Confessions of a Flarm Follower

I am away from my computer and celebrating New Year's Eve. If I take time to give full response my wife is going to kill me. I'll comment on only part of your post.

Your stance on land outs is part of the east v west divide on this issue. The possibility of landing out is part of the drama of the sport. Talk to someone interested in the sport and they soon ask you, "have you ever had to land in a field?" In the west this is viewed as much more a huge deal. In the east it is part of the game. So is taking yourself out of the race by making a rash decision which leads to a landout. In this way, the sport simulates life. People's personalities seep into the pilot decision making. You see it is the characters that make the sport interesting to new people. Otherwise, the race is just about fying around. FLARM potentially masks this and other key elements of sailplane racing making the sport more dull.