End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants

Doug,

May I make some suggestions? (1) Do not change OLC rules mid-season. (2) If
you insist on checking all traces for certain violations, do it at the time
of claim -- automatically -- and reject those that do not pass, there and
then.

Going back through the season and arbitrarily hand-picking "bad" flights
seems like huge waste of time -- yours and everybody else's.

More generally, I can't help but notice that OLC has become a much worse
place since SSA got involved. It started with a huge ugly STATIONARY banner
on top of SSA-OLC page that serves no good purpose but to generate
advertisement income for SSA at the expense of users' screen space. I
checked other national OLCs, and the ONLY three out of 29 that do this
tasteless disservice to their users are AT, FR and US.

Now this policing of the traces. OLC used to be an extremely valuable tool
for sharing and learning. I used to rave about it and promote it to all my
soaring friends. Still, I estimate that only about one-third of the pilots I
know post their flights. Which is a pity, because those who do NOT post tend
to be the more experienced and wiser pilots. See any connection?

You can count the "stages" in the "process", but I do not see how you can
count on the last one being acceptance. Many did not accept OLC to begin
with and still fewer will if the current trends with SSA-OLC continue. The
rate of participation will be further diminishing, as will be the value of
the OLC to the rest of us. Pity.

Once again, U.S.A. shows the way.

Thank you.
--
Yuliy Gerchikov


"Doug Haluza" wrote in message
oups.com...
This is cross posted from the SSA Home News & Information General
News:

As the days get shorter as the end of the soaring season nears, the
SSA-OLC Committee has been receiving complaints about flights after
sunset without required aircraft lighting. Although the requirements
for night flight begin at twilight for pilots in the US, the
requirements for aircraft lighting begin at sunset. Gliders without
approved lighting must land, and move clear of lighted runways and
taxiways before sunset.

IGC flight logs contain a GPS time stamp which is the most exact time
standard readily available. So, violations of this requirement are
quite plain to see in these logs. The SSA Board was concerned about
flight logs with obvious violations damaging the sport if they were
posted in the public record of the OLC. So the board adopted a policy
disqualifying such flights from the OLC, as well as FAI awards such as
badges and records. See:

http://www.ssa.org/download/SSA%20Po...Violations.pdf

The SSA-OLC Committee prefers that pilots voluntarily remove the
flights, rather than having them removed by an admin. We have contacted
a number of pilots to request this, and they are currently in various
stages of the 5-step grieving process (denial, anger, bargaining,
depression, and acceptance). You can avoid this emotional roller
coaster by planning and executing your flights to be complete before
sunset, unless you have approved night lighting.

You can't just duct tape a flashlight to the nose for night flight. The
requirements for navigation lights are very specific to color,
intensity and direction. If your aircraft is equipped with approved
night lighting, and it was used for flight after sunset, you must put a
note in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this.

We also have been advised of flight claims that show altitudes in the
log well above the 18,000' MSL limit for Class-A airspace in the US.
The IGC logger altitude is subject to a number of errors, which could
total to several hundred feet. We are currently reviewing with the
pilots a number of flights that appear to exceed even a reasonable
error budget.

Note that unless your flight reference altimeter has been properly
calibrated for IFR flight, and is set to a current ATC altimeter
setting, you will need to allow an extra buffer below 18,000' MSL
indicated altitude to account for possible errors. If you have an
encounter with an IFR aircraft with calibrated altitude references, the
calibrated references and ATC logs will be used to determine your
actual altitude in any subsequent investigation.

Again, if your flight log shows flight above 18,000 MSL, after
correcting for field elevation at takeoff, you will need to provide an
explanation in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining
this. The same requirement applies to entering special use airspace.
This will immediately answer any questions that may concern other
competitors, or anyone else reviewing your flight log in the future.

Finally, if you note a flight that appears to be questionable, do not
speculate in public forums (like news://rec.avation.soaring). Contact
the pilot privately if you can. If the flight is in the US, contact the
SSA-OLC Committee by email at olcatssadotorg. Or use the complaint
tab on the OLC Web header to initiate a partner check.

Doug Haluza
SSA-OLC Admin