2019 SSA Contest Rules Pilot Opinion Poll Now Open

On Friday, October 25, 2019 at 2:18:38 PM UTC-6, wrote:
On Friday, October 25, 2019 at 3:12:38 PM UTC-4, Mike C wrote:
On Friday, October 25, 2019 at 11:56:21 AM UTC-6, John Cochrane wrote:
On Monday, October 21, 2019 at 10:11:01 AM UTC-7, Tony wrote:
Isn't that exactly the proposal?

How many people are actually staying out of racing because they don't Like the rules? Very few I think.

Lots of people stay out of racing because they perceive it to be dangerous, citing gaggles and midair risk; because they don't want to land out a lot; because they don't have or want to bring a crew.

The main resistance to lots of AST tasking and current IGC scoring formulas is the feeling that it makes all three worse. All three are definitely worse in IGC events, and countries that follow IGC rules.

The other big objection I hear is from the OLC crowd who doesn't want to waste a lot of the day. If AST tasking leads to shorter tasks, to get everyone home, then the top pilots will be flying in even smaller slices of the day.

There is a decline in racing interest around the world. Many pilots perceive it to be a dangerous specialized tactical game that sort of involves gliders.

This isn't all about rules, but rules contribute to things that definitely discourage pilots from attending contests.

John Cochrane

John,

I am not a contest pilot. I enjoy flying OLC. It requires less dedication as far a time and other resources.

Any idea how many of the accidents in the USA in the past few years happened at contests due to gaggles or other "contest environment" issues? Also, when comparing accidents in World Competition, how many accidents were there as far as percentage differences when compared to our National Contests? If IGC rules are potentially more dangerous it should show up statistically.

Thank you.

Mike Carris

Statistics don't get to be very good with small data sets.
Quick answer without extensive research. In the Spring meeting IGC noted four fatal accidents in 10 years over 37 events.
In the US, I know of 2 fatalities in the last 10 years over about 50 events (Nationals only). One mid air and one crash for reasons not determined.
Note that John talks about perception. If we adopt rules that reduce the perception of risk, it should be favorable for participation. I don't know anyone that would suggest that a large increase in gaggle flying would not increase the risk of mid airs.
With the size of our contests, adopting IGC rules and scoring likely would have a moderate increase in gaggling- my opinion FWIW.
UH

Thank you Hank.

Excuse my naivety.

About rules and safety.

I don't think anyone would deny that many gliders flying in close proximity of other gliders can be dangerous. How much more dangerous are the IGC rules in contrast to the US rules, in reality though I am not clear about, especially IF larger gaggles are the result of a larger number of pilots(more participants)waiting for a start gate to open and the resulting following gaggles.

About perception, the perception of safety should be and based on fact and decided on an individual's decision weighing those facts.

You have supplied data for some accidents in the USA and World contests, but perhaps what we should take into consideration, is the total number of pilots that participated in World Championships and US National Championships in the past 10 years and of those numbers how many accidents were there statically.

Although the answers would not change my desire to fly in contests, these are questions I have in regards to the debate that is currently going on concerning safety. It would illuminate the reality of the debate for me. Perhaps I am being naive, but as a soaring pilot and supporter of contests and contest pilots, I would like to know the facts.


Regards,

Mike Carris