Hi, interesting! I am a competition glider pilot myself and fly a Mini Nimbus, PH-588, BU, not at the highest level, but I do quite well sometimes. last weekend I ended 8th place in the Sallandse Tweedaagse (look it up in soaring spot ;-) ).. Could you elaborate a bit more about why it had gone wrong so badly, what did you do wrong before starting to approach final glides like you explained in the video? because then we might understand better your current approach to final glides. During a competition a couple of years ago, I was very fast and on course to win the competition.. BUT, I started the final glide way too fast (more then Mc 2 speed) and 5-10km before the finish line I had to decide to land out, because I was too low to safely cross a forested unlandable area. Was such a "safety first" decision not possible when you crashed?! In a way I do it similar, go on final glide when MC is at 2.0 (LK8000 flight computer shows me) but in stead I have a fixed margin of 150 meters, which I turn into speed when I see I can reach the airport. Check the video Schweinfurt Final Glide! on my channel as a good example, also this video th-cam.com/video/B1q8XJDC39w/w-d-xo.htmlm39s But with finish rings you do not have such a good reference like a runway of course, which makes it a bit more difficult to really "see" what you possibilities are. OK, I subscribed to your channel, you have some good stuff here!
Hi Marco!To be honest, you did well! You started first and finished first, not bad. I think I mention in one of my videos that ‘don’t start first’: In a competition your are competing against other pilots, not the weather. Also, flying with others (=they will help you center thermals faster and mark thermals) will make you go faster. Since you fly a Mini Nimbus it has got a quite high coeff, it’s always difficult….you need to start late and catch up with the others. The tactis are a bit different from long and short comps also; in short ones you fly more aggressivly, a bit like win-or-lose. When it comes to final glides I basicly didn't have a plan at the beginning. Now days I follow this as a rule-of-thumb but alter it depending on what I think the weather will be infront of me. Some days it's not possible to thermal up to a good final glide margine.
I think that adding a distance per km out is equivalent with setting a slightly higher MC on final glide. So to make things easier for yourself, calculate the MC for MC=2 + 100m/1km and simply use that. Also, read John Cochrane's papers on this matter. They are very informative.
The reason for not calculating an equivalent MC is that you will need to re-do the calculation for every glider you fly as MC5 for a JS1 gives you different margin compared to MC5 on a cirrus. My approach needs no pre-calculating. Another reason is that you don't have a feeling when you can make it or not. How many meters below glide slope can you be on your calculated MC and still make it home? When I reach zero margin at MC2 I regard it as 'probably not making it' and start deviating/slowing down/thermal or whatever I need to do to make it. I set the glide computers before start to MC2 and just keep it at that, no need to fiddle with the instrument in the air.
Hi, interesting! I am a competition glider pilot myself and fly a Mini Nimbus, PH-588, BU, not at the highest level, but I do quite well sometimes. last weekend I ended 8th place in the Sallandse Tweedaagse (look it up in soaring spot ;-) )..
Could you elaborate a bit more about why it had gone wrong so badly, what did you do wrong before starting to approach final glides like you explained in the video? because then we might understand better your current approach to final glides.
During a competition a couple of years ago, I was very fast and on course to win the competition.. BUT, I started the final glide way too fast (more then Mc 2 speed) and 5-10km before the finish line I had to decide to land out, because I was too low to safely cross a forested unlandable area. Was such a "safety first" decision not possible when you crashed?!
In a way I do it similar, go on final glide when MC is at 2.0 (LK8000 flight computer shows me) but in stead I have a fixed margin of 150 meters, which I turn into speed when I see I can reach the airport. Check the video Schweinfurt Final Glide! on my channel as a good example, also this video th-cam.com/video/B1q8XJDC39w/w-d-xo.htmlm39s But with finish rings you do not have such a good reference like a runway of course, which makes it a bit more difficult to really "see" what you possibilities are.
OK, I subscribed to your channel, you have some good stuff here!
Hi Marco!To be honest, you did well! You started first and finished first, not bad. I think I mention in one of my videos that ‘don’t start first’: In a competition your are competing against other pilots, not the weather. Also, flying with others (=they will help you center thermals faster and mark thermals) will make you go faster. Since you fly a Mini Nimbus it has got a quite high coeff, it’s always difficult….you need to start late and catch up with the others.
The tactis are a bit different from long and short comps also; in short ones you fly more aggressivly, a bit like win-or-lose.
When it comes to final glides I basicly didn't have a plan at the beginning. Now days I follow this as a rule-of-thumb but alter it depending on what I think the weather will be infront of me. Some days it's not possible to thermal up to a good final glide margine.
I think that adding a distance per km out is equivalent with setting a slightly higher MC on final glide. So to make things easier for yourself, calculate the MC for MC=2 + 100m/1km and simply use that.
Also, read John Cochrane's papers on this matter. They are very informative.
The reason for not calculating an equivalent MC is that you will need to re-do the calculation for every glider you fly as MC5 for a JS1 gives you different margin compared to MC5 on a cirrus. My approach needs no pre-calculating. Another reason is that you don't have a feeling when you can make it or not. How many meters below glide slope can you be on your calculated MC and still make it home? When I reach zero margin at MC2 I regard it as 'probably not making it' and start deviating/slowing down/thermal or whatever I need to do to make it. I set the glide computers before start to MC2 and just keep it at that, no need to fiddle with the instrument in the air.
Why not make a long video about Mcready theory? Like very thorough. It will be useful I trust.
Thanks for the idea, I will consider it!