On Jan 5, 11:31*am, Sandy Stevenson wrote:
On Jan 5, 11:08*am, Papa3 wrote:





On Jan 5, 8:51*am, "Ken Kochanski (KK)"
wrote:

Morning,

I'm reviewing some STF topics to correct some fallacies that seem to
have crept into my understanding of STF theory and application ... I
though I knew this stuff ... or maybe I forgot ... I am a senior now,
you know ... :-))

So, if I have MC set at 3 ... and I am crusing XC to the next three
knotter ... should I slow in lift and speed up in sink ... *or will I
have a faster average speed if I just hold speed steady ... i.e. at
the velocity appropriate for MC = 3 in still air. I see pilots doing
both ...

Also, do all flight computers compute inter-thermal STF with the
formula that does not include a wind component - as identified in
Reichmann's texts, for example.

Anybody have an excel program that will plot polars ... including the
tangent to the shifted origin you get when *when you change airmass
sink ... or tail/head winds ..

Gracias, Happy new Year ...
KK

Yo KK,

Is this all just theory for you or did you pick up a new chariot?

Anyway, *I did a lot of the number crunching and spreadsheet stuff
years ago when I was teaching a lot of XC groundschools. * Then, John
Cochrane came along and ruined everything - I mean I can't even spell
"sto-kas-tick"... *:-)

So, here's what I've been leaning toward lately. * *I've adopted a
"high gear", "low gear" approach. *For your standard east coast
conditions, I'll set and fly McCready up high (say above 4,000 feet),
which typically will mean cruising around 80kts dry on your 3-4kt day
in my LS8. * But, as soon as I get below that, I'll back off by at
least 10-15kts to make sure that I don't have to take a crappy thermal
just to survive.

I've also taken to the "whifferdill" approach when cruising - ie. if I
sense some lift I'll slow up and "explore" to see if I hit a good
pulse, but I'm really trying to avoid the 360 turn unless it really
feels solid. * *I've flown with CG a few times and watched how much of
the air he explores without doing a full turn - it's pretty amazing.

P3

As someone who is just starting to fly cross country, this is one of
the best discussions I've read here in the last few years.
Thanks for your posts, guys.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

As someone who has been flailing around at XC for only a few
years..... Thanks!