Armchair CD U.S. Sports Class Nats

I can't speak about the sports class nats, the challenges
in being a CD, or other issues mentioned in this thread,
but I will wholeheartedly defend Mitch against those
who criticize his willingness to lend EX to a handful
of young pilots, regardless of gender.

Since 2004, Mitch's glider, and his glider alone, has
allowed me to collect a nice array of badges/records/awards,
develop my XC skills, attend the previously mentioned
Perry camp, choose to obtain my CFIG, and befriend
numerous individuals across the country along the way.
I've been flying for nine years, and only in the last
month have I finally acquired my own 'baby.' If not
for Mitch, I would have missed out on countless experiences
and opportunities over the last few years that are
often only available to those with their own sailplane.

Unlike many pilots, who choose to let their gliders
sit at the gliderport while they are busy or unable
to fly, Mitch allowed me to borrow EX without a second's
thought while he was busy in Nav School. His parting
words were, 'Firstly, have fun. Next, come home safe.
Lastly, remember the glider can always be fixed. But
firstly, have fun.' Like Mitch, I will similarly make
my glider available to youth at my club when I am caught
up in med school. All of us should be aware of his
continued support of the soaring community and the
impact he's made singlehandedly on so many young pilots.


Kevin, your comment was absolutely unnecessary. It
is offensive not only to Mitch, but also to myself
and others who have 'made use' of the glider. This
is simply not the place to make such a highly personal,
public attack.

Sylvia
1UV/N810VE

I can understand everyone bashing Mitch for his critique
of the CD at the nationals. He invited it, and was
trying to spark some thoughts on why US pilots are
not consistently competitive on the international stage.
The attacks from Mr. Kevin Christner and Mr. Corey
Sullivan were something else entirely. I have only
known Mitch Hudson for a year, but I have found him
committed to giving youth opportunities that they would
not otherwise have in soaring. Mitch Hudson once threw
me the keys to his C-120 so that I could remain current
in tail wheel aircraft. He asked nothing in return.
Mitch has allowed my girlfriend to use his discus on
several occasions. He asked nothing in return.

Kevin: As a flight instructor, you should be above
personal attacks like this. That title implies that
you are a professional. Act like one. What kind of
example are you setting for your students?

Corey: Unless you are a flight instructor or A&P, you
should refrain from passing judgment on Mitch or his
glider. As someone whose signature is in his logbook,
I have no hesitation in saying that he is a very competent
pilot. Considering the fact that you are a Kolstad
Scholarship winner and a youth advisor to the SSA Youth
Committee, I am disappointed that you would publicly
mock a fellow pilot’s potential in contests or belittle
his efforts to promote the sport.

Kevin and Corey, you both owe Mitch Hudson an apology.
I only hope that since you were both “men” enough to
attack him in public you will have the maturity to
apologize in public as well.

Regards,

Hugh Grandstaff

(Tail number varies depending on what second hand tow
plane or glider I am borrowing)

I can understand everyone bashing Mitch for his critique
of the CD at the nationals. He invited it, and was
trying to spark some thoughts on why US pilots are
not consistently competitive on the international stage.
The attacks from Mr. Kevin Christner and Mr. Corey
Sullivan were something else entirely. I have only
known Mitch Hudson for a year, but I have found him
committed to giving youth opportunities that they would
not otherwise have in soaring. Mitch once threw me
the keys to his C-120 so that I could remain current
in tail wheel aircraft. He asked nothing in return.
Mitch has allowed my girlfriend to use his discus on
several occasions. He asked nothing in return.

Kevin: As a flight instructor, you should be above
personal attacks like this. That title implies that
you are a professional. Act like one. What kind of
example are you setting for your students?

Corey: Unless you are a flight instructor or A&P, you
should refrain from passing judgment on Mitch or his
glider. As someone whose signature is in his logbook,
I have no hesitation in saying that he is a very competent
pilot. Considering the fact that you are a Kolstad
Scholarship winner and a youth advisor to the SSA Youth
Committee, I am disappointed that you would publicly
mock a fellow pilot’s potential in contests or belittle
his efforts to promote the sport.

Kevin and Corey, you both owe Mitch Hudson an apology.
I only hope that since you were both “men” enough to
attack him in public you will have the maturity to
apologize in public as well.

