Altitude loss for 5h Duration Flight

Denis wrote:
Mark James Boyd wrote:

Peter,

What was her altitude at the finish point? Now, be careful here.
If the finish point was the landing, when did she first enter the
"observation zone" of the finish point? Use the first GPS data point
in the observation zone as the "finish," not the point of landing.


the problem is that there is no "inbound leg" thus no observation zone
for the finish point... sort of another bug in the Code Sportif ;-)

A start point was established when the pilot releases, so perhaps that
could be used as to establish an inbound leg to the Finish Point
(1.1.12a. The point at which the nose of the glider comes to rest
without external assistance after landing, or). I'm not aware of using
these undeclared points in this fashion, and it's not clear from my
reading of the rules that this can be done.

Clearly the NAC used the usual "end of soaring performance" criteria:
the landing. This was all that could be done before GPS recorders
without observed finish lines, and thousands have done their Silver
duration by this criteria. Should we fault them for not being more
"creative" in establishing an observation zone after the fact?

I suggest that this is a quirk in the rules that wasn't noticed as GPS
was incorporated into the rules. There are other situations now made
possible by GPS that would be affected by this; for example, instead of
a distance flight ending at the landing, the pilot could turn back and
land at an airport, but still get credit for the distance achieved where
he flew beyond the airport.

I suggest the pilot be allowed to pick the finish point from any fix in
a flight not using declared waypoints, so lobby your representative for
this change.




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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA