Minutes of Fall 2014 USA Rules Committee meeting posted on SSA website

On Sunday, January 25, 2015 at 2:06:42 AM UTC-6, Sean Fidler wrote:
John,

I think most would agree that US rules and our general US tasking "policy" is deeply intertwined. Some very strongly held opinions on tasking are held in certain "area's of influence." I believe that many US and Canadian "contest" pilots are very interested in this discussion about the near US extinction of Assigned Tasks.

The facts are that the USA/SSA ran only 4 (thats right, FOUR aka 2%) ASTs in 2014. This is down almost 50% from 7 in 2013. We ran only 2 ASTs in 2014 US National Contests (down 60% from 2013). Ironically, the only 2014 US Nationals AST (two classes, same day) was held for the "US?" Club Class! So its really one 1 AST in US Nationals in 2014.

I can't imagine too many pilots getting excited to go fly contests that consist mainly of wide turn radius TAT and zero and one turn point MAT.

Well, at least we have the Sailplane Grand Prix to dream about...

Sean


On Friday, January 23, 2015 at 10:33:15 PM UTC-5, John Cochrane wrote:
Sean:

There is a reason CDs and task advisers call so few ATs. In the winter on RAS ATs sound great. At 10 AM running a real contest they don't.

ATs necessarily use a small fraction of the soaring day. If a 70% speed pilot can finish, that means the top pilot left 30% of the soaring day on the table. A few days of flying 3 hour tasks on 5-6 hour days (4 hours for slow pilot to finish task, 1 hour to lanuch, 15 minutes to open gate, 15 minutes to get everyone going) and people start grumbling that OLC lets them do a lot more flying.

Or, the CD sets long tasks and the beginners land out day after day. Then they go home and don't go back.

That's on great days with predictable weather. Your CD and task advisers notice quickly that not every day is perfect. Thunderstorms, and the whole fleet lands out at turnpoint 1, while the sky is booming everywhere else. This just isn't fun.

But the rules allow AT! This is not a rules question. Volunteer to be task adviser. Run an all AT contest at Ionia. See if people want it so bad to show up. Lobby task advisers at your contests to run more ATs -- and to persuade all the other pilots that it's a great idea. There is absolutely nothing in the rules stopping anyone from running an all -AT contest. If they want to do it.

John Cochrane

That is appalling, I fully agree with you, Sean.
When moving to the Chicago area I found out about the NISC or Northern IL Soaring Contest that John Cochrane and Mike Shakman are running for our area.. The goal of the contest is to provide tasks and challenges that are similar to Regional Contests and to provide training for those (those goals must have been set in the last century). Tasks are pilot-called and consist of picking turnpoints and a minimum flight time (has to be = 2 hours. TP radius is of course 1 mi. In 2013 for example I turned in 21 flights, at least 90% of them AST type tasks (with min. time). Unfortunately, we started allowing area TP some 2-3 years ago and I don't like them. The discipline required to "make" a turnpoint is an important skill to hone. When flying an OLC camp in UT last year I found myself collecting real turnpoints rather than bouncing only along the lift lines, cost me quite a few OLC points.. Habit is a strong thing to overcome, I guess. Have a look at our NISC and emulate at will:
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john...ring/index.htm
John, I hope you don't mind me posting this link to your web site.

Herb Kilian