Sailplane in Assigned Area Task
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turn area task lx9070 gdale contest rules assigned area task

When to turn during an Assigned Area Task (AAT)?

The age-old question, one which takes experience and sometimes bravery to make the decision to turn for home, to make the final dash and come home on time (or over), but not before. For sure the answer to removing some of these doubts like anything is, knowing the rules of an AAT, to practice practice practice, and understanding your instruments.
 

Rules of an AAT

  1. You must always finish the task
  2. You shall not finish under time unless rule one is in jeopardy
  3. Go far enough into the first sector and other sectors to ensure you won't come in under time unless it jeopardises Rule 1
  4. Make your turn points sharp and defined, no wandering around
  5. Never stop racing until you cross the finish line
  6. Plan-Plan-Plan prior to the flight, then execute but always remain flexible in your execution

Practicing for AAT’s

A long time ago I was lucky enough to do a weeks soaring with G Dale, the master UK coach with so much passion and commitment to our wonderful sport.  One of the discussion topics for practice was to do two laps around a small racing task, the reason for this is that the second time you’ll know where the turn points are from experience, you’ll know what the weather conditions are and finally, you’ll have a speed to beat.  Why is this good training though? You’ll learn that prior preparation prevents poor performance! So visualising where the TP’s are, what the expected weather enroute will be is, important ground features, etc it is very important to your overall speed.

With the above knowledge and training technique that I was now armed with, I decided to start doing two laps around a small AAT.  If the day's weather has a 4hr window, then I would practice two laps around a 1.75hr AAT – this way you get two opportunities in a day to practice coming home on time, plus navigation and weather planning experience.

When to turn for home?

This section would probably take a book to write, so just the key points now to give you some thought for your own flights and decisions.

  1. I fly with the ‘achieved task speed’ and the ‘required task speed’ navboxes next to each other. Then when I’m in the final sector, I always press ‘next’ to navigate toward home, this will update your required task speed. So if you’re doing 120kph for the day, and the weather isn’t expected to change, then I wouldn’t turn for home until I saw 150kph required.  Same if it said 100kph, I would continue on my track out and wait for 150kph to appear.
  2. On my LX9070 I calculate my ETA on ‘Average Task/Thermal’, this is an automatic feature of the last 4 climbs and glides, which will be updating your ‘tDelta’ navbox.  However, just before making the turn for home, I select ‘McCready’ as my ETA calculation.  I then make a guess at my average climbs expected on the way home, if the ‘tDelta’ is over time too, then I can confidently turn for home.

AAT’s can be a lot of fun, but like anything, they require practice to master.  Happy planning, executing with flexibility, and refer to Rule 1, unless it’s in jeopardy of course!

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.