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Andy Blackburn wrote in message ...
I shold have been clearer on this point Eric. If you are at 700' and 4 miles, you will not make it to 500' at 1 mile, you will have to stop and climb. A Mc=0 glide to the inner edge of the donut in my ship requires 886' (by the factory polar). If I climb to a Mc=3 or Mc=4 glide, I am at 997' to 1053'. You might climb even higher if you want any buffer. I believe that the optimal finish for pilots who have adequate altitude for a speed finish will be to shoot for the top outside edge of the donut (with some buffer) and then bleed airspeed to the inner edge to hold altitude. A pilot shooting for this on a 120 knot glide Mc=6 will be at 908' at 4 miles, which is below the guy making a save and wanting to make a flatter glide to the inner part of the donut. The simple point here is that all of this climbing and mixed traffic happens at 4-5 miles from the field rather than 8-10 miles under the current rules. This is because the ground forces the issue later with the extra 500' built into the finish altitude. Since altitude separation (difference in glide angle times distance) goes up linearly with distance and the amount of horizontal separation goes up with distance as well, the potential for mixed climbing and highspeed traffic would likely increase under the 500' rule. You can make different assumptions about what altitude you might stop and climb, but the difference due to the rules remains the same. I don't see how this is any different; we have to see and avoid other sailplanes from the time we start the flight to the time that we have come to a full stop. There can be gliders thermally anywhere on course, including directly over turn points. And even if you don't have the 500 ft rule there can mixing of gliders thermally and high-speed gliders in-bound to finish. I feel that those low altitude finishes add nothing to the sport except for some broken gliders (and pilots!) and some very anxious crews. Furthermore, it encourages violation of FARs for minimum altitude. There may be some pilots who think they may have some competitive edge because they are willing to push it lower than the others, and this may be the case. I say cast your vote, let democracy function and accept the result. |
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