First, I have to agree that the same guys are going to be winning anyway...well, most of the time. Landing is part of flying, after all, if you can't land, you can't really fly. I would like to see landing devalued to add a max of 10 flight points, or 10 seconds before a flight score is normalized. I think that would mix things up in the winners circle a bit more than we think. There are no landing points in a full scale soaring competition, except that one has to make it back to the start/finish to be awarded speed points...it's a RACE!
TD competitions are NOT A RACE! They aren't even distance contests. But still, they should be thermalling competitions and not landing contests. I can see some of the things that might happen, though, with landing points being totally blanked. Flyoffs that last through dusk; models lost in a dark sky; tempers flairing; boy, this gets ugly fast! Still, there has to be something we can do differently from our fixed vantage point...and my little pea brain is overheating trying to come up with something to make it more of a competition about flying...not landing. We could do a no time limit man-on-man...that could last for days with 10 contestants...how about a hand launch style TD contest with 5 minute flight, followed by a 7 minute, then a 9, then a 12, then a 20, with the 10 point landing to help settle the contest...there we go with the landing determining the winner, again! Well, maybe not. If these were flown in order, some would be forced to make more flights if they didn't make their time. If the time wasn't made on the first attempt, no landing points awarded! That makes it a bonus for flying well and making your time. I'm still new and don't know if this stuff has been tried...any comments??? Gasbag Jack in Conroe, TX __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
