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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
This is cross posted from the SSA Home News & Information General
News: As the days get shorter as the end of the soaring season nears, the SSA-OLC Committee has been receiving complaints about flights after sunset without required aircraft lighting. Although the requirements for night flight begin at twilight for pilots in the US, the requirements for aircraft lighting begin at sunset. Gliders without approved lighting must land, and move clear of lighted runways and taxiways before sunset. IGC flight logs contain a GPS time stamp which is the most exact time standard readily available. So, violations of this requirement are quite plain to see in these logs. The SSA Board was concerned about flight logs with obvious violations damaging the sport if they were posted in the public record of the OLC. So the board adopted a policy disqualifying such flights from the OLC, as well as FAI awards such as badges and records. See: http://www.ssa.org/download/SSA%20Po...Violations.pdf The SSA-OLC Committee prefers that pilots voluntarily remove the flights, rather than having them removed by an admin. We have contacted a number of pilots to request this, and they are currently in various stages of the 5-step grieving process (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). You can avoid this emotional roller coaster by planning and executing your flights to be complete before sunset, unless you have approved night lighting. You can't just duct tape a flashlight to the nose for night flight. The requirements for navigation lights are very specific to color, intensity and direction. If your aircraft is equipped with approved night lighting, and it was used for flight after sunset, you must put a note in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this. We also have been advised of flight claims that show altitudes in the log well above the 18,000' MSL limit for Class-A airspace in the US. The IGC logger altitude is subject to a number of errors, which could total to several hundred feet. We are currently reviewing with the pilots a number of flights that appear to exceed even a reasonable error budget. Note that unless your flight reference altimeter has been properly calibrated for IFR flight, and is set to a current ATC altimeter setting, you will need to allow an extra buffer below 18,000' MSL indicated altitude to account for possible errors. If you have an encounter with an IFR aircraft with calibrated altitude references, the calibrated references and ATC logs will be used to determine your actual altitude in any subsequent investigation. Again, if your flight log shows flight above 18,000 MSL, after correcting for field elevation at takeoff, you will need to provide an explanation in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this. The same requirement applies to entering special use airspace. This will immediately answer any questions that may concern other competitors, or anyone else reviewing your flight log in the future. Finally, if you note a flight that appears to be questionable, do not speculate in public forums (like news://rec.avation.soaring). Contact the pilot privately if you can. If the flight is in the US, contact the SSA-OLC Committee by email at olcatssadotorg. Or use the complaint tab on the OLC Web header to initiate a partner check. Doug Haluza SSA-OLC Admin |
#2
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
Doug Haluza wrote: intensity and direction. If your aircraft is equipped with approved night lighting, So has anyone in the USA investigated options to add lighting to a sailplane? The new generation of super bright LEDs seem to be a perfect solution for us. They could even be embedded in various parts of the wingtip or winglet. A couple AA batteries installed at each light location would probably last 20 or more hours, so no need to run wires. But since current draw would be quite low, a fairly lightweight wire would be suitable. -Tom |
#3
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
"GC flight logs contain a GPS time stamp which is the most exact time
standard readily available. So, violations of this requirement are quite plain to see in these logs." Unfortunately, sunset doesn't come with a GPS timestamp, so I'm afraid this isn't as easy as you make it sound. Yes, I know there are standard tables of sunset times, but these make assumptions that may not be exactly correct and at a given location actual sunset may differ from the calculated one by many minutes. (Ask any local physicist./astronomer). Of course, gross violations are pretty obvious, but I have operated from a field where landing to the west is best done after the sun has descended behind mountains, which usually occurs close to the time of "official" sunset and is standard practice by those flying late. Methinks all this scrutiny of flight logs is getting a bit too intrusive and nit-picky. Mike |
#4
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
