extending local soaring and preparing for cross country flying

XC2020Extending local soaring and preparing for cross country flying

Chris Davison

XC2020

What is it?

Coaching and training for cross country, extended local soaring and developing soaring skills.

Mixture of workshop, simulator training, dual and solo flights

Limited number of keen pilots. Progress card structure.

Aim to increase the XC flying from Saltby in 2020, measured by number of pilots with a flight on the BGA ladder.

XC2020 Workshops

Date Topic Lead Support

Feb-08 Extended local soaring and developing your soaring skills Chris Roy

Feb-15 Elements of a cross country task - Part one Chris Phil

Feb-22 Elements of a cross country task - Part two Chris Phil

Feb-29 General Radio Usage Neil Roy

Mar-07 Elements of a cross country task - Part three Chris Phil

Mar-14 Elements of a cross country task - Part four Chris

Mar-21 Simulator training Chris

TBA Advanced topics (inc more radio) Chris Phil, Neil

XC2020 Workshops

Terminology

Gliding = Flying a glider

Soaring = Gliding in rising air to extend flight times

Cross-country = Soaring over the countryside, to extend distance

Racing = Flying a Cross-country faster than other people. Speed.

XC2020 focus is flatland thermal, soaring and cross-country flying.

Developing soaring skills and extending local soaring.

This Workshop:

1) Extending your local flying

2) From local to cross country

Elements of a cross country flight

Planning a successful task to fit you, your glider and the day

Pre-flight preparation for you, your glider and crew

Using lift to extend local soaring

Understanding your glider glide

10k, 20k and 30k locally

How to go away and stay local

Introduction to PDA & XCSoar

Using lift to extend local soaring

Extended local soaring, a few questions:

What is local?

How far can your glider glide?

How do you know you are local?

Which of the following are ‘local’? Belvoir castle? The A1? Melton Mowbray? Newark? Rutland Water?


Glider Claimed L/D Safety L/D

K7 26 20

K8 27 20

K6 30 25

K21 34 30

K18 34 30

Astir / Libelle 35 30

Perkoz (Tips) 42 35

Discus 43 40

30 feet along for every 1 foot down.

Allow 1,000 ft safety height for a circuit.

1,0

00 ft

Altitu

de (Q

FE

)

Usable

heig

ht

30 km

1 km


30 feet along for every 1 foot down.

Allow 1,000 ft safety height for a circuit.

Assumes no wind!

K8 / K7 K6

Astir /

Libelle /

K21 Perkoz Discus

Glide angle : 1 20 25 30 35 40

Km glide per 1,000 feet 6.1 7.6 9.1 10.7 12.2

Height (ft) for 10km 1,640 1,312 1,094 937 820

Safetly Height for circuit 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000

Total height for 10km 2,640 2,312 2,094 1,937 1,820

Total height 20km 4,281 3,625 3,187 2,875 2,640

Ready Reckoner

Glide Distance Ready Reckoner - Assumes no head wind!Glider L/D Arrival height (ft)

Astir 30 1,000

Distance (Km) Altitude (ft) Altitude (ft) Distance (Km)

5 1,547 1000 0.0

10 2,093 2000 9.1

15 2,640 3000 18.3

20 3,187 4000 27.4

25 3,733 5000 36.6

30 4,280 6000 45.7

35 4,827 7000 54.9

40 5,373 8000 64.0

How far? 10K? 20K?

Landmark Ready Reckoner - Assumes no head wind!

Astir 30:1 Km from SBY Height Required Ft

A1 (East of club) 6 1,656

Belvoir Castle 9 1,984

Grantham 10 2,093

Melton Mowbray 13 2,421

Bottesford Airfield 15 2,640

Rutland Water 19 3,077

Newark 28 4,061

How far? 30K?

Allowing for wind!

Downwind – need

more altitude!!

Upwind = safety margin!

Practice in upwind zone.

Efficient thermalling will

reduce downwind drift!

Caution (but

OK in light

wind)

Caution (but

OK in light

wind)

Wind

Routing through lift and sink

Don’t just follow the pointy arrow!

Join the energy dots (clouds, wisps) to improve your glide angle.

Up to 30 degrees off track makes little difference to distance.

Fly at best glide speed, slow down in lift and speed up in sink.

Don’t circle unless it’s a really strong thermal!

Things to think about when local…

Where is the airfield? How far away is it?

Airspace?

Conditions (sink / lift)? Rain showers?

Wind strength and direction? Changing?