Regards,

Hugh Grandstaff
(Tail number varies depending on what second hand tow
plane or glider I am borrowing)

Mitch Hudson has been a wonderful asset to the sport of soaring, and
not just for the youth of the country. He has a deep and powerful
understanding of the history, the racing and growth of the sport. I
can't believe that a youth schloarship winner would even deign to
comment on his betters (yes, his betters) in the sport. Mitch gave up
a lot to join the Air Force, and go to flight training school. One
of them was the ability to fly in national contests, and having the
time to compete nationally. Mitch has a better understanding of what
it takes to compete nationally and regionally than most any other
person of his age. When I was introduced to this sport via my
boyfriend, Mitch was one of the few pilots who actually EXPLAINED
about history, tradition, racing and the fun of soaring.

As I read his post, he was asking a question...a source of
discussion. Intelligent, urbane and sophisticated people are always
willing to discuss different points of view without sarcastic mean-
spirited attacks on the questioner.
Oh well, food for thought
Micki Minner

On Jun 20, 10:12 am, MickiMinner wrote:
Mitch Hudson has been a wonderful asset to the sport of soaring, and
not just for the youth of the country. He has a deep and powerful
understanding of the history, the racing and growth of the sport. I
can't believe that a youth schloarship winner would even deign to
comment on his betters (yes, his betters) in the sport. Mitch gave up
a lot to join the Air Force, and go to flight training school. One
of them was the ability to fly in national contests, and having the
time to compete nationally. Mitch has a better understanding of what
it takes to compete nationally and regionally than most any other
person of his age. When I was introduced to this sport via my
boyfriend, Mitch was one of the few pilots who actually EXPLAINED
about history, tradition, racing and the fun of soaring.

As I read his post, he was asking a question...a source of
discussion. Intelligent, urbane and sophisticated people are always
willing to discuss different points of view without sarcastic mean-
spirited attacks on the questioner.
Oh well, food for thought
Micki Minner

I understand where you are coming from. But many pilots are quite
upset at this competition because of the accusations Mitch has been
making against Andy McQuigg. If he were here at the comtest and was
flying the competition then he has the right to critique the CD. But
he is not here and i dont think he is even close. I also notice that
you picked out kevin and I for bashing Mitch. But many more have done
it above. I see almost no one who agrees with Mitch. I am just
defending Andy who is doing an extremely outstanding job as the CD if
this contest.

-972

My idea of professionalism, Hugh, is protecting juniors from someone
who, IMHO, does not have their best interests in mind. My experience
with as a junior, and the experience of others, with this individual,
has been extremely negative.

2c

On Jun 20, 12:15 am, Hugh Grandstaff
wrote:
I can understand everyone bashing Mitch for his critique
of the CD at the nationals. He invited it, and was
trying to spark some thoughts on why US pilots are
not consistently competitive on the international stage.
The attacks from Mr. Kevin Christner and Mr. Corey
Sullivan were something else entirely. I have only
known Mitch Hudson for a year, but I have found him
committed to giving youth opportunities that they would
not otherwise have in soaring. Mitch Hudson once threw
me the keys to his C-120 so that I could remain current
in tail wheel aircraft. He asked nothing in return.
Mitch has allowed my girlfriend to use his discus on
several occasions. He asked nothing in return.

Kevin: As a flight instructor, you should be above
personal attacks like this. That title implies that
you are a professional. Act like one. What kind of
example are you setting for your students?

Corey: Unless you are a flight instructor or A&P, you
should refrain from passing judgment on Mitch or his
glider. As someone whose signature is in his logbook,
I have no hesitation in saying that he is a very competent
pilot. Considering the fact that you are a Kolstad
Scholarship winner and a youth advisor to the SSA Youth
Committee, I am disappointed that you would publicly
mock a fellow pilot's potential in contests or belittle
his efforts to promote the sport.

Kevin and Corey, you both owe Mitch Hudson an apology.
I only hope that since you were both "men" enough to
attack him in public you will have the maturity to
apologize in public as well.

Regards,

Hugh Grandstaff

(Tail number varies depending on what second hand tow
plane or glider I am borrowing)

No Cory, you are only defending your position as haveing been on of
two folks who have chosen to attack Mitch for offering up food for
thought.
If there are all these people who, like you are bashing Mitch Hudson,
where are their posts?
More often than not Mitch's glider resides in Moriarty where he has
made it available to yet another fledgling cross country pilot.
Mitch's Discus is clearly in need of a refininsh and that is the
reason he bought it a few years ago for a very reasonable price. At
the time, Mitch was an E-5 in the Air Force, (he is now a 2nd Lt.),
and was on a very limited source of income. He was convinded to buy
the Discus so that he could improve his cross country skills.
Mitch did that, but more inportantly, he has chosen to share the
"wealth" by letting others who could not afford access to high
performance equipment fly his glider. I would venture to guess, the
those who have flown his Discus have spend more time it it than Mitch
has.
Currently he is in Nav training in SAT, but has chosen to make his
ship available to lower time junior pilots to fly.
What we need is a few more Mitch Hudsons in soaring who are willing to
extend them selves to promote the sport in the manner in which he has
done.

