For anyone interested in reading the FAI RULES for themselves, here is a link: http://www.fai.org/downloads/igc/SC3A_2016a

The FAI rules are relatively simple and straightforward. They are also used happily, safely and effectively by the vast majority of soaring countries (all but the USA and Canada) at the regional, national and, of course, the international level at the PAGC, WGC, SGP, etc.

FAI rule competitions use Naviteer's "SeeYou" for scoring. SeeYou is, of course, a popular and successful commercial product which will be supported for years to come. This is very important. There is a great economy of scale in joining the FAI for this reason (scoring) alone. Winscore is very complex to maintain.

The FAI rules are worth a look. There are many other documents which are interesting reading as well. Imagine that if we simply adopted FAI rules, we would not need to spend so much effort on our own custom, isolationist US rules. In fact, we would need almost zero annual effort.

Let us keep open minds and not allow the US rules "cult" to scare you into thinking that FAI rules are "evil." This is a favorite pastime of theirs. I, for one (and there are many others), contend that we would be FAR better off being on the same general rules system as the rest of the soaring competition world. Again, the rest of the world uses FAI rules happily, safely and enjoyably. They also use a common ranking list: http://igcrankings.fai.org ... and a common basic website for competition scheduling, marketing, scoring, promotion, etc. That website is www.soaringspot.com.

Shouldn't we at least be considering FAI? Again why is this blasphemy? Why is this subject never included within our US RULES opinion poll?

What measurable value does the continuation of US rules provide?

What effort would be saved, short term and long, by simply adopting FAI (and putting US rules out to pasture)?

I think that it is a highly sensible conversation for our US soaring community to have.

Is this topic still "blasphemous" or will a possible switch BACK to FAI rules be carefully considered as a reasonable idea?

Please consider reading about the FAI rules for yourself. Don't simply take the word of our so-called experts like the one above. Understand how the FAI rules use Local Procedures (LPs). LPs are a critical FAI rule document (similar to a US rules pilot kit) written by host club organizers (and the CD) to define key local procedures such as the start, finish and associated things in the context of the specific airport that the competition is being held. The LPs allow flexibility for club leaders and CDs to make things safe, comprehensive and comfortable for all competitors.

I'm going to set up a monthly conference call / webex (all invited) to start an ongoing conversation on FAI rules and get US (and Candian) pilots familiar with FAI rules and the differences with US rules. I'm going to bring on guest speakers from other countries to answer questions and talk about key topics. These sessions will, of course, be archived on YouTube for future viewing. PM me if you would like information on how to join this conference series.

Sean