Landing Direction

[Jerry Budd]

Well, I guess we'll have to disagree on this one.  Many have said 
that takeoff and landing were aerobatic maneuvers but no one has 
offered up any rationale as to WHY they think that it is.  Simply 
asserting that you think that they need to be scored isn't rationale, 
just opinion.  I understand that TO&L's don't have to be aerobatic 
maneuvers to be scored, I just don't think they're particularly 
relevant as part of the scored sequence of competition maneuvers 
(there's nothing aerobatic about them).  Do they require skill to do 
well?  Sure they do, but so do a lot of things that don't have 
anything to do with flying pattern (flying a limbo in a fun fly 
contest comes to mind as one example, I'm sure there are many others).

What I have heard is that many are in favor of scoring TO&L's because 
it's a matter of "tradition", kind of a "since we've always done it 
this way then we should always do it this way" attitude.  I find that 
kind of attitude to be archaic and counter productive in a 
competitive environment.  It breeds stagnation and in a competitive 
environment you're either moving forward or you're moving backward - 
there's no in between.  Don't get me wrong, traditions based on solid 
fundamental rationale are worth perpetuating.  But making a case for 
something based on tradition "for traditions sake" is a hollow 
argument that won't stand up to objective scrutiny.

The other thing I've heard is a variation on the "Chicken Little", 
"the sky is falling" argument.  Along the lines of since TO&L's are 
no longer scored, they'll soon look like crap.  Well, FAI hasn't 
scored TO&L's for a number of years now, and I fail to see the 
problem there (those in FAI who can't make decent TO&L's tend to not 
score very high even though they still get "10's" on them). 
Professional pride and peer pressure (Verne - would that be called 
ridicule in D4/D5?  ;-)) provide the remaining incentive.

Here's an observation and my final comment on this issue:

/rant/

There seems to be some mentality among the group that membership in 
the NSRCA dictates that one should cow down to the groups wishes, 
once they are known via some mechanism such as a survey or poll (ever 
hear of the phrase "group mentality", it's generally not meant as a 
complement...).  Some even suggest that it's the democratic way to do 
so, the will of the majority, etc.  They are wrong.  The ultimate 
responsibility of a democracy is to protect the rights of the 
minority in spite of the will of the majority.  The reality is that 
we live in a democratic republic, where the elected representatives 
are charged with making decisions that they determine to be in the 
best interest of their constituency, whether the constituency likes 
it or not.  That's their job.  If you don't like it, elect someone 
else (just be careful what you wish for).

/rant off/

Thx, Jerry

-- 
___________
Jerry Budd
Budd Engineering
(661) 722-5669 Voice/Fax
(661) 435-0358 Cell Phone
mailto:jerry at buddengineering.com
http://www.buddengineering.com
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