SSA Contest Rules and Waiver for Nationals Now Posted

I distinctly recall my second flying lesson because we ended up in the clouds! A front blew in and there was STRONG convergence lift everywhere. We flew just below VNE with full airbrakes and the vario was pegged up. Clouds quickly formed around and below us. Suddenly, we found ourselves in the soup.. 20 years later, it remains my most terrifying aviation experience. I'm currently putting together a panel for my new ship and it will absolutely have AHRS.

Pretty much every modern VFR airplane has AHRS and the FAA requires all private airplane pilots to log 3 hours of instrument training. This isn't all for ****s and giggles; unintended flight in IMC is one of the leading causes of GA accidents.

I recall that just a few years ago, an ASW-27 came out of the clouds in pieces over Reno. That pilot survived thanks to his parachute, but others have perished.

In this day and age, we really ought to encourage AHRS installation and teach our students how to use it. I understand the desire to reduce cheating, but I feel that banning common safety equipment is going too far. Besides, as others have mentioned, every cell phone and tablet is a potential AHRS device, so it has become impossible to enforce.

I'd rather risk losing a race to a cheater than losing my life to inadvertant IMC. In any event, I will have AHRS enabled for every flight and it will be really unfortunate if this prevents me from participating in contests.