Hard Deck

On Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 2:28:59 PM UTC-5, John Cochrane wrote:
Stupid stuff usually does not win contests. Our winners are tremendously talented pilots. Occasional sporting risks are part of the game. One landout, aborted flight through thunderstorm, etc. will lose a contest. So, usually, avoid such problems. But when you have to go, you have to go.

We (Aero Club Albatross - Blairstown, NJ) have had an atrocious record over the last 10 or so years. We've had at least 10 gliders seriously damaged or destroyed over that time period during field landings. None of these was during a contest. Many of them were during ridge flights, but not all. And we've had several that were incredibly close to being accidents. Not a single one was a record flight or had any "points" on the line.

I would submit that the problem isn't a scoring or points problem, but an airmanship problem.

P3