Landing Direction

[Derek Koopowitz]

One more thought on this issue with regard to the surveys of the past...
WRITTEN BADLY!  I made some suggestions to Don Ramsey for this survey and
he's incorporated them into the survey.  I think the survey this time will
be a lot more accurate in the message it conveys.

I think Pattern needs to start thinking a little outside the box with
takeoffs and landings.
 

-----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org] On
Behalf Of Jerry Budd
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 10:09 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Landing Direction

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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