Tom Broeski Wrote: > > As you say, laws have changed making it difficult for many to do the > cross > country Legally. Can't have LSF promoting illegal activity. However, > I > think the requirement should include that you must also "travel" the > closed > course. That means in a vehicle or on foot. You cannot just stand in > one > place. That would mean traveling your field boundaries if the course > exceeded your field size. Or if on the road, the full course. I can't > find > anywhere here to do the 10 K in a straight out and back (or even a > crooked > one), but can find numerous areas where a large lap could be done of > four > 2.5 K runs. >
It is not entirely clear to me that the benefits of being required to "travel" a closed course outweigh the possible unintenced consequences. As it stands now, the accepted practice for the Level IV and Level V Goal and Return usually (but not always) involves the use of a vehicle with a driver and a spotter -- presumably your two witnesses. This requires the aspirant to arrange for transportation, arrange for a driver and a spotter and to determine a course -- these are the logistics of the task. The aspirant is not required to walk the course, rather he remains in more or less a fixed relationship with the plane he is flying regardless of the length of the task. This relationship is more or less consistent with the relationship the he would have in the proposed alternative. The proposed alternative requires the aspirant to arrange a "gate" or equivalent system to ensure that the flight is measured properly and to arrange for people to man the gates (again presumably his witnesses) -- these are the logistics of the revised task. You are suggesting that in order to complete the goal and return task that the aspirant and a spotter walk the entire distance. This adds a degree of physical exertion which is not present in any other soaring endeavor -- not just LSF. Perhaps its your intent to include this as a barrier to separate the sheep from the goats. Respectfully, I am an old goat and adding a 12 mile hike to this task is problematic-- especially in the middle of the kind of hot day when success at this task is most likely (our hot days are 100 degrees+ and humid). Further, not everyone flies on a sod farm like I do. Walking even two-and-a-half miles in a wild field while trying to keep your plane in sight is more of an acrobatic feat than an aeronautical feat. Remember, the median age in our sport is 55+ and if you've ever looked at a pictures from current sailplane events there are quite a few guys who look like the only push-ups they do are pushing away from the dinner table. (perhaps we could add an overall task alternative which posthumously awards the aspirant's last level in the event that he dies trying :) Don -- dharban ------------------------------------------------------------------------ dharban's Profile: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=31927 View this thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=567627 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
