High Speed Passes & the FAA

JJ - Do you ever make your landing touchdown within 500' of a person,
trailer or runway light, even if it is not necessary?

Is that legal?

I'm thinking of turning you in to, or at least threatening you with,
the FAA to advance my contest rules agenda, but I wanted to point out
your lawless behavior to you privately first.

And no more of that abnormal pulling up into thermals from 110 kts!
You've been warned.

Jonathan Gere

P.S. Is a concrete runway with rebar a composite STRUCTURE? Should
power traffic divert to grass strip alternates, rather than make
UNNECESSARY landings on hard surface runways?

(JJ Sinclair) wrote in message ...
Andy,
Thank you for your reasonable response that deals with the issues. You
mentioned Minden and thought that a 50 foot, finish line could be safely
employed there. I was asked to be the CD at the first Sports Class Nationals,
held at Minden, some 20 yeasr ago. We employed a finish line on the Eastern
edge of the main N-S runway and it extended on out East for 3300 feet along the
edge of the closed runway. That closed runway is now glider tie-downs on both
sides of the N-S runway. If we extended the finish line, another 3300 feet on
out to the East, any low and slow finishers would be a minimum of half a mile
away from any runway. Clearly not a safe situation. I don't know anywhere that
a f 50 foot high, 3300 foot long finish line could be safely used at Minden
today. That is why we used the 500 foot, 1 mile finish cylinder at this years
Regionals and will use it again if we get the 18 meter nationals in 2004.

A couple of years ago, I was again asked to be the CD at the 18 meter and
Sports Nationals held at Montague. In the Regionals that immediately preceded
the nationals, we used a finish line with 50 foot minimum altitude. The airport
lay-out is similar to Minden with a main N-S runway and glider tie-downs on
both sides of an intersecting closed runway. When it was pointed out to me,
that finishers were coming in very low, right over people in the tie-down area,
I decided to employ the 500 foot, 1 mile finish cylinder in the Nationals. The
same situation as Minden exists at Montague. If we moved the finish line
another 3300 feet on East, a low and slow finisher would be a minimum of half a
mile from any runway. We could move the finish line to the North end of the
main runway, but finishers would find themselves over a mile away from the
glider tie-down area. This would result in some low finishers, rolling to a
stop, thousands of feet short of the southern tie-down area and consequently,
blocking the runway. I don't know anywhere the finish line could be safely used
at Montague.

The 500 foot, 1 mile finish cylinder eliminates all conflicts with FAR
violations and allows for a safe and efficient way to deal with finishers that
may be facing head-on situations as they come in from all directions, at the
end of a MAT task. Any head-on traffic has a full 2 mile separation. The
contestants, pull-up and slow-up at 1 mile and then enter the pattern in a
relaxed and orderly manner.

I believe the 50 foot, finish line will disappear from US competition, whether
or not it is removed from our rules, simply because no prudent Contest Manager
would employ it due to the conflicts it presents with violation of several
FAR's,
JJ Sinclair

"Jonathan Gere" wrote...
JJ - Do you ever make your landing touchdown within 500' of a person,
trailer or runway light, even if it is not necessary?

91.119 Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an
aircraft below the following altitudes...

"Marc Ramsey" wrote in message m...
"Jonathan Gere" wrote...
JJ - Do you ever make your landing touchdown within 500' of a person,
trailer or runway light, even if it is not necessary?

91.119 Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an
aircraft below the following altitudes...

I meant not "necessary for takeoff or landing".

The things I mentioned are not necessary for landing. Lots of people
do them as a normal part of their landing, but they could land at the
far corner of the airport (or off-field) to better follow the FAR's,
if JJ's legal opinions were correct, not ridiculous.

Lots of other people make low passes as a normal part of their
landings, right under the noses of FAA officials, the ones who get a
weekday off with pay visiting glider contests. I guess JJ is right
that low passes are illegal!

The seventh level of hell: eternity with JJ, John Cochrane, and the
guy who determined that rigging a glider required a logbook entry as
preventative maintenance, until the FAR wording was changed.

Jonathan Gere