Why the aircraft diversity bonus? Whats the virtue of diversity?
A. For this year’s race, the Executive Committee wanted to offer an incentive to increase the diversity of the aircraft flown by each team. It was felt that a few aircraft – on the high end of the speed spectrum (and, according to our measurements, in many cases on the lower end of the realism spectrum) – had come to dominate the race. These aircraft have come to me much loved by the teams, and thus we were faced with a dilemma. We wanted to decrease the influence of a small subset of aircraft on the outcome of the race, but at the same time we wanted to preserve the fun of the race for people who were planning on flying these aircraft. Further, we believed that the race would be more enjoyable for all participants if a wider variety of aircraft were involved. We looked at a broad range of proposals – from banning aircraft outright, to allowing things to stand as they are – and ultimately came to the conclusion that the best solution was to allow the teams to choose for themselves what
