Winter musing - Poll on Bugs
On Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 1:03:44 PM UTC-8, Piet Barber wrote:
Northern Virginia
April to November: 2-3.
November to March 0-1
While on the subject of "Bugs", my SN-10 has a setting for Bugs. Since I have a 2-seater now, the passengers almost always ask me why the flight computer has a setting for bugs.
After looking to the SN-10 manual, I found that it says 0% means no bugs (and I think that's pretty obvious), but I'm not sure what the calibration for bugs should be on the high end. If my wings look black from the crusted guts of smashed bugs, would that be 100% bugs? Would 100% bugs be merely a "fair smattering?" How does one calculate the carnage of bugs as a percentage? Is accurate bug determination for final glide where the art of soaring comes into its element?
The manual actually reads as follows on page 6:
Bugs 0% - The percent degradation of your max L/D is 0% (no bugs or rain)..
So 100% degradation of your L/D would be 1/infinity (or maybe division by zero). Your glider would fly as well as a dead bug. BTW, I use bugs to correct my polar from "ideal" to "actual", around 6% bugs for my situation. Using SeeYou, fly in dead air. Adjust bugs until you are not gaining or loosing on your final glide.
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