2014 US Modern and US Club Class Nationals - Assigned Task calledtoday! FANTASTIC!

On Thursday, July 24, 2014 4:34:46 PM UTC-5, Dan Stroschine wrote:
I am also not a competition pilot, I'm barely even a pilot, so maybe this either a dumb idea or already available but is there a compromise of sorts.. Can a CD create a course that consists of some assigned tasks, in a specific order AND a 'free period' of sorts that could the turn area types?

Idea is already available, Dan. In the US, it is called the "Modified Assigned Task", or MAT. It can be used with up to 11 turn points, some or all can be defined by the task setter. If not all 11 are defiend by the task setter, it is up to the individual pilot to decide what additional turnpoints he will add. He does have to get within one mile of all turns, so it is not the larger areas for turning around available with the Turn Area Task (TAT), but if I pilot selects his direction of flight wisely, he can have multiple turnpoints available for his choice of when to turn around and go back through where he thought conditions were good.

Generally, the task is set to have a portion of it defined, then allow the racers to "pick their own points" for the rest of the task. I have also flown tasks where the task setter defined a course where you would be on course all day and then some if you tried to complete the entire task, and in that case, you got to chose when you wanted to end the task and come home. And you still got credit for completing a speed task. Interesting, but can be a controversial task to call in this manner.

The key thing is that on a Modified Assigned Task, the turn areas are limited to one mile radius, while on a Turn Area Task, the turn radius can be up to, I believe, 30 miles.

Steve Leonard