Those Crucial Last 45mins...
Part 2 of 2
So you've had a good day out racing, or perhaps you haven't for whatever reason, there's ways to extend your days lead, or recover it with a strong transition to the final glide!
Matthew Scutter is always hard to catch, but this one particular year, he was gaining often 5 minutes on me just by nailing his final glides into my hometown airport, Kingaroy. I knew my final glides were average in general, but they were safe & not so risky - but from this competition on, I knew I had work to do!
Race onto final glide
The long & the short of it is, race onto final glide like you've been racing all day. Same cruise speed, same working band, same climb strength selection & rejection. Without even noticing you'll end up on the numbers & home you'll sail - well that's the plan anyway!
Methods of flying the final glide vary, it is up to you which one works best for you. Regardless, practice makes perfect.
Cross-checking L/D
The method that brings the most calm in my cockpit to me is cross-checking my current L/D (over the past 2 minutes) against the required L/D to finish. If it says 30:1 required & you're doing 40:1, you're clearly going to make it; if you're doing 20:1, clearly you need to do something about it! These are navboxes that you can set up in just about any nav device these days.
The trick with this concept is to learn the real-world speed at which your glider does say 30:1. For example, an 18m ballasted glider, you can safely cruise home at 100kts any day of the week. If you're flying a standard or club class glider, 100kts is probably 25:1 home - regardless, find your numbers for 20, 25, 30 & 35:1 to give you a target speed, to begin with, then adjust & trust the numbers...
Practice
While practicing, set yourself safety height of say 750' - low enough that there's very little risk of a land out & one that it gives you some nerves, with enough reserve to climb away & try it again. Try to start at least 30km out if you can, experiment with your techniques - running onto glide, trying a speed that is both too fast, what you think is optimum & one that is too slow, try pure McCready flying - try to find out what your 'real world' polar is & how you feel about it.
Better yet, get a friend in a similar glider to practice with you using a different speed or method - this way you can see a real effect of a good or poor decision.
The other option to you, of course, is setting your McCready to at least 3 kts, even if your last climb was 2kts. I find anything less than a 3kt MC, it just feels too 'squeaky'. Once you've climbed to your personal safety height requirement, simply start for home, monitoring the sky ahead, how are the numbers changing, can I go faster, or should I slow down? I'd suggest cross-checking with the above LD technique to help.
As the practice goes on, start lowering the finish height to that at a competition, your nerves should be lower, your speeds higher - happy practicing!!
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.