Forum

Subject	Survey Results - Changes for 2010
Thread	Number 1 of 1 in thread
Author	John Bridge
Posted	29-Dec-09 16:18:00
	All, Thanks to everyone who took part in the survey - 20% of the pilots who flew in this season's competition responded. I have taken a close look at the votes and any associated comments, and am proposing the following changes to the 2010 ladder. Q1: Should in-flight declarations be permitted? Yes=51 No=62 Don't care=26 Those that voted No (and one that voted Yes) referred to lack of fairness due to technological issues. Also mentioned was the importance of retaining the skill of judging the day's weather before launching, and that badge and record claims do not recognise in-flight declarations. A few of those that voted Yes would still accept some form of penalty to be applied. Taking all this into account, the current version of Rule 7 will be revoked, and the ladder will revert to pre-launch declarations. In order to ease the pain of turning back on a declared task, I would like to implement a concept that was proposed a few seasons ago: a set of Club Tasks that will always be scored as declared. Details to follow soon. Q2: Should motor-equipped gliders be treated differently to pure gliders and, if so, how? Yes=57 No=63 Don't care=15 This one provoked the most comments, with most of the Yes voters plumping for a tick box to separate turbos/motors from the main ladders. There were also calls for penalties/handicaps to be imposed on turbo flights, but I don't see a reason for penalising a flight performance just because the task was completed with an unused iron thermal in the back. And I do not buy the psychological argument either. The mind-set that tells a pilot that he is safe with an engine in the back is the same as that of a skilled pundit flying a pure glider who declares a bold task because he 'knows' he can get round it. (I do not fly turbos or motors, by the way). So a tick-box it is, for 2010 at least, and no changes to handicaps, scoring, etc, for turbos. It will give some insight as to how turbo flights are distributed amongst the ladder places. Q3: Are the current weightings of FAI 28% and 25/45 triangles correct? If not, how should they be improved? Yes=67 No=19 Don't care=48 I was seriously considering reducing the weightings slightly as one respondent suggested, but the overwhelming vote for retaining the status quo persuaded me otherwise. Of those that did want a change, most were from pilots flying in areas where 28% triangles are difficult to achieve and I can sympathise with that. The real problem with the ladder is that it IS a club-based competition that has been stretched to a National one, and it is not practicable to create a single completely fair system for all pilots in all locations and all weather conditions, so the current compromise will have to do. I note that there were few, if any, complaints from those in Scotland, where 28% triangles are also few and far between (cue the wave-ladder penalty arguments...). Q4: Miscellaneous Overall, comments were favourable as to the way the ladder is currently designed, though a few useful enhancements to its presentation were suggested and will be implemented as the season progresses. There have been calls for some form of encouragement to post logger files and while at first I was reluctant to wander down this path, I now agree with the respondent that suggested omitting all speed points for claims without associated logger files. This would merely be a 'pending penalty' (maybe for the 14-day period of grace) - as soon as the logger file gets loaded, full points would appear. Here are a few things that will not be changing: * The BGA ladder is not going to become an OLC clone - the OLC is already available to all, and there is no point in creating a UK copy of it. * Distance will continue to be handicapped as well as speed: the point of the ladder is to use as much of the soaring day as possible, so higher performance gliders should fly further. It may be possible to create a speed-only version of the ladders, but this would not replace the main National Ladders. * There will not be a wave/non-wave ladder split the definition of what constitutes a wave flight (percentage of flight in wave, altitude, speeds achieved?) and how to assign points is too problematical. Not to say divisive. That's it. As I have to work for a living, these changes will be implemented when I can find the time to code and test them. Anouncements will be made on the Forum and/or the News Links on the Ladder site, and the Rules, where affected, will be amended accordingly. Thanks again to all who have contributed. Regards John Bridge National Ladder Steward