Is the 200ft below Min Finish Height Rule Working?

On Monday, January 20, 2014 10:20:15 PM UTC-5, wrote:


You did not provide a logical reason why this big change (scoring as land out) was made rather then just raising the finish height and leaving gradual penalty.



The point of scoring low finishes as a landout is real simple. When you're deciding "shall I land in the last good field or press on" at MacCready 0 plus 50 feet, it needs to be crystal clear that you will gain nothing by pressing on. This is not safety legislation -- points are off the table, make a good decision, points are the same either way. With a graduated penalty there is always some benefit to pressing on. And complexity. Didn't you guys want simple rules? Try figuring out the points to finish 397 feet low.



It just moves the hard ground down. You used to be scored as a landout -- with none of this mollycoddling graduated penalties -- if you missed the fence by a foot.



Don't think of it as a "penalty." The task is to start below (say) 5000', get inside three turnpoints, and finish no less than (say) 700'. If you didn't do that, you didn't fly the same race as everyone else. In what other sport can you miss the finish line by 200 feet and still get a "finish?" And want more?



John Cochrane

John, you are saying this is not "a safety legislature" then what is it? What was the purpose of this change, more fun?

This rule does not change behavior. If old rules were in effect a pilot would try to make it to the field and he would get there say at 450 feet (safe).

According to the new rule he thinks he can not loose so many points by being scored as land out. So what does he do? He says oh well I am going to try to thermal low on final glide in hope of finding the missing points instead of ending up safely at the field at 450 feet and accepting penalty according the old rules.

This rule creates a bad incentive. You just changed one not so bad situation for much worse.

You just can't fix the world. Smart pilot will think about going home safely to his family a not so smart pilot will take risks no matter what.

Let's not cry out about how bad finishes are in Europe. We already had the 500 feet we did not need any more improvement. What is next? This never ends like it did not end on 500 feet.