Mike the Strike wrote: "IGC flight logs contain a GPS time stamp which is the most exact time standard readily available. So, violations of this requirement are quite plain to see in these logs." Unfortunately, sunset doesn't come with a GPS timestamp, so I'm afraid this isn't as easy as you make it sound. Yes, I know there are standard tables of sunset times, but these make assumptions that may not be exactly correct and at a given location actual sunset may differ from the calculated one by many minutes. (Ask any local physicist./astronomer). Of course, gross violations are pretty obvious, but I have operated from a field where landing to the west is best done after the sun has descended behind mountains, which usually occurs close to the time of "official" sunset and is standard practice by those flying late. Methinks all this scrutiny of flight logs is getting a bit too intrusive and nit-picky. Mike The apparent movement of the sun in the sky is known very precisely (we have been observing the sun for centuries). The only variable is the refraction of the atmosphere, which changes the precise angle at which the sun appears to pass below the local horizon. Various sunset calculations use different refraction calculations, so they may differ by a few minutes, but not "many minutes". The time of actual sunset may also vary by a few minutes from the calculated value. The US Naval Observatory has a sunrise/sunset calculator available online, and this is probably the most reliable source for sunset times. Unfortunately there is widespread ignorance of the sunset rule for aircraft lighting, despite the fact that it has remained unchanged for many years--longer than most pilots have been flying. So, we have seen a few gross violations posted to OLC. The point of all this is to get pilots to self-police, and not post these flights in the first place. They should not be making flights that continue after sunset witout lights anyway, but we certainly don't want to see them on the OLC in any case. P.S. The sun will appear to set below mountains before official sunset when at an altitude lower than the mountains, becase the mountains will appear to project above the local horizon. P.P.S. Note that the sun will appear to set later than official sunset when flying for the opposite reason--the local horizon appears to be depressed. So you will need to enter the pattern to land well before the sun appears to be setting in flight. |
#5
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
Doug,
May I make some suggestions? (1) Do not change OLC rules mid-season. (2) If you insist on checking all traces for certain violations, do it at the time of claim -- automatically -- and reject those that do not pass, there and then. Going back through the season and arbitrarily hand-picking "bad" flights seems like huge waste of time -- yours and everybody else's. More generally, I can't help but notice that OLC has become a much worse place since SSA got involved. It started with a huge ugly STATIONARY banner on top of SSA-OLC page that serves no good purpose but to generate advertisement income for SSA at the expense of users' screen space. I checked other national OLCs, and the ONLY three out of 29 that do this tasteless disservice to their users are AT, FR and US. Now this policing of the traces. OLC used to be an extremely valuable tool for sharing and learning. I used to rave about it and promote it to all my soaring friends. Still, I estimate that only about one-third of the pilots I know post their flights. Which is a pity, because those who do NOT post tend to be the more experienced and wiser pilots. See any connection? You can count the "stages" in the "process", but I do not see how you can count on the last one being acceptance. Many did not accept OLC to begin with and still fewer will if the current trends with SSA-OLC continue. The rate of participation will be further diminishing, as will be the value of the OLC to the rest of us. Pity. Once again, U.S.A. shows the way. Thank you. -- Yuliy Gerchikov "Doug Haluza" wrote in message oups.com... This is cross posted from the SSA Home News & Information General News: As the days get shorter as the end of the soaring season nears, the SSA-OLC Committee has been receiving complaints about flights after sunset without required aircraft lighting. Although the requirements for night flight begin at twilight for pilots in the US, the requirements for aircraft lighting begin at sunset. Gliders without approved lighting must land, and move clear of lighted runways and taxiways before sunset. IGC flight logs contain a GPS time stamp which is the most exact time standard readily available. So, violations of this requirement are quite plain to see in these logs. The SSA Board was concerned about flight logs with obvious violations damaging the sport if they were posted in the public record of the OLC. So the board adopted a policy disqualifying such flights from the OLC, as well as FAI awards such as badges and records. See: http://www.ssa.org/download/SSA%20Po...Violations.pdf The SSA-OLC Committee prefers that pilots voluntarily remove the flights, rather than having them removed by an admin. We have contacted a number of pilots to request this, and they are currently in various stages of the 5-step grieving process (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). You can avoid this emotional roller coaster by planning and executing your flights to be complete before sunset, unless you have approved night lighting. You can't just duct tape a flashlight to the nose for night flight. The requirements for navigation lights are very specific to color, intensity and direction. If your aircraft is equipped with approved night lighting, and it was used for flight after sunset, you must put a note in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this. We also have been advised of flight claims that show altitudes in the log well above the 18,000' MSL limit for Class-A airspace in the US. The IGC logger altitude is subject to a number of errors, which could total to several hundred feet. We are currently reviewing with the pilots a number of flights that appear to exceed even a reasonable error budget. Note that unless your flight reference altimeter has been properly calibrated for IFR flight, and is set to a current ATC altimeter setting, you will need to allow an extra buffer below 18,000' MSL indicated altitude to account for possible errors. If you have an encounter with an IFR aircraft with calibrated altitude references, the calibrated references and ATC logs will be used to determine your actual altitude in any subsequent investigation. Again, if your flight log shows flight above 18,000 MSL, after correcting for field elevation at takeoff, you will need to provide an explanation in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this. The same requirement applies to entering special use airspace. This will immediately answer any questions that may concern other competitors, or anyone else reviewing your flight log in the future. Finally, if you note a flight that appears to be questionable, do not speculate in public forums (like news://rec.avation.soaring). Contact the pilot privately if you can. If the flight is in the US, contact the SSA-OLC Committee by email at olcatssadotorg. Or use the complaint tab on the OLC Web header to initiate a partner check. Doug Haluza SSA-OLC Admin |
