500 foot rule and pilot opinion poll

Andy Blackburn wrote in message ...
I shold have been clearer on this point Eric.

If you are at 700' and 4 miles, you will not make it
to 500' at 1 mile, you will have to stop and climb.
A Mc=0 glide to the inner edge of the donut in my ship
requires 886' (by the factory polar). If I climb to
a Mc=3 or Mc=4 glide, I am at 997' to 1053'. You might
climb even higher if you want any buffer.

I believe that the optimal finish for pilots who have
adequate altitude for a speed finish will be to shoot
for the top outside edge of the donut (with some buffer)
and then bleed airspeed to the inner edge to hold altitude.
A pilot shooting for this on a 120 knot glide Mc=6
will be at 908' at 4 miles, which is below the guy
making a save and wanting to make a flatter glide to
the inner part of the donut.

The simple point here is that all of this climbing
and mixed traffic happens at 4-5 miles from the field
rather than 8-10 miles under the current rules. This
is because the ground forces the issue later with the
extra 500' built into the finish altitude. Since altitude
separation (difference in glide angle times distance)
goes up linearly with distance and the amount of horizontal
separation goes up with distance as well, the potential
for mixed climbing and highspeed traffic would likely
increase under the 500' rule. You can make different
assumptions about what altitude you might stop and
climb, but the difference due to the rules remains
the same.

I don't see how this is any different; we have to see and avoid other
sailplanes from the time we start the flight to the time that we have
come to a full stop. There can be gliders thermally anywhere on
course, including directly over turn points. And even if you don't
have the 500 ft rule there can mixing of gliders thermally and
high-speed gliders in-bound to finish.

I feel that those low altitude finishes add nothing to the sport
except for some broken gliders (and pilots!) and some very anxious
crews. Furthermore, it encourages violation of FARs for minimum
altitude. There may be some pilots who think they may have some
competitive edge because they are willing to push it lower than the
others, and this may be the case. I say cast your vote, let democracy
function and accept the result.