Finish Gate Accident no. 2

We do screen pilots that are accepted into our contests,
To get into a nationals they must be on the seeding
list (has flown in a contest within the last 3 years
and obtained at least 30% of winners score). To get
into a regionals they must be on the list or show a
gold badge and or recent cross country experience.
You make a good point and every now and then someone
slips through, but I can say the skill level I see
in contests is outstanding and among the best 'Jocks'
I have seen in 50 years of flying.
JJ
Screening pilots for acceptable skills will be a tough
(and politically
sensitive) task which is probably why it isn't done.
But if we don't,
Mother Nature will do it for us and we all know she
can be a bitch. The
screening could be as simple as requiring a yearly
flight check by a SRA
approved instructor who would use some tough test standards
created by the
SRA.

One example of a test would be to insure that the pilot
can make a takeoff
in his glider configured as it would be for a contest
(ballast, etc..)
without dragging a wing or allowing the glider to track
more than 2 meters
to the side of the runway centerline. Remember that
accident, JJ?

Bill Daniels

It is simply not true that the only people who crash are inexperienced
"poor pilots" who could be "weeded out" by any entry criteria. Peter
Masak, Clem Bowman, Gene Carpetyan etc. were among the most highly
skilled and experienced pilots around. Many of our world team pilots
have a crash or two behind them. If these guys were not skilled enough
to enter a contest, few of the rest of us belong there either.

John Cochrane
BB

"John Sinclair" wrote in message
...
We do screen pilots that are accepted into our contests,
To get into a nationals they must be on the seeding
list (has flown in a contest within the last 3 years
and obtained at least 30% of winners score). To get
into a regionals they must be on the list or show a
gold badge and or recent cross country experience.
You make a good point and every now and then someone
slips through, but I can say the skill level I see
in contests is outstanding and among the best 'Jocks'
I have seen in 50 years of flying.
JJ

Is that really enough to assure currency? What about Regionals?

I'd be more interested in the number of flights in the glider the contestant
plans to fly in the last 90 days. I've watched 1/3 of the grid at a
Regional drag a wing on takeoff. A similar number drifted 30 feet or so
from the centerline. That's not confidence inspiring.

I'd like to hear of a safety official making a radio call like."[contest
number] return and land - you're black flagged for the day," after a muffed
takeoff. If that happened once, it wouldn't happen very often after that.

You are right, the majority of the pilots at the national level are superb
pilots. They are very rarely involved in an incident or accident either.

Bill Daniels