Trying to Climb
Shallowing
While focusing on centering I find students shallowing out to a nearly flat bank angle. If you have been working on centering it is probably not there. Sometimes there is a horizontal shift in the thermal but rarely do I find nearing the top of the thermal to shallow to a 5-degree bank angle and circle around in the sink to be of any benefit. Take the advice from last week and leave.
Spiral Diving
If you can lose 5 knots of airspeed, then you should probably shallow the bank angle and do so. It will be more efficient than trying to thermal at 60-degree bank angle while accelerating through 60 knots. But I find this common among pilots to slowly let the speed and bank angle increase and before you notice we are just doing big spirals with a high rate of descent on the outside of the core of the thermal.
ASI control
The best way to get your speed in control is to stop looking at the airspeed indicator. Watch the nose with relation to the horizon. Do what it takes to keep the nose on the horizon. A lot of pilots are shy using aft elevator to stop the elliptical pattern with the nose. Use the control input necessary to make the glider do what you want. This also means that sometimes you are going to have to push forward on the stick and occasionally hit the aft limit of travel.
As you enter and exit the lift, you will see a definite change in the nose with relation to the horizon. You will also notice a slight airspeed change. If you chase the airspeed indicator, this will result in PIO. Not to the extent, you might see a bad landing, but one where the airspeed varies 5-10knts and the turn radius varies by 100ft. If your thermal tracks never connect it is hard to know where the thermal is if you are accidentally diving away from it. Remember that airspeed is one factor in your turn radius.
Therefore if you continue to change your airspeed, your turn radius will continue to vary. We are attempting to center the thermal by adjusting the turn radius. If you are changing the bank angle and the airspeed the turn radius is going to have significant changes, possibly not in the direction you want to go.
Banner photo credit Petr Kolmann
Ventus 2 Decal
The Ventus 2 decal looks great on a car rear window. The decal is WHITE and measures 6" wide x 3 1/2" high.
Nano 4
The Nano4 is the first retina touchscreen flight recorder from the NANO series. Fly without any cables and chargers! A 2800mAh battery serves up to 30h with advanced power management. The Nano4 has 7 buttons for easy handling in turbulent air. All handling can be done via the Touchscreen or these 7 buttons.
The NANO4 flight recorder is the smallest flight recorder designed in accordance with the IGC “All Flights” specification. It has an IGC approval for all flights including world records. It features an integrated 56–channel GPS receiver with a built-in antenna, an altitude sensor, an ENL sensor, a security microswitch, a Bluetooth module, a Wi-Fi module, and a 2800mAh battery.
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.