Good afternoon, Chief Delphi!
In a completely hypothetical situation, would a Drive Coach legally be permitted to utilize a bagpipe as a signaling device to the human players? It certainly seems to me to be legal under H303 as a “non-powered signaling device.”
No problem with H303, but you might run afoul of E109 or E113
Definition of a Scottish gentleman:
One who knows how to play the bagpipes, and doesn’t.
E109E of the event rules is probably an issue:
And it appears I’ve been sniped, but here is the text of the specific rules.
Edit: improper pluralization
Bagpipes, you say?
Darn! It seems like we could get around E113 by simply playing incoherent noises instead of music, but E109(E) is certainly much more difficult to dodge.
Oh, like bagpipes?
E109c is more to the point although bagpipe drones can be turned off.
Given that Wikipedia thinks “Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument” and “Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments” whereas “A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds.” we can eliminate a “noisy device” from the equation if you introduce the bagpipes not as a musical instrument (as there is no intention to play music using them) but as a signalling device.
That leaves us with the “noisemaker”. That one should be pretty easy as well given the definition from Wikipedia: “A noisemaker is something intended to make a loud noise, usually for fun.”
Since you’re not doing this for fun you could argue that it would be at the very least highly unusual to consider bagpipes a noisemaker.
Given this, I think you’re fine.
If I recall correctly… one original use of bagpipes was actually for signalling.
But using one near my ears may result in one set of non-functional bagpipes, see?
Wow I miss the OG looney tunes.
To think all this bagpipe slander is coming on the week of St. Patrick’s Day 
Are bagpipes “non-powered”? Air pressure is considered a source of energy in FRC, and bagpipes are capable of storing it, albeit temporarily.
Are bagpipes a pneumatic device?
If you use this logic, our voices are powered and drive coaches can’t talk!
Since you fill it up yourself, that interpretation would also disqualify your lungs. You would still be allowed to breathe but you couldn’t signal with your voice