Best Regards,

Billy Hill

Good point Mitch.

Maybe it is a matter of endurance, perhaps due to aging.

Seems as though pilots in National Contests should be expected as a
rule to meet at least "Silver Badge" requirements in daily
competition. This includes flights in access of five hours and the
resulting task distances in todays very high performance sailplanes.

The younger pilots should be tested and honed for success with longer
and tougher tasks in National competition, even though it will require
pilots showing up with crews, due to more landouts.

Mike

On Jun 20, 8:31 am, "
wrote:
My idea of professionalism, Hugh, is protecting juniors from someone
who, IMHO, does not have their best interests in mind. My experience
with as a junior, and the experience of others, with this individual,
has been extremely negative.

2c


Kevin,
If you truly do view yourself as a professional I would advise to
carefully consider the statements that you are making in a public
forum. As had been said before in this thread, Mitch (which he stated
himself) was trying to start some intelligent conversation regarding
the preparedness of our pilots to compete at the WGC level.

"Having flown all six of the contest days here, I can personally
assure
you that CD Andy McQuigg has done an outstanding job of calling tasks
that make the best use of the weather. The days have definitely not
been easy, with a number of pilots (including this one) having low
saves on final glides as the lift quit. The first three days we were
unable to start the launch before 1pm. If memory serves, three days
the task was changed in the air. It hasn't been easy. Day five and
six in particular really shook up the score sheet. "

The first paragraph that you wrote did provide some insight to the
conversation regarding an individuals (your's) experience at the
Sports Class Nationals.

"So rather than whining, why don't you go fly your glider... oh wait,
you don't even care about flying it... word is spreading about how
you make "use" of it - and I'm not the only one thats picked up. "

The second paragraph that you wrote is a slanderous remark, boarding
on libel, fueled by your own personal agenda and vendetta. Your
insinuations, which I shall not repeat here, are based on rumour,
hearsay, and have absolutely no solid footing in truth.

As a flight instructor, and as a professional, you need to hold
yourself to a higher standard. You need to change your idea of
professionalism, at the very least, to keeping what poorly founded
opinions you have confined to private conversation (if even that), as
opposed to spreading venomous remark on an internationally read
newsgroup.

Further more, Mitch's second post in this thread tried to direct the
conversation towards the rules and scoring system used here in the
USA. No where in this conversation has he made any comment that the
CD was not running the contest properly (Mitch fulled admitted in his
first post that being a CD is a thankless task, and that he was not
trying to draw a slew of flame for his remarks). He was trying to
start a conversation to field opinions regarding our selection
process, and the impact that our rules have on such.

Regards,
Orion Kingman
DV8

On Jun 20, 9:52 am, Mike wrote:
Good point Mitch.

Maybe it is a matter of endurance, perhaps due to aging.

Seems as though pilots in National Contests should be expected as a
rule to meet at least "Silver Badge" requirements in daily
competition. This includes flights in access of five hours and the
resulting task distances in todays very high performance sailplanes.

The younger pilots should be tested and honed for success with longer
and tougher tasks in National competition, even though it will require
pilots showing up with crews, due to more landouts.

Mike

Agreed.

Tom (711) and John (BB)- I understand trying to accommodate all
participants, but I'm not sure if this hold water at a national where
team selection is in the balance. The rules committee has made is
fairly clear that a sports class event should be tasked for a Discus
to Libelle 201 range ship (If I recall correctly), thus eliminating
the need for the CD to task for the KA-6 that shows up to the same
event as a Nimbus 3. If in the best opinion of the CD, and his task
advisers, a Libelle 201 could fly 50 mph in a given 5 hour soaring
window then task the fleet with a 250 mile call, but don't shorten the
task/time at a national to make sure that everyone can make it home
for that nights festivities. A national should be an event where the
cream of the crop is forced to rise to the top of the score sheet, to
insure that we have the best possible representation at a WGC. BTW
711, I've been flying in and out of SLC lately... I'm bummed that I'm
not in the N3 down at Parowan... the cu fields have been gorgeous from
the cockpit of the CRJ.

DV8