In article ,
says...

4. This in not normally a *biggie*, but MG's that self-launch are allowed to
take off, right after the tow plane before their turn, has taken off. The rest
of us must wait 10 minutes for our tow plane to return. That's 10 minutes they
can use to get away on a day that's dying (overcast moving in, etc.)

It certainly isn't a biggie; I'd say it isn't even a "smallie". In 25+
contests, I've never seen a delay of even 5 minutes. Most of the time,
the towplane is already there, or shows up in less than a minute.

Here's how I analyze this:

1) The motorglider gets a timely launch - that's what is _supposed_ to
happen!

2) The gliders behind him are now delayed by about 9 minutes, since the
motorglider uses about 30 seconds waiting for the tow ahead to proceed
safely and there has to be a 30 second wait after him for the same
reason.

3) All the gliders behind the self-launcher must wait, including any
motorgliders.

4) This wait was caused by poor contest management, some unforeseen
problem with a tow plane, etc., but _not_ by the motorglider that got a
launch at the proper time.

Basically, JJ is saying it's "unfair" for the motorglider to be treated
"fairly" (get a launch when he was supposed to get a launch)! I think
the problem that needs correcting is the launch delay that results in
all those gliders that are being treated "unfairly" (not getting launch
when they are supposed to get one). JJ's "fairness" solution is to have
one _additional_ glider treated unfairly.

We could address this "problem" (insufficient gliders being treated
unfairly) by holding the self-launcher until a towplane shows up for the
glider behind him. I won't be suggesting this "solution" to Region 8
contest management.

Consider this: the more self-launchers in a contest, the less likely it
is to have a delay like this, and the quicker a class can be launched. I
think the quicker a class is launched, the fairer it is.

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Eric Greenwell USA