Oz Report

Getting out ahead of one's self

Larry Bunner|Suan Selenati

John Simon|Larry Bunner|Suan Selenati

competition|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Suan Selenati

competition|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Suan Selenati

Over the two weeks of 2019 Nationals competition the one mistake that I made too many times was to go out in "front" when it wasn't clear where to actually go. Sometimes I would actually be in front of all the other pilots.  Sometimes I would just be in front of all the other pilots near me and there would not be another pilot that I could see in front of me. Sometimes it would mean getting in the lead with a couple of pilots nearby but just a bit behind me.

I would get into trouble on the days where there were no cu's which was most often the case during the Nationals.  I wouldn't have a visual clue as to where the next thermal was.  I would just head down the course line hoping to stumble on the next patch of lift.

It was fine to lead when there were cu's around.  On the last keg of task 5 of the Nationals (week 2) I got lucky finding a thermal at the turnpoint at 1,100' AGL and getting up above the pilots nearby.  Nene, Zac and John Simon were already way out in front of us and not to be seen.

I headed out toward the cu's ahead and after turning back to get under a better cu I was joined by Larry Bunner just below me. We would continue for three thermals under cu's and lead five pilots below us to goal.

But on the days without these thermal markers things did not go as well.  For example, on the first day of week 2:

I get out in front after we leave the developed areas behind north of the Lake Wales airfield.  I've got two pilots sort of nearby but not in front of me and it's hard to keep track of them.  We are well spread out.  There are no cu's ahead (nor any where all day). All the glides up to that point have been short with lots of pilots around to find more lift.

The glide goes a lot longer than I would have hoped for and I have to make a low save to stay up and get to goal late.  All I needed to do was not go out in front quite so early and stay with the other pilots for a few more minutes while a couple of bird dogs went out and showed us the lift.

Here's an example from the Spring Meeting - Friuli Venezia Giulia Trophy 2019.

Matjaz Klemencic, Suan Selenati get out in front of everyone include Christian, Alex, and Peter when just before this they were all together as the lead gaggle.  Matjaz ends up landing before goal.  Suan does a low save and comes in forth behind the other three.

On task 4 during week 1 I was consistently out in front as it was an elapsed time task and I started relatively early.  None-the-less there were cu's and I flew the cu's the whole way, 224 kilometers, which allowed me to stay in front and fly by myself.  The Replay doesn't work, but the results are shown here: https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-1/results/task3982/day/open-class. Only at the end did I miss seeing some little wispy cu's off to the east toward the last turnpoint and goal.

So the rule I should follow is, unless you know where you are going (to find lift) stay with others who can help you find it.

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The Airtribune maps no longer jump around

https://airtribune.com/2019-quest-air-nationals-week-2/blog__day_7

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US sailplane competitions don't count

Dennis Yeomans|sailplane

Dennis Yeomans writes:

No Americans in the top 20 World sailplane comp pilots because they don’t allow points for USA comps.

http://igcrankings.fai.org/

I didn't see an American in the top 100.

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Tuning the Flytec 6030

Steve Kroop

Steve Kroop

Flytec 6030|Steve Kroop

Steve Kroop «info» writes:

As we have discussed previously, the 6030 will never sound like the Connect/P1 since the sound drivers are different, much like a trumpet will not sound like trombone.  That said, you can alter some settings in the 6030 to get its characteristics similar to the acoustic vario in the P1.

First, you will want to adjust the vario responsiveness (Menu> Pilot settings > Vario > 0 is the slowest up to 4, the fastest.  Note that this effects both the acoustic and graphic vario.  Personally I like a faster vario but I use setting 3 because the fastest setting has the least amount of filtering and is more susceptible to false indications

Next, go to Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Climb tone threshold.  This setting is for the limit for the minimum lift value to start the vario beeping.  If you want the acoustic vario more “sensitive” then reduce the value.  IMO, 8 ft/min is a good value to start with, then test and adjust according to preference.

Next, go to Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings.  The first value adjusts the starting frequency of the actual beep (which of course gets higher with increasing lift). In this case you can match it to the frequency in the Connect/P1 (I like 800Hz).

The second value is modulation which is how fast does the frequency go up with respect to increasing lift.  In I understand what you wrote, you felt that the 6030 was not getting excited enough as the lift increased relative to the P1 so you would increase the value but I would not go all the way to 9, especially for spring flying otherwise you fooled into being excited about a 500 ft/min thermal when it is a 1000 ft/min day.

The next setting is the frequency of the descent tone, which of course gets lower with increasing sink (I like 700Hz).

The next setting is Dampening which smooths-out the changes in audio associated with changes in lift, the default value is 8 which I think is good.  A lower value will reflect more accurately what the air is doing but in rough air the beeping will sound confused.  A higher value here will further smooth out the changes frequency associated with changes lift but with too much dampening you will no longer hear where the better parts of the lift are.

The last setting is cadence of the beeping, the higher the setting the faster the beeps will get with increasing lift.  Similar to modulation, if you increase this value the acoustic vario will seem more excited as the climb increases.

Hope this helps.

My existing setting:

Menu> Pilot settings > Vario > 4

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Climb tone threshold> 4

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Frqcy (up arrow) > 600

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Mod > 5

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Frqcy (down arrow) > 600

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Damp > 8

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Cadence > 1

While I seriously doubt that these changes will make much of a difference, there's no harm in trying.

New settings:

Menu> Pilot settings > Vario > 3

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Climb tone threshold> 8

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Frqcy (up arrow) > 800

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Mod > 7

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Frqcy (down arrow) > 700

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Damp > 8

Menu> Pilot settings > Acoustic vario > Sound settings > Cadence > 5

While I seriously doubt that these changes will make much of a difference, there's no harm in trying as I rely on the sounds from the P1.

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