With experience you can evaluate the conditions of the day and adjust
accordingly. If winds are light and lift is good you can use 2000ft
margin to arrive at the next landable location. Even on a good day I
use 85% of the L/D plus a safety margin.

If you examine the flights of experienced pilots they at time appear to
take much larger risks but it is because they can judge the conditions
and anticipate changes that they are able to do this successfully.

Be careful at first as you can get into trouble fast especially on days
where the wind is blowing.

wrote:
Half.

Slick wrote:
What is the rule of thumb to reduce the L/D when plotting a cross country
flight?