Last Day In Hobbs scrubbed - What a Joke!

On Friday, 5 July 2013 15:49:42 UTC-6, noel.wade wrote:
For those castigating me: Did you miss the part where I acknowledged the contest staff "working their asses off"?



TODAY I got up at 5am (after being up most of the night with neighbors setting off fireworks) to drive 3+ hours to a contest site, just to deliver a weather briefing. Any of you who know me understand that I do a lot of volunteering and I have a great respect for everyone who volunteers to run an event. And my involvement with contests is in addition to being on the Board of Directors for _2_ separate clubs, *and* being the primary organizer of a major XC/Contest Mentoring event every Memorial Day weekend for the last 4 years, *and* holding ground-school type sessions for our club's student pilots!



But oh yes, SHAME ON ME for pointing out a major and _embarrassing_ failing of our national organization! It was a major failure in two ways -



First:

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It was potentially a waste of the _final day of competition_ for a National Championship. If I was 20 points out of the lead and vying for a Worlds team-slot, I'd be _incredibly_ ****ed off about this! Can you imagine if the PGA cancelled the final round of any golf tournament? Or how about the Reno Air Races only holding qualifying heats and cancelling the final rounds?



And winning isn't the only reason for pilots to fly on the last day... Taking time off work to travel to a contest and compete is a major commitment, and getting as many flying days in as possible is important for contestants to feel like the trip and expense was worthwhile. I realize that a large portion of the SSA membership is retirees; but if you want to pay more than lip-service to the future of the sport then you need to think about how people in their 20's, 30's, and 40's can enjoy and participate in the fullest way. And that means being cognizant of work schedules and the pressures of people with families and family activities (and the greater number of time-sinks and alternative hobbies/pursuits in today's world).



Second:

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We've already got an image/messaging/marketing problem when it comes to our sport, and this kind of thing makes us look weak and amateurish. Sorry folks, but if we're not willing to admit when things aren't being done well, it'll never get improved. There are some fine people putting in long hours for both local and national parts of the organization. But - to be blunt - if the work isn't _effectively directed_ or isn't being done _efficiently_ then it doesn't matter how sweet or wonderful those people's intentions are.



Look, I used to be heavily involved in the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) doing autocrossing and road-course racing. The autocross "Solo 2" National Championships are always a big deal in Topeka and the national organization does a good job liaising with the local politicians and land owners to ensure a well-publicized event. If that organization can do it, so could the SSA. How hard is it to have an ongoing dialogue with the town leaders and the airport manager? And if this _is_ something that's been coordinated in the past, why wasn't it a checklist item for the organizers and/or the SSA National staff?



As _people_ I like and really appreciate the individuals who give their time and energy to the SSA. HOWEVER, I think this screwup speaks volumes about the state of the national organization (either the way it is run, or organized, or how funds are used, or some combination thereof).



--Noel

Noel, get off your soap box, deflate your head, and face reality.

If you have not yet done so, go the SSA website and read 'About the SSA' under The SSA tab. It is not the responsibility of the SSA staff to run or organize competitions, period! As has been pointed out by others, for this year and previous years, the SSA staff does what they can and then more to support competitions when they are in Hobbs.

Regarding your first point - the two example you provide are situations where events are run by independent professional organizations that are highly paid and subsidized. If you really want this in soaring then be prepared to add one to two zero to that check you write for participating in a contest.

Furthermore, your continued berating and belittling of the organizers is no way to motivate them to continue in future years or show support to them in what ways we can. They understand a large mistake and/or oversight occurred and I am sure they feel horrible about it (I had the pleasure to work with them in 2011 at Hobbs). How is your rant in any way positive to the organization or the organizers?

Regarding your second point - 'makes us look weak and amateurish' statement is naive. Get it through your head that the only people who care about this mistake and what we as soaring pilots typically do are OURSELVES. We can beat ourselves up over this but John Q Public will never know or care. The work of the SSA staff is effectively directed for meeting the objectives stated for the organization. I will say it again, it is not the objective of the SSA staff to organize and run competitions. They assist administratively for competitions and that is all the can effectively do with any competition not held in Hobbs.

Regarding 'the airport manager' statement, there is NO airport manager. The event is held at an abandoned facility.

As to your last sentence Noel, I believe your posts speaks volumes to the misunderstandings you have concerning the SSA staff, their charter, and the objectives set forth by the Executive Director and Board of Directors (whom are all volunteers).

Next time you need to drive three hours for a weather briefing, consider using a phone with a speaker phone at the receiving facility. As a technology guy you should understand this. Plus it may prevent you from getting all fired up and abusing and insulting people.

Actually we lost two days to organizational snafus. We also lost a day when it transpired that a parachute operation at Lea County (the "real" Hobbs airport, about 5 miles away) had notamed the airspace. Tim (CD) found out about 10 AM, and there was not time to do anything else about it so that day was scrubbed too.

I think what happened is that the job of checking notams and coordinating with the parachute operation, and the job of making sure we "owned" at least a part of the airport through the contest period, just fell through the cracks. It's not that someone did their job badly, I think these just were nobody's job. Both events came as surprises to contest management.

The lesson learned, for all contests, and Hobbs especially, is that we need to make sure someone has the job of making really sure we "own" our section of the airport -- which can mean fireworks, spectators, power traffic, difficult FBOs, etc. -- and someone has the job of reading notams and TFRs, and working with all other users of the airspace. (The coordination with the Lea County tower was evident and well done.) Problems need to be known ahead of time so there is time to work them out. When a problem surfaces at 10 AM, there is just no time to craft a reliable plan to coordinate with a jump operation that has notamed our airspace, or to craft a reliable plan that separates random fireworks seeking civilians from silent landing aircraft..

Let's learn the lesson without personal criticism. I appreciate tremendously the effort and sacrifice of contest volunteers, especially Tim and Edre, who took two weeks out of their lives to put on a contest for our fun. Tim did a super job as CD -- so good that I'm sure he will be "rewarded" by being asked to do it again soon! He saved a day that without super management would have been lost. The task advisers also put together just the right task for each day. We can appreciate the effort, while all -- Hobbs, SSA, site selection committee, contest organizers, etc. -- make sure that these boxes are checked next time.

I didn't mention 7 days of super soaring weather and a hard fought race. Once again, home with a whole new set of lessons learned. Just wait for next year, the rest of us are saying...

John Cochrane