Potential $300 increase in contest fees?

At 16:15 17 December 2012, Wallace Berry wrote:
In article ,
wrote:

On Sunday, December 16, 2012 12:05:45 PM UTC-5,
wrote:
Reading the latest Rules Committee meeting minutes I see item number
14

slips a "tax" in the rules. $50 charge by waiver for any contest
pilot

showing up without a crew. Note it is $50 PER DAY!



This was not included in the pilot poll, we currently have a
sanctioning
fee surplus, the minutes state that almost all of the 2012 contests
reported a profit.



Is it productive to increase contest fees by $300 for participants?
Will
this create more or less participation in regionals? Is there really
an
unbearable burden placed on contest organizers when it comes to
crewless
pilots?



As an active contest pilot with a wife that participates 50% of the
time I
have found that my "friend pool" has done an effective job of
retrieving
for each other. We make the required call to the retrieve office but
in
reality we arrange our own retrieves.



If you feel that the $300 "tax" is unwarranted please voice your
opinion.



Lane

XF

Possibly the word "tax" should be replaced with "penalty". And
possibly
the
rules committee is stating that they neither encourage or prohibit such
a

charge but are in fact neutral. I just want to squish this
counterproductive
idea right now!

Lane
XF


Thanks for catching this and bringing to wider attention, Lane.

Any contest charging $300 for showing up crewless would not have me as
an entrant. For starters, I suspect that such a contest would not draw
enough entrants to make in the first place. Second, I can't afford it.
Not everyone flying contests has a $100k rig with bucks to spare.

WB
Flying a roughly Libelle shaped pile of fiberglass, with a B-40 as the
most sophisticated instrument in the panel, and a 25 year-old crew
vehicle.

Now if there was a $50 'Au Vache' charge which was passed on without
deduction to the unfortunate who has to retrieve you, it would seem only
fair.