In fact, iGlides thermal assistant is based on that behavior. In rough, two core, or asymmetric thermals it is a better indication than other thermal assistants which just integrate climb rate around the circle. This happens in flatlands as well, but not as uniquely useful there.
On Sunday, May 2, 2021 at 3:59:20 PM UTC-7, waremark wrote:
On Sunday, 2 May 2021 at 06:58:35 UTC+1, Matthew Scutter wrote:
Would you expect it to function meaningfully differently in the flatlands? Circling wind should work just fine in a homogenous atmosphere, so functioning the same would be ideal.
Similarly I would be surprised if there was improvement in variometer function from an existing well-compensated setup. All I would wish for additionally from my existing variometer is that it would read accurately in the first second of the pullup into a thermal.
Some Butterfly users reported that as you circle in a thermal you can see the wind indicators pointing in from all directions to the centre of the thermal. As to the vario, as someone else has mentioned the key aspiration is for a system which differentiates vertical gusts from horizontal gusts better than a TE vario. Again, the Butterfly was supposed to achieve this.