Notice of changes to IGC-approval levels of 11 types of FlightRecorder to take place on 1 January 2020

There was at least one incident years ago where a single pilot flew with two recorders and submitted the same flight to the OLC and it was scored for two different clubs. I don't know whether this has happened since, but the OLC isn't as strict about recorder use as the IGC simply because the "fun" status of OLC scoring is not as important as getting an FAI approved record.. For that level of recognition, cheating should be heavily punished.

As far as the downgrading of "legacy" flight recorders goes, I can understand it, although I do not necessarily agree with it. "Hacking" a FR IGC file is reprehensible, and should be not only discouraged by banning the "hacker" from all future record attempt claims, but the widespread publication if the cheater's name and the flight circumstances. This would be subsequent to careful analysis of the evidence by the IGC and the offender's National Aero Club (NAC).

Requiring an equipment upgrade is costly to the majority of users who have no intent of ever cheating. Perhaps it is overkill, but I am not knowledgeable enough to make recommendations. Is it possible to upgrade some models of currently used recorders through firmware updates?