The Perfect Final Glide
Previous articles have been covered for calculating a safety margin for your final glide. I have mentioned I like a MC=6 or something close. Especially in big sky places where the sink can be widespread and strong. Another consideration is disconnecting with clouds.
You spent the day near cloudbase hopefully looking and reading the clouds. However, as you get lower looking at the clouds becomes more difficult. You need to start looking to the ground for triggers. I generally use the 50/50 rule, when in the top half I look up and the bottom half I look down. With this in mind, I like staying connected with the clouds a little longer.
Ideally, we would continue our cruise speed with our current MC setting and fly that through the finish. However, some safety margins as described above might be good. You only need to land short of the airport once to rethink your final glides.
At the 2017 Club Class Nationals, there were a lot of under-time finishes. But mainly we can look at one nameless pilot who missed the podium on the last day because of it... With computers telling you when to turn and what your finish time will be, how does this happen? Garbage in, garbage out. Learn your final glide settings and practice with it.
Our final glide is traditionally faster then our computer was expecting us to fly. Your final glide will increase your average speed, you are using the rest of your altitude you have not been using all day. You may also have a safety margin your computer was not expecting you to drop below, allowing you to fly faster.
You may also have your computer still set flying a MC=2 even though you can make a MC=6 and are going to be burning off excess altitude shortly. Take a look at your final glide settings and you may want to change them. You might need to adjust the speed to finish and make sure it looks more realistic.
I always shoot for being over time. I also make sure to see what speed it thinks I will make it home at. If I am going to be on final glide with no more thermals then my glide home is going to be a lot faster then what my current average is. If I still need a few more climbs then it will not be increased as much.
Also, practice those final glides on a timed task. See how close you can get. I know there are some smart guys out there who will tell you how much overtime to be, I am just suggesting don't be under-time...
What is more important than getting a MT on the score sheet? Not landing-out. So if your choice is land-out or be under-time, be under-time.
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.
