End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants

Andy wrote:
Martin Eiler wrote:

We should be commending the OLC committee for
weeding out the renegade few who insist that they
should be scored for flights that violated regulations.


It is an unreasonable penalty to completely eliminate a 10 hour flight
that landed 1 minute after sunset. To avoid this penalty a pilot may
have to give up soaring an hour early to be sure of getting home in
time, or should he landout a minute from home to save the points.



Andy

So, by that logic Andy, a really spectacular flight that violates an
FAR gets some additional leeway over a not-so-impressive flight?

There was a great article in Soaring maybe a year ago by Brian Collins
about a 1000K flight. One of the key elements of his flight planning
involved getting back on the ground before sunset. Clearly, he could
have gone on to rack up at least another 100K or 200K by ignoring the
FARs, but he chose to make the FARs a key part of his decision making.
So, to answer your question, "Yes, a pilot should give up soaring
early to be sure of getting home in time." Does that have to be
"an hour early"? No. If you fly it the same way you would typically
fly a MAT (i.e. leave a few close in turnpoints for the end of the
day), there's no reason to give up that much of the flyable day.

Erik Mann
LS8-18 P3