Speed to fly at to get back?

How far away am I??Landmark Ready Reckoner - Assumes no head wind!

Astir 30:1 Km from SBY Height Required Ft

A1 (East of club) 6 1,656

Belvoir Castle 9 1,984

Grantham 10 2,093

Melton Mowbray 13 2,421

Bottesford Airfield 15 2,640

Rutland Water 19 3,077

Newark 28 4,061

Eyeball – leads to staying very local

Ready Reckoner – simplish – no wind allowance

GPS – distance and direction – no wind

PDA – distance, direction, wind, airspace, other sites..

PDA - XCSoar

2529 ft above the ground

5km away from SBY

Should arrive back +917 ft ABOVE the 1,000 ft safety height => arrive at 1,917 ft

XC Soar is freeware.Runs on an Android mobile / Oudie / Kobo.

Best if used with external power source.Can be linked to the simulator via Bluetooth.

Can run on a PC to learn how to use it.As used on the BGC Oudies.

PDA - XCSoar

2713 ft above the ground

13.4 km away from SBY

Might arrive back +107 ft ABOVE the 1,000 ft safety height => arrive at 1,107 ft

PDA - XCSoar

Now 3814 ft above the ground

21 km away from SBY

Might arrive back +379 ft ABOVE the 1,000 ft safety height => arrive at 1,379 ft

Darlton (DRL) arrival estimated 104 ft ABOVE the 1,000 ft safety height =) arrive at 1,104 ft

PDA - XCSoar

Now 3834 ft above the ground

26 km away from SBY

Might arrive back 104ft below the 1,000 ft safety height => arrive at 896 ft

Darlton (DRL) arrival estimated 577 ft ABOVE the 1,000 ft safety height =) arrive at 1,577 ft

You are now local to Darlton!!

PDA - XCSoar

IMPORTANT!!

Learn how to use your PDA on the ground, in the bath, on your PC or in the BGA simulator….

NOT IN THE AIR!!!

Linking extended local soaring…

Summary

Understand your glider’s glide ability and trust it!

Follow the energy, not just the pointy arrow

Think about the weather conditions / wind

Learn how to use your PDA on the ground!

Things to practice

Learn to trust the “glide” part of your glider.1. Climb high (or take tow) and fly 10km away from the site

2. Note your height and fly back to the club

3. How much height did you lose? Does it match RR or PDA?

4. Repeat but 15km out.

Don’t simply fly in a straight line, follow the energy, speed up in sink etc

Cross-country flying - part one

The elements of a cross country flight

Planning a successful task to fit you, your glider and the day

Pre-flight preparation for you, your glider and crew

Assessing the day from the ground, when to launch and pre-start flying

Cross-country flying

A few questions:

What is a cross-county flight

Where are the elements of a cross-country flight?

Elements of a Cross-country flight….

The elements of a cross-country…….• Spotting a good day

• Planning the task – Notams – weather – you – your glider

• Task types and rules for start / finish and turn points

• Marking the map

• Declaring the task

• Setting up IGC logger

• Getting the glider and you ready.

• Water ballast or not?

• Crew & trailer

• When to launch?

• Pre-start flying & sampling the conditions

• Making a start

• The first 10km!

• Routing through the air / follow the energy

• Climb or cruise?

• Height bands?

• Speed to fly?

• Navigation and using a PDA

• Turning a turn point.

• Strategies on different legs.

• Flying with other gliders.

• Using the radio.

• Human factors – hydration (in and out), food and heat / sun management.

• Getting low?

• Changing gear!

• Getting onto final glide.

• Final gliding

• The last 10km!

• Finishing and landing safely

• Field landing and retrieve

• Post flight activities

• Post flight analysis

• Tea and medals!

Consider a 300km flight (same principle for 50km / 100km)

Cruising and climbing!

@60kt cruise, 300km takes 2hrs 42 mins! (111 KPH) ☺

But with an (Astir) L/D of 1:33 @ 60 kt, you lose approx. 30,000 ft

Average climb rate of 2kts of whole flight, 2hrs 28min to climb

Total flight time of 5hr 10min, XC speed of 58Kph

The elements of a cross-country…….

Take away:

On task for at least five hours

Thermalling accurately for half that time

Decision making all the time

Significant physical and mental stress!

You need to be prepared, to focus 100% on the flight!

The more you can prepare, the easier the flight will be!





• Marking the map





• Crew & trailer

• When to launch?


• Making a start

• The first 10km!



