2019 SSA Contest Rules Pilot Opinion Poll Now Open

On Friday, October 4, 2019 at 1:04:10 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I’ll throw in my two cents having flown three SSA contests and three FAI contests in the last four years.

The difference between racing strategy on course is small. The fastest pilot should win in either case. Evan is correct on this fact as we have seen foreign pilots come kick our butts in the past flying under our rules.

As Tim pointed out, a lot of the issues that have been brought up in the white paper as to why we may not want the rules don’t apply or pilots wouldn’t know about it until after the fact when scored if the scores shift one way or the other as a result of distance done or number of finishers.

To me the largest change when actually flying is the start line which is normally used in FAI competitions. The white paper however states that it is the only option. A ring is available but is not commonly utilized under FAI. It also resembles old SSA rings where you start out the side but the task distance does not change. I’ve been somewhat frustrated now with our ever evolving start cylinder where you can start out the side, top and now even back of a cylinder. This played a roll in a recent nationals that was undercalled for the task and some contestants were provided a significant advantage by starting out the back and gaining up to ten miles in distance. I think the start line is simple and easy to understand for all competitors. A max start altitude and speed can be added to control it as many countries do.

The turnpoint area in a racing task in my opinion is small but noticeable.. I don’t see it changing results or safety significantly.

The finish can be set up the same with a cylinder and minimum finish altitude that can change based on airfield requirements.

The biggest difference however is the scoring formula. Again the fastest pilot will win the race and get 1,000 pts on a normal day. The factor that changes is how slower pilots receive points. Under SSA rules we see scores much closer together and everyone feels better because you feel you have a shot. Under FAI the gap spreads out a lot faster to the point where very slow finishers are scored like a landout.

At the last WGC in Standard Class there was a 1,000 pt day where the winner flew 60.8 mph. The slowest finisher went 46.4 mph, 14.4 mph slower. That finisher only got 566 pts.

In comparison last summer at US Standard Class Day 2 the winner flew 60.3 mph handicap and another finisher flew 46.3 handicap similar to the example above. The winner got 1,000 pts and the slower finisher received 768 pts, 200 pts more than he would under FAI.

So if you can beat the socks off of everyone else under FAI you’re going to start gaining points quicker but it also is easy to start losing points as well. I believe that we should move to FAI due to many of the reasons stated by others. It will allow us to practice and fly under the same rules as the rest of the world and will make use respect the points in the same way. I hope we don’t hop around multiple times and have to learn three different sets of rules. We should aim for a clean move to FAI, SeeYou Scoring and SoaringSpot utilization. Any changes required due to SSA, US airspace, handicaps and FAR type consideration can be solved with local procedures similar to many other countries.

Mike Westbrook

Mike,thanks for posting your views from the perspective of someone who's been there. I've only flown one FAI contest, but I'm in full agreement that the start line is a better solution than the US cylinder. The points will still sort out the stronger and weaker pilots. I'm for moving to FAI rules.

Craig Funston