A smooth and productive contest pilots meeting totally lacking in vested interests and personal preferences. Actually as far as contest pilots meetings go today's was quite good if a little long.
The three stand out issues where (fascinating as I'm sure they will be to non-contest glider pilots...or in fact any other sane person);
Finish lines vs finish circles. Yip it's possible to sustain a hour long discussion about this. And the vote was...wait for it...16 for the use of circles and 16 against. That was productive... However it gives Contest Directors some latitude to decide what's best for each contest and each site.
FLARMS This was a bit more interesting. In this special site ( which some consider the only gliding site of worth in the whole country...sarcastic comment intended) its probably going to be mandatory to use a Flarm in each glider for contests but I also suspect for recreational flying as well. This will be achieved either by rules or through peer pressure.
So what of the north island??? It's coming. And the most logical first place would be ridge flying in contests on the Kaimais. However it will require a critical mass...there is nothing more pointless as being the only glider with a Flarm....and maybe the potential use of PowerFlarm that also detects transponders. We have a lot of transitory light aircraft traffic through the greater Waikato.
Lastly, our youngest contest pilot asked about the possibility of a juniors contest. Great idea and he is to be congratulated for having the gumption to stand up in front of a group of mostly over 50 year old grumpy contest pilots. There are lots of reasons not to have a juniors...none are compelling. My advice to our junior members...just do it.
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