AUSTRALIAN SCANDAL FROM GLIDING INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2020 ISSUE

A few additional points to those UH also deserve mention.

First, the overarching Rule here is in Annex A, Rule 5.3: "The following limitations are imposed so that the competition shall, as far as possible, be directly between the individual competitors, neither controlled nor helped by external aid." The 15 minute time delay for tracking information (a form of external aid) was imposed to support that rule and its spirit. Anybody who found a way to circumvent that time delay knew - or should have known- that they were circumventing that Rule and the spirit of that Rule.

Second, there were procedures and methods by which a team having doubt about the propriety of a certain information source ( and passing that information on to its pilots) could have inquired whether it was permitted under the rules. Those procedures were not taken by the offending team managment - undoubtedly because they wanted to keep it secret and maintain a dubious competitive advantage.

Third, it is hardly a "defense" to a charge of unsporting conduct that others could have (but did not) engage in the same conduct.

Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team. They could not turn off their radios or "unhear" the information passed along (which may well have been useless to many of them). These pilots were penalized not because of their actions, but because of the bad decisions made by their team management. While the contestant point penalties seem appropriate as a sanction, the more severe sanctions on the team management seem particularly warranted. Their decisions tainted the contest for everyone, but particularly for their own team members.
ROY

On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules.. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish.. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

On Monday, 2 March 2020 02:45:01 UTC-6, krasw wrote:
On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

The 15 minute delayed information was available to all competitors, so transfer of tactical information (delayed) from ground to pilot would be considered a normal activity. Perhaps the penalized competitors thought (or were led to believe) that the information they were receiving was the 15 minute delayed info, not the real time info. I don't know. I don't think it can be assumed that they knew that the info was real time and not delayed. Perhaps the Gliding Federation of Australia report might reveal if the penalized competitors knew they were getting real time vs delayed information. Is it publicly available?

On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 10:46:34 AM UTC-5, Jim Hogue wrote:
On Monday, 2 March 2020 02:45:01 UTC-6, krasw wrote:
On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

The 15 minute delayed information was available to all competitors, so transfer of tactical information (delayed) from ground to pilot would be considered a normal activity. Perhaps the penalized competitors thought (or were led to believe) that the information they were receiving was the 15 minute delayed info, not the real time info. I don't know. I don't think it can be assumed that they knew that the info was real time and not delayed. Perhaps the Gliding Federation of Australia report might reveal if the penalized competitors knew they were getting real time vs delayed information. Is it publicly available?

15 minute old tactical information is almost totally useless (that's the point). The exception would be finding out that a competitor had either become really badly stuck (low) or landed out. Other than that, who flying at this level would stand for the distraction?

Current info is a different matter.

It's absolutely inconceivable that the pilots didn't understand that they were getting current info. They are all smart, capable, highly aware of their surroundings and environment, that's why they are WGC material in the first place!

T8

What is the purpose of allowing ground crew to share tactical info with pilots? Seems idiotic to me. Opens up a F1 style escalation of technology type situation.

Allow me to clarify. This was unsportsmanlike and cheating, they got caught and were all penalized and/or disciplined, thank goodness. I am just withholding my judgement on who did or knew what until I see investigation results.


On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 9:46:34 AM UTC-6, Jim Hogue wrote:
On Monday, 2 March 2020 02:45:01 UTC-6, krasw wrote:
On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

The 15 minute delayed information was available to all competitors, so transfer of tactical information (delayed) from ground to pilot would be considered a normal activity. Perhaps the penalized competitors thought (or were led to believe) that the information they were receiving was the 15 minute delayed info, not the real time info. I don't know. I don't think it can be assumed that they knew that the info was real time and not delayed. Perhaps the Gliding Federation of Australia report might reveal if the penalized competitors knew they were getting real time vs delayed information. Is it publicly available?

On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 3:45:01 AM UTC-5, krasw wrote:
On Saturday, 29 February 2020 18:55:40 UTC+2, Roy B. wrote:
Lastly, the real victims here are the Aussie pilots who were not part of team management and had no role in the decisions or implementation of the method and could do nothing except what they were told to do by team management. This is particularly true for the new competitors on that team.

Sorry but this is total BS. If you are a competitor flying WGC, you know the rules. If your ground team broadcasts what other competitors do in real time, you know very well that it is based on information prohibited by rules. And if you do not call out the cheating right away, you become accomplish. That's the choice these "real victims" made.

Agreed.

T8

The purpose of Sailplane Competition is to compare pilots skills of interfacing with the atmosphere energy engine. This skillset determines efficiency which equates to speed. All of this identifies talent. This attempt to gain an edge thru deception leading to winning would be a hollow victory. What is the point of the competition?
The pilots are responsible for everything. I’m surprise they would go along with it. I would have forfeited if my ground crew pulled a stunt like this.
R

I disagree with you. It is not realistic to expect a WGC competitor - especially a new one - to overrule the judgment of the team captain or manager and "call it out" as you say. Particularly this is the case if the manager is "defending" the conduct. And, WGC rules (Rule 9.1.3) discourage individual protests and require protests to pass through the team manager. This is why the harsher penalties ( 5 year restriction on activities) was levied on the team officials.
ROY

I think it is important not to judge these pilots from the perspective of National, Regional or Provincial contest experience where the pilot is an individual self-directed entrant in the contest. At the WGC level, the FAI rules mandate that the Team Captain is the exclusive liaison with the contest officials. See Rule 3.3. Pilots are strongly discouraged (if not flatly prohibited)from communication of any type with the contest officials. Further, Team Captains and Managers are selected for their ostensible experience at the WGC level so as to guide the team and particularly new team members. The Team Captain at a WGC is not a "crew" who works at the direction of the pilot(s). More the opposite is true.

To suggest that a new member of a team should have disregarded their Captain's judgment and "call out" (in some unspecified way) what the team was doing strikes me as both harsh and unrealistic. That is not to say that the individual team members should not have been penalized as they were - because nothing else will prevent the misconduct in the future. Rather it is to say that the real culprits here were the Team officials who found the website, kept it secret, and used and forwarded the real time information to their pilots.
ROY