Look out, Look out, Look out
This has been the phrase used repeatedly by the contest organizers. Despite that, on Day 8 we had someone not looking out. I am not here to speculate what happened. You can download the IGC files and make your own assessment of what happened. What I will say is that the entering glider impacted the thermalling glider and had not seen him. Both gliders flew back to the airport and had very minor damage. A few days before in Hungary there was a mid-air while thermalling resulting in both pilots safely landing by parachute. Both of these accidents were by someone entering a thermal when someone was already established.
You have to look out, not just at the glider you are joining but looking around for other gliders also fixated on a thermalling glider. There could easily be someone else entering from a different direction or multiple gliders in the same thermal that you did not see.
It is more of a common practice now to use Flarm to see what the other gliders are doing. If you zoom in enough and focus hard enough you can determine what people's climb rates are. With the OGN you can have someone on the ground calling what the climbs and glides are of other gaggles and individual pilots. Now that the ground crew has a nearly indefinite range, there is a lot more emphasis on using technology to see and predict what others are doing and make a decision before they do it.
Flarm in the cockpit here does not seem to have the range that we see in the US. There are 100 little gliders crossing paths on the screen in the cockpit. The climbs are really not very useful because they are an instant vario reading so it could be a low part or a spike. This means it is not very accurate and very difficult to use efficiently to see what the gaggle is actually doing. We have the advantage in the 2-seater that one person can dedicate some time to looking inside the cockpit to see what the technology is saying.
In a single-seater though, it can take precious seconds away from seeing traffic and it may not even be accurate. I have noticed a lot of gliders appear and disappear on the Flarm because of antenna placement and other issues. It does not replace looking outside but is an aid to help see traffic.
Even with audio varios, pilots are looking inside the cockpit to see the climb rather than looking outside for other traffic. I watched one midair many years ago when someone pulled before looking over their shoulder and put a nice dent in the bottom of someone’s wing with their winglet.
There was a comment in the pilot's meeting about good practices when thermalling. Wave, one finger, whole hand, gesture, whatever you want so the other pilot knows that you see them. Never go belly up to a glider because you cannot see them, they might not see you, and re-center into you. Accept that a gaggle is not efficient. Gaggle flying is not the time to try and make a few feet on your competitor. The pullup is also not as efficient because you cannot pull up in the strongest part of the lift. You have to slow down along the outside of the ring and merge in like you would on a freeway.
There is no placement or prize money that is worth putting your life and the life of your friends at risk.
Banner Photo: Petr Kolmann
Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.