History Question About U.S. Tasking

Does anyone recall when U.S. contests (especially nationals) evolved from "announce the task at the morning pilots' meeting and fly it no matter what" to the more enlightened "Task A and B (and C and D...) and pick one--or define another--on the grid or even in the air"? I can't recall whether this is something Charlie Spratt introduced when he started CDing or if predated him.

Chip Bearden
JB

At 22:42 16 October 2019, wrote:
Does anyone recall when U.S. contests (especially nationals) evolved
from
"=
announce the task at the morning pilots' meeting and fly it no matter
what"=
to the more enlightened "Task A and B (and C and D...) and pick one-
-or
de=
fine another--on the grid or even in the air"? I can't recall whether
this
=
is something Charlie Spratt introduced when he started CDing or if
predated=
him.

Chip Bearden
JB


IIRC, it started before Charlie became a CD.

RO

If memory serves me, it was in the late 1990’s, I remember a contestant at Uvalde telling me, “we better put a stop to this, right now�. The real death of “call it in the morning and never change� was Tonopah where contestants were forced to fly through 2 thunderstorms that were obvious before the gate was opened. I have absolutely no problem with changing a bad task and shamelessly chase the Cu’s, as Charlie would often say (and do).
JJ

I can go for having an alternate task or two called up before launching that a cd can change to, but not a call it on the fly/in the air deal.

The entire race scene has been so dumbed down guys don’t even know how to scratch or land out anymore, We wonder why we score so miserably in international competition where the cd call very challenging tasks. Heres one of the main reasons.

Besides, the old style tasking where landouts were common, made for great stories and memories lol.

On Thursday, October 17, 2019 at 5:57:57 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I can go for having an alternate task or two called up before launching that a cd can change to, but not a call it on the fly/in the air deal.

The entire race scene has been so dumbed down guys don’t even know how to scratch or land out anymore, We wonder why we score so miserably in international competition where the cd call very challenging tasks. Heres one of the main reasons.

Besides, the old style tasking where landouts were common, made for great stories and memories lol.

Yep- lots of great stories like the day in Hobbs when the Judge sent us on the task he selected at breakfast and before the start we could see the line of storms that would land the entire fleet out on the second leg.
And- only one trailer washed away crossing a creek.
Them sure was the good old days.
LOL
UH

Yep separate the men from the boys. There used to be more contest flying than having the best machine n following the computer. Them good ole days tested a whole different skill set including efficient crewing.

It might be worthwhile to remember where, “call it at 8AM and don’t change it�, tasking got started? Back when turn-point spotters were sent out to that days turn-points as soon as the task was set. Couldn’t change it because the spotters would be at the wrong turn-points. Cameras and now GPS scoring make things more flexible and changeable, got nothing to do with “real� racing!
Same is true for the finish line, the visual gate was the only way to precisely measure the finish time. GPS makes low, fast and more unsafe, finish lines no longer necessary, got nothing to do with “real� racing!
Flame suit on,
JJ

On Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 4:43:02 PM UTC-6, wrote:
Does anyone recall when U.S. contests (especially nationals) evolved from "announce the task at the morning pilots' meeting and fly it no matter what" to the more enlightened "Task A and B (and C and D...) and pick one--or define another--on the grid or even in the air"? I can't recall whether this is something Charlie Spratt introduced when he started CDing or if predated him.

Chip Bearden
JB

I was never in favor of the POST tasking - and never in favor of Charlie being
a CD - he was great on the start and finish gates but not as a CD - I recall
Charlie saying publicly in a pilot's meeting "...today will be POST task -
to give the good guys a chance..." - it is well known that in those days the
POST task had 3 times the effect on the score sheet versus the Speed Task -
so if his favorite guys were down on the score sheet he would call POST -
to give the good guys (his favorite guys) a chance - to move up the score sheet - if his favorites were on the top of the score sheet he called Speed Tasks - total BS and not a level playing field - and primarily why I stopped
flying contests - so instead I went for 16 years to Bitterwasser, Namibia and
have flown 60 flights over 1000 km there -
Ralph "Woody" Woodward
WU

As I recall, the years following the 1973 gasoline crisis resulted in major changes to contest tasking which were intended to result in higher percentages of the field finishing the task. Before that, crews would go out on course, find a high spot to set up the radio antenna, and wait for instructions from their pilot. That never happened much again after 1974 or so.
ROY

On Sunday, October 20, 2019 at 8:55:36 PM UTC-4, Roy B. wrote:
As I recall, the years following the 1973 gasoline crisis resulted in major changes to contest tasking which were intended to result in higher percentages of the field finishing the task. Before that, crews would go out on course, find a high spot to set up the radio antenna, and wait for instructions from their pilot. That never happened much again after 1974 or so.
ROY

Yes. Actually, finding a high spot and waiting was a refinement. If you go back far enough, crews would often drive around trailing their pilot to be there in case of an early landing/relight (when those were allowed) and faster retrieves for distance tasks (that often ended way out in the boonies, when those were popular).

I also recall that sometime after that, a few guys started showing up without crews. I remember thinking "how inconsiderate; how can they do that?" at the time. This was before higher completion ratios, tow-out gear, self rigging equipment, easy-load water ballast systems, etc. In the past 15 years, I've had a crew with me only a couple of times. I still gulp before a big contest and try to make sure there are a few other crewless pilots I know well enough with whom I can enter into a mutual retrieval pact, recognizing that landouts aren't nearly so common today.

I think we should keep in mind in our zeal to prepare a handful of top pilots for the Worlds that anything that starts to nudge the completion ratio down, be it more aggressive tasking or greater use of assigned tasks in uncertain weather will almost certainly lead to lower attendance at contests. Given the declining figures for almost all classes, we can ill afford that.

I'd love to see our team perform better against the rest of the world and it's an admirable goal. I remember the sense of pride and satisfaction when A.J. Smith, George Moffat, and Doug Jacobs triumphed. I flew against all those guys and they were world champions! How cool! But if I have to bring a crew along, I won't be flying as many contests in the future. And I suspect I'm not the only one. I'm 68 so you might say that won't be an issue for too long. But reading JJ's posting inspires me to think I could still be doing this for many years, despite having no time in the B-29.

Chip Bearden
JB