#6
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
12. Airspace Violations
The OLC organizers have to assume that the participants in the contest will not violate restricted airspace during their flights. ATC clearances are necessary to enter certain airspace. The OLC team will not check if a pilot has obtained the necessary clearance to enter airspace which needs ATC clearance. This is not within our competences and responsibilities. However, if we get to know that there has been an obvious violation of airspace then we reserve the right to carry out special actions against that pilot and his participation in the OLC. Of course every pilot is allowed to contact other pilots in case of a potential airspace violation. What rules are they changing? Is busting FAR's okay if they do not specify not to? Will your insurance pay a claim if you get hit at FL200 or flying after sunset? If we as a group knowingly allow cheating to occur, are we liable as well? If pilots want to fly illegally, they don't need to post logs for the rest of us to see. I wish pilots flew in accordance to the *privilege* of the license...then this discussion would be moot. Calling enforcement an issue is a weak argument. At 01:06 07 September 2006, Yuliy Gerchikov wrote: Doug, May I make some suggestions? (1) Do not change OLC rules mid-season. (2) If you insist on checking all traces for certain violations, do it at the time of claim -- automatically -- and reject those that do not pass, there and then. |
#7
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
Are you saying that 2/3 of the pilots you know are afraid to post
flights because they regularly bust FARs? Please tell me where you fly? At my home field, probably 3/4 of the pilots post their flights, including the very best pilots. Yuliy Gerchikov wrote: Doug, May I make some suggestions? (1) Do not change OLC rules mid-season. (2) If you insist on checking all traces for certain violations, do it at the time of claim -- automatically -- and reject those that do not pass, there and then. Going back through the season and arbitrarily hand-picking "bad" flights seems like huge waste of time -- yours and everybody else's. More generally, I can't help but notice that OLC has become a much worse place since SSA got involved. It started with a huge ugly STATIONARY banner on top of SSA-OLC page that serves no good purpose but to generate advertisement income for SSA at the expense of users' screen space. I checked other national OLCs, and the ONLY three out of 29 that do this tasteless disservice to their users are AT, FR and US. Now this policing of the traces. OLC used to be an extremely valuable tool for sharing and learning. I used to rave about it and promote it to all my soaring friends. Still, I estimate that only about one-third of the pilots I know post their flights. Which is a pity, because those who do NOT post tend to be the more experienced and wiser pilots. See any connection? You can count the "stages" in the "process", but I do not see how you can count on the last one being acceptance. Many did not accept OLC to begin with and still fewer will if the current trends with SSA-OLC continue. The rate of participation will be further diminishing, as will be the value of the OLC to the rest of us. Pity. Once again, U.S.A. shows the way. Thank you. -- Yuliy Gerchikov "Doug Haluza" wrote in message oups.com... This is cross posted from the SSA Home News & Information General News: As the days get shorter as the end of the soaring season nears, the SSA-OLC Committee has been receiving complaints about flights after sunset without required aircraft lighting. Although the requirements for night flight begin at twilight for pilots in the US, the requirements for aircraft lighting begin at sunset. Gliders without approved lighting must land, and move clear of lighted runways and taxiways before sunset. IGC flight logs contain a GPS time stamp which is the most exact time standard readily available. So, violations of this requirement are quite plain to see in these logs. The SSA Board was concerned about flight logs with obvious violations damaging the sport if they were posted in the public record of the OLC. So the board adopted a policy disqualifying such flights from the OLC, as well as FAI awards such as badges and records. See: http://www.ssa.org/download/SSA%20Po...Violations.pdf The SSA-OLC Committee prefers that pilots voluntarily remove the flights, rather than having them removed by an admin. We have contacted a number of pilots to request this, and they are currently in various stages of the 5-step grieving process (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). You can avoid this emotional roller coaster by planning and executing your flights to be complete before sunset, unless you have approved night lighting. You can't just duct tape a flashlight to the nose for night flight. The requirements for navigation lights are very specific to color, intensity and direction. If your aircraft is equipped with approved night lighting, and it was used for flight after sunset, you must put a note in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this. We also have been advised of flight claims that show altitudes