http://ozreport.com/2.219

http://ozreport.com/2.217

The Competition Workgroup, a workgroup that you've never heard of unless you've heard about it here, has completed a draft "Competition Manual and Rulebook." It is unclear to me what the status of this "Working Draft" is, but is certainly extensive (copying many parts of the current USHPA Rulebook). As I reported earlier, the Competition Rulebook can't be changed except at the USHPA Fall Board meeting, so there may be a lot of work to do before it gets voted on. It wasn't voted up or down at the recent BOD meeting.

Right off it seems strange that the Workgroup is combining a Rulebook with a guidebook for meet organizers, with a set of standards for meet organizers, with a "Comp in a Box" pep talk to prospective meet organizers (and that will be combined with the Tree Toppers "Comp in a Box"), combined with a Public Relations Guide, and finally combined with an out of date Competition Planning Check list (still refers to CB radios). Perhaps all useful documents, but it is unclear why they are all together.

The Competition Rulebook is an essential document for pilots engaged in competition. Combined with the local rules (and perhaps the CIVL rules), these are the rules that govern a competition. Pilots (and meet directors) need to be familiar with them. So the target audience is: competition pilots, and meet directors.

The Competition Rulebook needs to be as short and sweet as possible, so that the pilot actually can read it and so that the meet director (and the protest committee) can quickly apply it. Right now our USHPA Competition Rulebook has a lot more in it than it needs, to be to useful to pilots and meet directors, and much of it could be moved to another document to make it easier on this audience.

So I find it a bit crazy to try to pile on and make it more difficult for pilots and meet directors to know what the rules are. It was my hope earlier (when I was in charge of the USHPA Competition Rulebook) and my hope now that the Competition Committee actually go in the completely opposite direction and simplify the task of competition pilots by editing the Competition Rulebook to make it focused just on what pilots and the meet directors need to know.

You know, it would also be nice if the USHPA provided a set of boilerplate local rules. I have such a set and provide them to meet organizers to help them out.

More on the Competition Manual and Rulebook in the next issue.