• Height bands?

• Speed to fly?







• Getting low?

• Changing gear!


• Final gliding

• The last 10km!





• Tea and medals!

Preparation!

• Spotting a good day



• Marking the map




• Crew & trailer


Spotting a good day

Looking for a soaring window – geographic and time2-3 hours for 50-100K task, 5-6 hours for 300k taskWinds < 15 knots, cloud base > 3,500 feet1/8 to 5/8 cumulus coverThermals 2kt+ over day / geographyStart looking a few days out!

Tools such as RASP (see saltbyxc.co.uk )Lasham and Dunstable websites ( see www.soarmet.com )


http://saltbyxc.co.uk/

http://www.soarmet.com/

Planning the task

How long is the soaring window?How big is the soaring area?How fast (KPH) are you likely to fly?Which areas start early or finish late?Wind direction?Notams? (see saltbyxc.co.uk or jeffg.co.uk/gliding/spine )Airspace? ( asselect.uk )Waypoints? ( jeffg.co.uk/gliding/tpselect )What are other people flying? Why?Badge flight? If so, what are the rules?


http://saltbyxc.co.uk/

http://www.jeffg.co.uk/gliding/spine.htm

https://asselect.uk/

http://www.jeffg.co.uk/gliding/tpselect.htm

Planning the task

Task planning software

TaskNav – old but free! ( www.tasknav.com )

SeeYou – Modern ££ ( naviter.com/products/seeyou )

Combining weather, Notams, airspace, task rules and your requirements into a suitable task!


http://www.tasknav.com/

https://www.naviter.com/products/seeyou/

Why these turn points?

Task types and rules for start / finish and turn points

FAI Sporting code ( www.fai.org/igc-documents )

Badge claims have specific rules!

1km Start and finish line

0.5km radius barrel OR quadrants

Start height?

1% rule?


http://www.fai.org/igc-documents

Start lines, turn points and finishing

Start lines, turn points and finishing

members.gliding.co.uk/library/competitions/bga-competition-rules

http://members.gliding.co.uk/library/competitions/bga-competition-rules/

Marking the map

Off-line navigation / legal requirement!

Fold to sensible cockpit size, keep it simple

• Big picture of the task

• Route details and direction

• Turn points

• Expected wind direction

• Notam areas / danger areas / jump zones

• Other gliding clubs / landing areas.


Declaring your task

Required for badge flights

Paper (OO signed) or

Electronic (to IGC logger)

Please also verbally tell Duty Instructor!

members.gliding.co.uk/library/general/flight-declaration-form


https://members.gliding.co.uk/library/general/flight-declaration-form/

Setting up your IGC Logger / position recorder

• FAI approved IGC Logger - Badges and Diplomas (records?)• BGA approved IGC Position Recorder - Silver & Gold• PDA that creates an IGC file - only valid for personal / ladder use

Practice with your logger BEFORE the big flight!Power? Antenna position? Security?Check OO knows which logger you are using.Check requirements for your badge / record.

www.fai.org/page/igc-approved-flight-recorderswww.fai.org/page/igc-position-recorders


http://www.fai.org/page/igc-approved-flight-recorders

https://www.fai.org/page/igc-position-recorders

Getting the glider ready.

Rigged & DI? Positive checks? Tyre?

Taped up?

Canopy clean?

Battery charged? PDA charged?

Logger installed? Switched on?

Map?

Water (to drink)?

Snacks?

Towed out to the launch point?


Getting you ready.

“I’M SAFE” - Illness? Medication? Stress? Alcohol? Fatigue? Familiarity? Eating?

Clothing? Sunglasses? Hat? Footwear?

Water / food / peeing?

Phone charged / right numbers in it?

Any niggling questions?

Perfect Preparation Prevents Pathetic Performance!


Water ballast or not? - NOT!

- Try nothing new on first XC…

Crew & trailer

Trailer roadworthy? Ready to roll? Rigging aids in / close by?

Crew? Who to phone? Do they know the trailer?

How to communicate your location? ( what3words.com )

Car? Insurance? Towing ability? Towing licence 750kg? Fuel?

Land-out bag in the glider? Clothes, food, money etc


https://what3words.com/




• Marking the map





• Crew & trailer

• When to launch?


• Making a start

• The first 10km!



• Height bands?

• Speed to fly?







• Getting low?

• Changing gear!


• Final gliding

• The last 10km!





• Tea and medals!


Questions??

extending local soaring and preparing for cross country flying

Documents