Bob Skinner's definition

[Bill Glaze]

Earl:
Inasmuch as the language in the rule book seems to suggest that the 
distance is set, rather arbitrarily, because of visibility problems 
caused by (possibly) excessive distance, it would seem that your idea is 
reasonable.  If you can see it, then it is judgeable.
The only downside, as I see it, is there would need to be another 
definition of "downgrades."  It was suggested to me in the past that "if 
an airplane is so far out it can't be seen  well as far as mistakes go, 
then you can't give the pilot credit for those things he does 
correctly."  But, we are using downgrades solely as penalties.  So if, 
for whatever reason, (including excessive distance) we are unable to see 
the airplane well enough to assess penalties, then the judges only 
remaining option is the "N.O." on the score sheet.  "If you can't see 
it, you can't score it."  We could be painting ourselves into a corner, 
here.
I agree that this subject should be revisited by the relevant committees 
and possibly a "clean sheet of paper " type of thinking may be required, 
particularly in light of the new distance requirement in performing the 
rolling circle.
Or so I see it, from the sidelines.

Bill Glaze

Earl Haury wrote:

> Don, et al
>  
> Bob's answer is a reasonable enough position on an untenable 
> application of the rules for the roller. But why not then apply the 
> same reasoning to other maneuvers as well - forget the distance 
> verbiage and rely on visibility? Am I the only one concerned that Bob 
> Skinner (well intentioned as he may be, and with all due respect) 
> seems to have become the czar of F3A rules interpretation? There is a 
> CIAM F3A Subcommittee (of which Bob is chair) that should be 
> addressing these issues and fixing the wording of the rules, rather 
> than allowing one person to make the calls.
>  
> Earl

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.f3a.us/pipermail/nsrca-discussion/attachments/20040805/c1f8ff8e/attachment.html