HpH Shark low pass
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total energy probes polished wings deviations

I had a technical discussion with a sailplane designer recently about my desire to have a retractable tailwheel on my Ventus 3TS.  His reply was, if my glider has an LD of 50.37:1 and yours has 50:1, do you know how long it would take to find a difference of 10m?  The answer is 40min!  This means that we have both landed out before we both see a difference of 10m from 1000m agl..  

Polished Wings

The technical discussion continued. He then went on to say that a clean wing brings much more performance gains, so always polish it, which is all he does now.  I can attest to this too, recently at a nationals I wasn’t able to polish my wings for a week due to the harsh conditions and no hangar. Finally, on the day I was able to polish my wings before the flight, I noticed a huge difference in both glider performance and handling.  I definitely recommend having a polishing kit on hand!

Planning deviations

One of the key learnings I’ve discovered over time is that if you know where the turn-point (TP) is, it’s much easier to plan your task and imagine your deviations, effectively to know whether they’re worth taking or not.  There are a few ways you can do this, and it doesn’t matter if you have 50hrs or 3000hrs experience.  The first way is to practice two small tasks in a day, if it’s a useable 300km day, try doing two laps around a 150km course. What you’ll find is that on the second lap, you’ll typically improve your time. This is because you know what to expect, you’ll learn where the TP’s are, and have a better idea of the weather. The second option is to sit in your cockpit and have someone help you with a protractor and a piece of string. Why you ask? Simply put the protractor between your eyes and then attach a piece of string to it, then stretch it out and mark 10*, 20*, 30*, and 45* markings onto your panel. This allows you quickly assess where the TP is, and then plan your deviations towards the TP!

Clean Total Energy Probes

Quite often we all help friends put their total energy probe into the fin, for me it’s a point of interest. Almost every probe I handle has the TE leading edge surface rough, full of soot or grit from the atmosphere. This should always be clean & free of friction, to give the best results for your vario system.

Banner Photo by Petr Kolmann

Adam Woolley  Adam Woolley was born into the gliding world, being the 3rd generation in his family. Going solo at 15, his thirst for efficiency in soaring flight & quest for a world championship title to his name has never wavered. One big passion is sharing his experiences & joy with other glider pilots all around the world. Adam is an airline pilot in Japan on the B767 & spends his off time chasing summer around the globe. He has now won 7 national Championships & represented Australia at 5 WGC's & 1 EGC.