flyingabitfaster（flyingabitfaster）.doc

Flying a little bit faster Goals: Go from 800 to 950 points per day in a regional / NISC. Get that extra speed you need for gold/diamond badges. Have fun flying cross country. How to get better? 1. “Fly a lot.” Driving? Experimentation is slow 2. “Just follow me” 3. Answer: Learn what to do on the ground. Practice it in the air. Fly for psychological conditioning. Learn to make in the air decisions you already know how to make on the ground. Then, learn to make them unconsciously. Things to work on Thermaling Comfort with navigation, landout possibilities, etc. When to stop and when to leave Final glides Course deviations, big and little Changing gears – recognizing weather. Psychology; being scared at the right times; keeping a positive attitude. Day strategy: start time, recognizing weather for the day. Contest strategy Thermaling… Focus toady: When to stop and when to leave, including final glides How the state of the art has changed since Moffat / Reichmann Avoid wasted circles This is the number 1 most important thing to work on. What it feels like to lose to KS 1 hour = 60 minutes. 1 turn = 25 seconds. Thus One extra circle per hour costs you 7 contest points. Three circles per hour costs 2%, or 20 contest points. 3 circles per hour = 1 circle every other thermals Cutting 3 circles per hour is worth about $20,000! Three basic rules 1. Don’t turn in weak lift. Pass through them when you’re cruising; Leave weak thermals to find better ones. If you’re not centering, move on. 2. Don’t land out! Balance your choosiness about lift with the chance of landing out. 3. Leave room to climb in good lift. Cloudbase is terrible. If 8 kts comes along you can’t use it. Modern MacCready theory MacCready value. Mc = 4 “If 400 feet higher, I would expect to finish one minute sooner.” The MacCready value governs all inflight decisions The MacCready value governs all inflight decisions If Mc = 4, you Take