For those who think it’s about time the SSA drop it’s restriction to instruments that allow flight without reference to the ground...............there are many things that can be found inside the clouds and all of them are bad:
1. Another sailplane!
2. Wing ice, Probe ice!
3.Hail, Lightening, Extreme turbulence!
4. The ground!
5. Joe Cessna on an IFR Plight plan!

It doesn’t happen very often, but on a thunderstorm day and a MAT is called, contests have positioned themselves in front of the storm and logged some high speed miles flying a constant heading at an altitude above cloud ceiling! On the last day of that contest, I saw a sailplane come out of the clouds and two other pilots told me they iced up! Contestants are very observant and if somebody’s doing it and nothings done to stop it, some will join the movement!

If you want to kill sailplane racing in the US, just let someone find an airliner in the soup!

JJ