in the log well above the 18,000' MSL limit for Class-A airspace in the US. The IGC logger altitude is subject to a number of errors, which could total to several hundred feet. We are currently reviewing with the pilots a number of flights that appear to exceed even a reasonable error budget. Note that unless your flight reference altimeter has been properly calibrated for IFR flight, and is set to a current ATC altimeter setting, you will need to allow an extra buffer below 18,000' MSL indicated altitude to account for possible errors. If you have an encounter with an IFR aircraft with calibrated altitude references, the calibrated references and ATC logs will be used to determine your actual altitude in any subsequent investigation. Again, if your flight log shows flight above 18,000 MSL, after correcting for field elevation at takeoff, you will need to provide an explanation in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this. The same requirement applies to entering special use airspace. This will immediately answer any questions that may concern other competitors, or anyone else reviewing your flight log in the future. Finally, if you note a flight that appears to be questionable, do not speculate in public forums (like news://rec.avation.soaring). Contact the pilot privately if you can. If the flight is in the US, contact the SSA-OLC Committee by email at olcatssadotorg. Or use the complaint tab on the OLC Web header to initiate a partner check. Doug Haluza SSA-OLC Admin |
#8
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
Yuliy Gerchikov wrote:
More generally, I can't help but notice that OLC has become a much worse place since SSA got involved. It started with a huge ugly STATIONARY banner on top of SSA-OLC page that serves no good purpose but to generate advertisement income for SSA at the expense of users' screen space. Maybe it depends on your screen size: I didn't even notice it was stationary and I don't think it's ugly. No problem here (19" monitor). Now this policing of the traces. OLC used to be an extremely valuable tool for sharing and learning. I used to rave about it and promote it to all my soaring friends. Still, I estimate that only about one-third of the pilots I know post their flights. Which is a pity, because those who do NOT post tend to be the more experienced and wiser pilots. See any connection? No, I don't. This SSA "policing problem" you mention didn't exist until recently, so that couldn't be the reason those pilots didn't post. And, it doesn't seem to be the case in Region 8 (experienced and wiser pilots not posting): our most prolific posters are also our most experienced pilots, though a few good pilots don't post their flights. You can count the "stages" in the "process", but I do not see how you can count on the last one being acceptance. Many did not accept OLC to begin with and still fewer will if the current trends with SSA-OLC continue. The rate of participation will be further diminishing, as will be the value of the OLC to the rest of us. Pity. If the people posting flights that appear to have illegal operations in them decide to stop posting to the OLC, is that bad? Most of the flights posted don't exceed 18,000', don't enter restricted airspace, and don't fly after sunset, so maybe these restrictions won't deter most pilots. Personally, I find participating in the OLC makes me a little more cautious close to 18,000', a little more diligent near restricted airspace, and bit more conservative when I get low. And that's not a bad thing. -- Note: email address new as of 9/4/2006 Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA "Transponders in Sailplanes" on the Soaring Safety Foundation website www.soaringsafety.org/prevention/articles.html "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org |
#9
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
Good points, Yuliy.
To avoid the SSA frame, you can use the following url: http://www2.onlinecontest.org/olcphp...olc-usa&spr=en May I add that a better use of the SSA banner would have been to provide a Rules link which clearly state the rules, instead of hiding it under "About" which most people never care to check. Instead, the only "rules" link available is the international one which says nothing about these sunset limitations, which many pilots were not aware of. Also, the content of the rules section hidden under the "About" link keep changing during the season, and worse, are reinforced retroactively. Ramy Yuliy Gerchikov wrote: Doug, May I make some suggestions? (1) Do not change OLC rules mid-season. (2) If you insist on checking all traces for certain violations, do it at the time of claim -- automatically -- and reject those that do not pass, there and then. Going back through the season and arbitrarily hand-picking "bad" flights seems like huge waste of time -- yours and everybody else's. More generally, I can't help but notice that OLC has become a much worse place since SSA got involved. It started with a huge ugly STATIONARY banner on top of SSA-OLC page that serves no good purpose but to generate advertisement income for SSA at the expense of users' screen space. I checked other national OLCs, and the ONLY three out of 29 that do this tasteless disservice to their users are AT, FR and US. Now this policing of the traces. OLC used to be an extremely valuable tool for sharing and learning. I used to rave about it and promote it to all my soaring friends. Still, I estimate that only about one-third of the pilots I know post their flights. Which is a pity, because those who do NOT post tend to be the more experienced and wiser pilots. See any connection? You can count the "stages" in the "process", but I do not see how you can count on the last one being acceptance. Many did not accept OLC to begin with and still fewer will if the current trends with SSA-OLC continue. The rate of participation will