Thermal right, land left

Robertmudd1u wrote:

Gear up (soaring): set it a little below normal thermalling speed (about
46 knot setting works on my glider with my 302).

Gear down (landing): set it a little below the typical pattern speed
(about 50 knots would work on my glider).



Some may think this a cheap shot, but what the heck.

Believe it or not some pilots fly gliders with fixed gear. They even fly them
X-C and make land outs. They even stall/spin them.

I was trying to keep the discussion simple and focused on the air speed
alert idea. It'd also failin a retractable gear glider if the pilot
forgot to put the gear down.

Fixed gear gliders could use a switch for "landing mode". Perhaps one
switched on by opening the spoilers during the pattern checks that stays
switched on even when the spoilers are closed after the checks would be
better. The pilot would manually reset it after landing, or after using
the spoilers while soaring.

Too many people in this sport think you need ALL the bells and whistles and a
$100,000+ glider to be a "real" glider pilot. That attitude is hurting us.

Agreed, but the discussion isn't about being a "real" glider pilot, but
how to help the pilot when his piloting fails. People spinning in are
definitely hurting us. If the airspeed alert idea is useful, it can be
cheaply implemented by pilots using the Cambridge 302 and similar high
end varios. That's got to be good.

Extending the protection (if it is protection) to pilots that won't buy
an expensive vario, or the $1100 DSI from DG, would be the next
challenge. If proven to be of value (and having people using the idea
via 302/DSI route would be one way), I think you'd see it popping up in
cheaper systems. A special unit that did only the airspeed alert for
landing would be a lot cheaper than the DSI. The DSI itself might get a
lot cheaper if these kinds of things began selling, and competitors
appeared.

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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA