SSA Contest Rules and Waiver for Nationals Now Posted

Damn right!Â* We certainly can't count on honesty any more...

On 3/1/2020 7:51 PM, Richard Pfiffner wrote:
Again if you are not going to enforce the rules get rid of them.

--
Dan, 5J

JJ, nobody here supports soaring in clouds, besides, it's not allowed by the FAA. The problem is that pilots frequently find themselves in IMC by accident. The FAA reports that unintended flight in IMC is the 7th leading cause of accidents. These particular accidents are almost always fatal (86% fatality rate). This is the reason that you find AHRS in nearly every VFR airplane, and the reason why every VFR airplane pilot is required to receive instrument training. The FAA is working very hard to reduce these types of accidents and the soaring community is actively setting the stage for more accidents.

A far more rampant problem is that many (most???) pilots don't maintain legal VFR cloud clearance. How do ensure that contest pilots stay 500ft below cloud base? Topping off a few thermals is an easy way to gain thousands of feet of additional climb in above-average lift; a major competitive advantage for sure! For every 1ft of illegal climb inside clouds, I would guess there are mor ethan 1,000ft of illegal climb below clouds. It seems to me that we're banning safety equipment in order to minimize a tiny problem, while doing nothing to control a very large problem.

How about this for a solution? I'll install a Gopro in my cockpit and if anyone questions my flight, then I'll be happy to submit the video.

Heck, it would be really easy to develop a video analysis tool for contest directors. Basically, any areas of the image that never change are easy to identify as the sailplane cockpit. When most of the remaining area (95%?) is white for an extended period of time (10 seconds?), the software would export a short video clip for manual review.

Absolutely no one is arguing in favor of intentional cloud flying in competition. Jeeezus this gets frustrating.

Furthermo anyone who knows anything about climbing on instruments in a modern glider knows that it's hard, it's dangerous, it's illegal, it'll fill your instrument lines with water and...

IT'S S L O W.

So there's not a lot of motivation to go cloud flying in a race that I can see.

I fly eastern waves with some frequency, I want the gyro toy in the panel when I do that, surprises sometimes happen. Often, avoiding the potential for cloud problems with 100% certainty comes at a big cost in lost adventure.. Many of us are willing to settle for 99.X% certainty, with a back up plan for the 0.X%.

It doesn't bother me to fly a thermal soaring contest with the instrument removed, I will never need it and never miss it for that. The annoyance comes the -next- time I get the glider out, the wave is cooking, the instrument is not installed and it's either impossible (20+ kts of wind) or very inconvenient to re-install. I have had this happen more than once, it just strikes me as really freaking dumb.

We should try to be less dumb. This is low hanging fruit on that ole tree of knowledge.

Not holding my breath on this one.

best regards,
Evan Ludeman / T8

Richard, that's really too bad. It would be great if you could enable the AHRS during an in-flight emergency, and have that recorded in the IGC file. That would allow us to score AHRS use as a landout, or similarly to engine use.

On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 9:38:32 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Richard, that's really too bad. It would be great if you could enable the AHRS during an in-flight emergency, and have that recorded in the IGC file. That would allow us to score AHRS use as a landout, or similarly to engine use.

I don't believe any AHRS from Glider manufactures allow enable in flight.

Richard.

On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 12:30:13 PM UTC-5, wrote:
The problem is that pilots frequently find themselves in IMC by accident.

Hmmm. I must be doing something wrong. Or right. I've been flying since 1965 and never found myself in IMC by accident. I agree pilots going up closer than 500' to cloudbase is an issue, but that practice certainly won't be eliminated by allowing attitude indicators.

I also agree there are times when another few hundred feet in a cloud could prove to be an advantage, because I've seen it. I was a young kid so I didn't make waves but it made the difference between that offender making it home that day and three guys landing 1 mile short. I would handle it differently now. Making that practice safer with an attitude indicator won't make it any more legal or sportsmanlike.

I also understand the desire to have a backup instrument when wave flying, because I've been on top watching the window shrinking and had to come down quickly. That's part of flying.

If the problem is that we aren't enforcing the rule, then we can fix that. If you show up at a contest with an instrument that has an attitude indicator, you should be required to provide evidence it's disabled each day. Yeah, it's a bother. We had to do something similar when Stealth mode was mandated for FLARM in the Elmira Nationals (15M & Std.) a few years ago. We all understood the rule and complied.

As it happens, I don't have an instrument with an attitude indicator (AFAIK). I don't want to feel like I have to go out and buy one just to stay competitive.

Chip Bearden
JB

FAA hazardous attitudes: Invulnerability “It won’t happen to me!�

Your thinking is severely flawed.

R

Thanks for the support, Tony.

Fortunately, all the D2/LS-8/ASW-28 pilots are offering big money for my glider—nothing says performance like 17 meters.

Thank God if enough of them come up for sale maybe I'll be able to afford to move up to standard class lol