Jon, I have been to the same contests. In my mind, they are landing contests, pure and simple. It's a given that some guys are going to make their times just about every time. They are participating in a landing contest because that's all that separates them. Why, then, have 100 point landings. Say these guys have a not so hot day...it happens. Say that one of them misses a time 59 seconds, but makes a 100 point landing. Another makes his time but drags a tip and the resulting ground loop makes for a 24 point landing. Who won the round? The guy that missed his time. Why? Because he drug the other tip and the resulting ground loop luckily brought his nose in the right direction.
Give me a 10 point landing for a tie breaker, not longer task times. In the above instance, the guy that made the time made a 2 point landing, and the guy that didn't made a 10 point landing. Who won the round? The guy that made the best decisions in the air. Why? Because the other guy's landing luck wasn't allowed negate that. Flame away - I don't care. There's a lot of skill getting into the landing zone consistently, that's a given. In the game of landing these things, there's too much luck at 2 points per inch. Yes, the good pilot group will always win. It's never the same guy winning by 5 points...the smiling face gets passed around alot. I would like to eliminate as much of the luck as possible. That's my better idea... Jack Womack --- Jon Stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > To this I have to say... Yes, a pure soaring task > IS > > what we want! > > > Gordy said a "Thermal Duration" competition. It is > > anything but that. It is a landing contest and > nothing > > more. > > > Why > > not make the landing count only if the time is > > perfect, and then with a max of 10 points? > > Look, the landings only count unless you make all > your times anyway. Read > on. > > > Stepping politely off the soapbox, now, and > returning > > to my normally placid demeanor... > > Yeah... right. > > You talk as if every contest is decided only on > landings. Please... > > The point you are missing is that unless you make > all your times within a > few seconds, you don't qualify for the 2nd contest. > (i.e. the landings). > > As a person who has helped plan, design, and > implement the MidSouth a few > times before, I think I can speak with a bit of > experience. The landing > task has one major objective... to differentiate > among the top pilots who > can make all their times. With no > differentiation, and good weather, the > top 20 pilots will all be within 20 points out of > 5000. > > Let's say you get your way and there are no landing > points of any kind. > What's left? Two things. Making your times > (thermal soaring), and > precision in landing times (not landing location). > > At a large contest, there will be at least 5 pilots > who make all their times > within 20 seconds. Do you want their trophies > decided 1st through 10th, > solely on the basis of how accurately they can put > the plane on the ground > relative to the clock. (remember no landing > scores). So you see, even with > no landing scores, it still comes down to how > precisely (when) the pilot can > put his plane down. > > For the rest of the pilots (who did not make their > times), the landings > simply do not matter. > > Some people just want to introduce longer flight > times. If the weather is > good, it's a very long and boring day. If the > weather is bad, the guy who > hooks up the first and only thermal on launch will > burry everyone else. > Shorter lines introduce the same "luck factor". > There may just not be > enough time to hook up a thermal. The one guy who > stumbles into lift right > off the launch line will burry everyone. That's not > a test of skill, > either. > > So where is the end of the road? Either tasks must > be more challenging > (F3B), or we have to put landings back in. F3B is > too man and equipment > intensive (given our history in the US) to run a > contest. The Europeans are > used to showing up with 2 or 3 of their own winches > for each team. > Americans are not. We also do not have the labor > force necessary to pull it > off. > > That leaves us right where we are now. Not too long > soaring tasks (so the > pilots can fly lots of rounds) and some landing task > that can quickly and > easily be measured. Requires the least labor force > to put on the contest, > and the least amount of equipment. Reasonable > amount of fun. > > Do you have a better idea? > > Regards, > > Jon > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com 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.
