The Decline of Soaring Awards

John from my experience it has to do with the club atmosphere much more then the the fleet. I'm part of a small club out on the west coast. We have 2 2-33's, 1-26, and a DG-100. None of these are great cross country trainers, but the club is Very cross country oriented. In the spring when the weather is good there will b at least 5 or 6 people going xc in private ships and the students pick up on this.

Another thing to note is that you don't need to be a CFIG to teach cross country. One of the members of our club owns a Duo and he will often bring fleshly minted pilots on flights with him to see what you can really do with cross country and for mentoring. For me personally he has been the best resource for learning to fly cross country both on the ground and in the air..

Last note, and this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I think that badges, at least after the bronze badge, are a silly and outdated way to encourage cross country flying. For a badge one must declare a task, fill out a lengthy task decoration, find an official observer, find a certified tracker, if not in calibration get that tracker calibrated, and so on before making the flight. These steps are for the most part pointless, annoying, and discouraging people from flying. Thus I think OLC is a much better motivator for cross country soaring if you need one.

Hello Wyll, as for some of the badges you don’t really have to do a thing. For gold and diamond distance all a guy has to do is have a logger, call an observer or the airport manager, tell them your going on a long flight and fly it. If you make the distance, then you fill out the forms and have the OO or manager check over things. Actually easy peasy.
The same goes for altitude legs. For declared distance legs not really that much harder, you just have to preload your intended task into your logger and same thing, go fly. Actually it is way easier than back in the “paper� days with written declarations, cameras, turn point photos and barographs.

Dan

On Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 2:31:18 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Hello Wyll, as for some of the badges you don’t really have to do a thing. For gold and diamond distance all a guy has to do is have a logger, call an observer or the airport manager, tell them your going on a long flight and fly it. If you make the distance, then you fill out the forms and have the OO or manager check over things. Actually easy peasy.
The same goes for altitude legs. For declared distance legs not really that much harder, you just have to preload your intended task into your logger and same thing, go fly. Actually it is way easier than back in the “paper� days with written declarations, cameras, turn point photos and barographs.

Dan

Any special equipment needed for the altitude component for badges today? Like an altitude encoding transponder? Or does a simple GPS data logger suffice?

A clarification on badge distance rules. All flights for Gold Distance, Diamond Distance, and Diamond Goal must be pre-declared - unless they are a point to point "downwind dash".

I learned this the hard way by being an OO for a Diamond Distance flight where we screwed up the post flight waypoint GPS identification and tried to change it.

Only an IGC approved logger is needed for altitude claims.

Lou

Yes MNLou, sorry for not clarifying that about distance, guys can just plan/make a straight line flight and qualify for gold or diamond distance without declaring where there going. Those have been the most fun flights for me.. I like just heading out on a good day and seeing how far I can get in a direction that looks good.
Dan

On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 13:58:07 -0700, MNLou wrote:

A clarification on badge distance rules. All flights for Gold Distance,
Diamond Distance, and Diamond Goal must be pre-declared - unless they
are a point to point "downwind dash".

Gold distance doesn't need to be predeclared, but the Diamond Goal flight
does. Since both are 300 km, declare it anyway and, on completion you can
claim it as Gold Distance and Diamond Goal. At least, that was the case
when I did the flight and claimed both badge legs.

Height claims require an IGC approved logger with a calibrated pressure
sensor installed. If its calibration certificate is out of date it can be
recalibrated after the flight: there is a short window allowed for doing
that. However, if you're relying on post calibration, if conditions
permit, do make sure you've given yourself a decent height margin rather
than just scrambling over the target height in case the sensor has
drifted.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

On Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 5:00:30 PM UTC-5, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 13:58:07 -0700, MNLou wrote:

A clarification on badge distance rules. All flights for Gold Distance,
Diamond Distance, and Diamond Goal must be pre-declared - unless they
are a point to point "downwind dash".

Gold distance doesn't need to be predeclared,

Per the Sporting Code and the SSA Badge Dude, indeed, Gold Distance - unless a downwind dash - needs to be predeclared.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks!

Lou

On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 19:59:20 -0700, MNLou wrote:

A clarification on badge distance rules. All flights for Gold
Distance,
Diamond Distance, and Diamond Goal must be pre-declared - unless they
are a point to point "downwind dash".

Gold distance doesn't need to be predeclared,

Per the Sporting Code and the SSA Badge Dude, indeed, Gold Distance -
unless a downwind dash - needs to be predeclared.


Please correct me if I'm wrong.

No, that's correct - the undeclared flight may be a straight line in any
direction, otherwise it must be declared and must not have more than
three declared turnpoints.

====

Do you guys have a 100 km diploma, or is that UK only? It has two parts:

a) Completion of a 100 km declared closed circuit flight, set either as a
triangle or as an out - and - return, starting and finishing with the
crossing of a 1km start/finish line.

b) Completion of a similar flight to that above, but at a minimum
handicapped speed of 65 km per hour. The handicap list from the current
Competition Handbook is to be used.

I think flying something like that is quite a good introduction to XC
soaring given UK airspace restrictions.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

On Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 10:59:23 PM UTC-4, MNLou wrote:
On Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 5:00:30 PM UTC-5, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 13:58:07 -0700, MNLou wrote:

A clarification on badge distance rules. All flights for Gold Distance,
Diamond Distance, and Diamond Goal must be pre-declared - unless they
are a point to point "downwind dash".

Gold distance doesn't need to be predeclared,

Per the Sporting Code and the SSA Badge Dude, indeed, Gold Distance - unless a downwind dash - needs to be predeclared.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks!

Lou

The only one that requires declaration of turn points is diamond goal.
Gold distance and diamond distance can be straight out without declared points.
UH

Any special equipment needed for the altitude component for badges today? Like an altitude encoding transponder? Or does a simple GPS data logger suffice?

From the current Sporting Code https://www.fai.org/igc-documents :
"FLIGHT RECORDER 1.1.5 An IGC-approved device to record pressure altitude and GPS position and altitude. A given FLIGHT RECORDER may be approved for all flights, all badges, or Silver through Diamond badge claims only.
POSITION RECORDER 1.1.6 A NAC-approved device to record GPS data for Silver or Gold badge claims only."

FR's have special barometric sensors. PR's can too, but most use GPS altitude, which has a error band of 100m applied.

A list of PR's approved by NACs is at http://www.ukiws.demon.co.uk/GFAC/po..._recorders.htm .