 degree turn onto final
approach help?

A contest site could have finish lines to accommodate tasks finishing
from
any direction - only one would be specified according to the wind
direction
of the day.

In some cases, there may be reasons not to do this of course.

Comments?

--
Thomas Knauff
Knauff & Grove Soaring Supplies
www.eglider.org

With all due respect to Tom's vast knowledge.

'Accidents have occurred when a pilot performs a high speed, low level
finish' just does not hack it for me. Of all the landing/circuit
accidents that we see, what real figures are there that substantiate
the amount of effort that seems to be going in to solving a 'perceived
problem'?

How many accident reports here in the UK for example have the phrase
'following a competition finish' or 'after a practice competition
finish' within them.

I agree that a competition finish is a semi aerobatic maneuver and
should be taught and approached correctly but is it really such a
problem?

Ian