Deviation

Effective deviation is covered a lot in cross country flying. Deviating too much and making little distance towards the goal, not deviating at all and not finding a good thermal, and partially deviating under the clouds but not going to the good side are common errors.

At the WGC last week Mike and I saw ourselves doing those a few times. Where the non-flying pilot would comment, ‘why are we

We have had a string of good weather and a few students were trying to get a cross-country flight in before I headed off to the Worlds. We also had clouds which is a rarity for us, it is much easier to play connect the dots when you can see them. The advantage is it makes it much easier to find the sheerline. The sheerline is not a straight line of lift, it is a wondering path to follow through the

Clearly, the start gate that is closest to the line is the best one to use. The shortest distance makes sense. Problem solved, go there.

If it was only that easy. It might be the shortest distance but it could come with a lot of disadvantages. Sometimes the best start gate to use is one that is farthest away from the course line. In an hour you are not going to be concerned with being 1/2 mile

We have all heard about the 30-degree rule. I also talked about Ingo Renner (Ingo Renner's Discus was specially made without ailerons, he chooses to climb straight ahead.) being able to just drive his sailplanes straight on course. Then Dale Bush has his motto about following clouds...

Let's think more about the 30-degree rule because many of us try and use it religiously. This hurt me big

Remember our clouds from last week? The three clouds to the left and a larger one to the right. Rather than deciding early and head towards one on a long glide. Split the difference and head for the middle. As you get closer you might be able to make a more informed decision with less deviation.

If you are Ingo Renner (think Chuck Norris jokes) you don't have to deviate as the thermals will

Last week you practiced on the ground looking at clouds and planning a route. There are a lot of decisions and limited flying hours. You may have noticed a few wisps which turned into the correct decision 10min later. The cloud street to the right looked better at the time, but the one on the left was better 10min later. Use this knowledge in the air to make better decisions.

Pick a target

Speed to fly was the topic of our newsletter two weeks ago.  One of our readers emailed us and pointed out an important aspect of speed to fly and achieved speed, which we will discuss today.

First, I would like to apologize for those of you that landed out last weekend because I may have told you to fly too fast. When I wrote it I more had the new pilot in mind where they want to float