Mechanical vs. Electric Variometer

A vario is arguably the most important tool on the glider pilots instrument panel.

I always have a backup vario when racing. Sometimes redundancy is a good thing.

Many do this with a mechanical vario, Winter is the most common. With a battery backup you could also accomplish this with a Borgelt B400. The B400 is commonly used by clubs because it is the lowest cost of all electric varios. It comes pre-wired with a switch to go between the 4 AA battery pack and the gliders main battery. The advantage being is you could still have a working vario with audio.

There is nothing to say that Winter or Borgelt would not make great primary instruments. But some like their cockpit a little more flashy and with more options then just a vario.

Please remember there is a thing as too much information. You do not want your head inside the cockpit the entire time looking at all of the fancy features.

The Sage CVA has an averager built-in. Sage is the most sensitive and accurate of the mechanical varios helping you sense the smallest amount of lift. These beautiful instruments are back into production with an audio attachment option.

LX NAV has the new S10/100. There are a lot of features on this powerful little instrument. It makes the list here because is has a built-in backup battery which will keep it running for another 3 hours.

Nameless pilots give reasons for a backup vario:

1. A rogue Pee-bag resulted in a bent TE tube, luckily the electronically compensated vario worked fine.

2. While shipping his LS-8 to the JWGC the Capacity flask tube was kinked, causing his 1 and only vario to not work.

3. I wish that time I forgot to charge battery #2 I had a backup vario to get home.

4. A terminal velocity decent to disassemble before the storm resulted in a broken vario.

5. A TE tube left in the field did not prohibit flying the following day.

Banner Photo: Mika Ganszauge

IMI One Man Rigging System (OMRS) was successfully tested at the beginning of 2008. Several hundreds of units were delivered to the customers from whole world and for many different types of gliders since that time. It is high rated especially for its simple and light design, simple use and also small transport dimensions. We offer several combinations to be able to equip different kinds of glider types. Combination of four different wing holders and three bodies can be used, so the device is useful for almost all glider types, including some of the microlight and historical gliders.

 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.