be further diminishing, as will be the value of the OLC to the rest of us. Pity. Once again, U.S.A. shows the way. Thank you. -- Yuliy Gerchikov "Doug Haluza" wrote in message oups.com... This is cross posted from the SSA Home News & Information General News: As the days get shorter as the end of the soaring season nears, the SSA-OLC Committee has been receiving complaints about flights after sunset without required aircraft lighting. Although the requirements for night flight begin at twilight for pilots in the US, the requirements for aircraft lighting begin at sunset. Gliders without approved lighting must land, and move clear of lighted runways and taxiways before sunset. IGC flight logs contain a GPS time stamp which is the most exact time standard readily available. So, violations of this requirement are quite plain to see in these logs. The SSA Board was concerned about flight logs with obvious violations damaging the sport if they were posted in the public record of the OLC. So the board adopted a policy disqualifying such flights from the OLC, as well as FAI awards such as badges and records. See: http://www.ssa.org/download/SSA%20Po...Violations.pdf The SSA-OLC Committee prefers that pilots voluntarily remove the flights, rather than having them removed by an admin. We have contacted a number of pilots to request this, and they are currently in various stages of the 5-step grieving process (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). You can avoid this emotional roller coaster by planning and executing your flights to be complete before sunset, unless you have approved night lighting. You can't just duct tape a flashlight to the nose for night flight. The requirements for navigation lights are very specific to color, intensity and direction. If your aircraft is equipped with approved night lighting, and it was used for flight after sunset, you must put a note in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this. We also have been advised of flight claims that show altitudes in the log well above the 18,000' MSL limit for Class-A airspace in the US. The IGC logger altitude is subject to a number of errors, which could total to several hundred feet. We are currently reviewing with the pilots a number of flights that appear to exceed even a reasonable error budget. Note that unless your flight reference altimeter has been properly calibrated for IFR flight, and is set to a current ATC altimeter setting, you will need to allow an extra buffer below 18,000' MSL indicated altitude to account for possible errors. If you have an encounter with an IFR aircraft with calibrated altitude references, the calibrated references and ATC logs will be used to determine your actual altitude in any subsequent investigation. Again, if your flight log shows flight above 18,000 MSL, after correcting for field elevation at takeoff, you will need to provide an explanation in the comments section of the OLC claim form explaining this. The same requirement applies to entering special use airspace. This will immediately answer any questions that may concern other competitors, or anyone else reviewing your flight log in the future. Finally, if you note a flight that appears to be questionable, do not speculate in public forums (like news://rec.avation.soaring). Contact the pilot privately if you can. If the flight is in the US, contact the SSA-OLC Committee by email at olcatssadotorg. Or use the complaint tab on the OLC Web header to initiate a partner check. Doug Haluza SSA-OLC Admin |
#10
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End of Season Sunset Warning for SSA-OLC Participants
Stewart,
You missed the point. Enforcement is not the issue here -- consistency is. If you insist on enforcing certain rules, then (a) state them clearly, and (b) enforce them all the time and not just on a whim. Checking flights at the time of claim and rejecting those in violation might be OK. Going back and pulling flights retroactively is not OK. Going back and pulling flights *selectively* -- some but not the others with similar "violations" -- is ....I am gasping for words here, and "disgusting" is the RC1 so far. I don't want to even get close to the question how, when and why they decide to pull any given flight and not the next one -- I am afraid that would undermine the last of my respect for humanity . -- Yuliy "Stewart Kissel" wrote in message ... 12. Airspace Violations The OLC organizers have to assume that the participants in the contest will not violate restricted airspace during their flights. ATC clearances are necessary to enter certain airspace. The OLC team will not check if a pilot has obtained the necessary clearance to enter airspace which needs ATC clearance. This is not within our competences and responsibilities. However, if we get to know that there has been an obvious violation of airspace then we reserve the right to carry out special actions against that pilot and his participation in the OLC. Of course every pilot is allowed to contact other pilots in case of a potential airspace violation. What rules are they changing? Is busting FAR's okay if they do not specify not to? Will your insurance pay a claim if you get hit at FL200 or flying after sunset? If we as a group knowingly allow cheating to occur, are we liable as well? If pilots want to fly illegally, they don't need to post logs for the rest of us to see. I wish pilots flew in accordance to the *privilege* of the license...then this discussion would be moot. Calling enforcement an issue is a weak argument. At 01:06 07 September 2006, Yuliy Gerchikov wrote: Doug, May I make some suggestions? (1) Do not change OLC rules mid-season. (2) If you insist on checking all traces for certain violations, do it at the time of claim -- automatically -- and reject those that do not pass, there and then. |
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