On 6/21/2011 2:00 PM, Free Flight 107 wrote:
Last summer I was a co-pilot at a contest to find out what it was like
and how they did those fast flights.

What I found out;

Contest are DANGEROUS, we had 2 collisions, one Mid-Air and one on
ground, no injuries, ground one killed the Pride& Ego of the loser.
Mid-air made it home with broken wing (this looks like why our hull
insurance is so high).

Many pilots take big chances way too close to the ground, yes even a
half span at times!! Sure your very big L/D will get you to the
airport, but just touch a rock and it's over, history, body bags, etc.

Contests are an accident looking to happen;
Everyone gaggles up and Dashes for the start gate. Amazingly no
problems.
Everyone then tries to finish and land at the same time, some very,
very low! We had 3 gliders land on the same runway at the same time,
again, Amazingly no problems, just barely!

In my opinion, Glider racing is much more dangerous than car racing
and motorcycle racing that I have done in my youth.

What I did learn was the incredible concentration and dedication to
thermaling and finding thermals that the pilots do regularly. I love
XC so this is what I must learn to do better.
I also learned that for so large a group flying together they have
great Comaraderie and discipline

I have flown with Flarm in Europe and think it's great, but in the
contest enviroment I believe many will ignore it or not react to its
warning properly, as in Hope the other pilot avoids you instead of you
avoiding him.

Just my 2c worth,

Jay

The reality is that FLARM, ADS-B, or any other GPS based technology is
useless in collision avoidance at close quarters. At the very best, the
position accuracy is only 50 ft and is only updated once a second.
Flying at 50 knots, you are traveling ~70 ft / second, so a lot can
happen between updates.

These systems are great in warning you about aircraft in your area that
you might otherwise not be aware of, and to give you an overview of how
many aircraft are in a particular gaggle and their relative altitudes,
but you absolutely can't rely on them for collision avoidance in a thermal.

Makes you wonder how many of these accidents are a result of
overconfidence instilled in pilots who don't understand the limits of
the technology?

--
Mike Schumann