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Robert Hart wrote : >snip -------------------------- The problem is that we are approaching the time when almost everything one does in the sport of gliding will be either compulsory or illegal.Policing comp and badge flights for oxygen usage is very, very simple after all. It would increase the safety in our sport.What is the problem? Stirring Mode <ON> "Increasing safety" is always an emotive issue whether on the roads, or in the sport we love. The challenge (in gliding especially) is to strike the balance between a reasonable freedom for the individual to express and explore his/her limits, consistent with what he/she knows to be safe, over against making things so restrictive that the pilot/ winch driver/ bat waver/ hooker-onner becomes so pre-occupied with the legality of what one is doing, that it is no longer fun. When the original GFA came into existence all those years ago, the object of the exercise was to administer the sport of gliding so as to maintain the maximum freedom for the individual pilot, consistent with an adequate level of safety. Such rules as were written were kept to the minimum, and common sense was assumed to be a reasonable pre-requisite for anyone who was involved. Indeed, freedom from the bureaucratic restriction of the rules and regulations of "The Department" was seen as a strong point of "gliding" in general; it was a cherished and valued asset to be guarded at all costs. My, how things have changed. The real question is whether "safety", by whatever definition one uses to measure it, has increased as a result of us assuming almost totally the concept of operation by regulation rather than by exemption. In short, have all our present rules (or those which we think we can enforce) made the sport safer or not? I'm sorry, but the concept of Oxygen and Altitude Police for gliding does not appeal, even in the sacred name of safety. Finally, I can't remember any (perhaps I've been above 9999 feet too often), but can someone enlighten me as to just how many accidents or fatalities in gliding in Australia have resulted from people going above 10,000 feet without oxygen, or alternatively daring to enter the statutory (and essentially un-measurable) glider free zone which currently exists in respect of each and every cloud? Stirring mode < OFF> Regards, Terry :-) (Past policemen and "enforcer" of gliding rules at various competitions since 1971) |
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