AoA keep it going!

On 20 Dec, 01:51, J a c k wrote:
Ian wrote:
I generally find that my attention is fully occupied while landing.

When isn't it? I always find myself falling behind somehow whenever I
begin to merely enjoy the scenery.

Oh, hard luck. Enjoying the scenery is one of the reasons I go flying.

If I had an AoA indicator, I would have to take attention away from
something else to look at it...

There is a thing we in the game call a cross-check: look into it.

Are you saying that I could look at another indicator without spending
any less time on anything else? What do these things do - relativistic
time distortion?

(I always have the audio vario and radio
off for the final approach).

Now I get it, Ian: you are really a troll/FAA Inspector, here to roil
the waters on r.a.s. We can play that game.

FAA? What's that, left-hand-side-of-the-Atlantic boy?

The vario-off mode is OK, if you must reduce the aural clutter, but
please tell us how you believe that turning off a major link (radio) you
have with one of the greatest hazards in flying (other traffic) is going
to improve your longevity: and in the pattern, no less? Horrified minds
want to know.

"for the final approach" != "in the pattern"

Any thing which reduces potential distraction during the most
hazardous phase of flying is a Good Thing, in my book. Hearing gliders
isn't nearly as important as seeing them.

Ian

Ian wrote:


Are you saying that I could look at another indicator without spending
any less time on anything else?

One can give adequate attention to every instrument which can fit on a
glider panel, and many more.


[....]


The vario-off mode is OK, if you must reduce the aural clutter, but
please tell us how you believe that turning off a major link (radio) you
have with one of the greatest hazards in flying (other traffic) is going
to improve your longevity....

Any thing which reduces potential distraction during the most
hazardous phase of flying is a Good Thing, in my book.

I find the radio useful for expanding awareness of those things which
are not readily visible. Continuous three-hundred-sixty degree
all-aspect awareness may be impossible for humans, but expanding what we
do have is always good. Having too much information is far more rare
than is sub-standard processing.


Hearing gliders isn't nearly as important as seeing them.

Seeing other aircraft is often aided by hearing radio transmissions.
Have you literally heard an aircraft you didn't first see? When you do,
you may wish you had had some indication of its location prior to your
close encounter. The radio is one way of improving your chances. I would
not want to restrict my ability to receive pertinent information from
air or ground sources.



Jack

On Dec 21, 9:58*am, J a c k wrote:
Ian wrote:
Are you saying that I could look at another indicator without spending
any less time on anything else?

One can give adequate attention to every instrument which can fit on a
glider panel, and many more.

[....]

The vario-off mode is OK, if you must reduce the aural clutter, but
please tell us how you believe that turning off a major link (radio) you
have with one of the greatest hazards in flying (other traffic) is going
to improve your longevity....
Any thing which reduces potential distraction during the most
hazardous phase of flying is a Good Thing, in my book.

I find the radio useful for expanding awareness of those things which
are not readily visible. Continuous three-hundred-sixty degree
all-aspect awareness may be impossible for humans, but expanding what we
do have is always good. Having too much information is far more rare
than is sub-standard processing.

Hearing gliders isn't nearly as important as seeing them.

Seeing other aircraft is often aided by hearing radio transmissions.
Have you literally heard an aircraft you didn't first see? When you do,
you may wish you had had some indication of its location prior to your
close encounter. The radio is one way of improving your chances. I would
not want to restrict my ability to receive pertinent information from
air or ground sources.

I also find the radio useful to listen for downwind calls, along with
the communication from launchpoint to winch. That's all we hear on
our ground frequency so it's not a lot and it's useful (to me). I
also like to have the vario on as whilst sink & lift can be obvious
(10 down certainly is!), it points it out very clearly and helps me
adjust the circuit to suit. A lot of my worst circuits have been
flown without the audio vario.

On 21 Dec, 10:35, Cats wrote:

I also find the radio useful to listen for downwind calls, along with
the communication from launchpoint to winch. That's all we hear on
our ground frequency so it's not a lot and it's useful (to me). I
also like to have the vario on as whilst sink & lift can be obvious
(10 down certainly is!), it points it out very clearly and helps me
adjust the circuit to suit. A lot of my worst circuits have been
flown without the audio vario.

As I wrote, " ... final approach ..."

Ian

On 21 Dec, 09:58, J a c k wrote:
Ian wrote:
Are you saying that I could look at another indicator without spending
any less time on anything else?

One can give adequate attention to every instrument which can fit on a
glider panel, and many more.

For a suitable definition of "adequate", of course you can. I prefer
to be looking for other gliders, myself.

I find the radio useful for expanding awareness of those things which
are not readily visible.

It also has a tendancy to concentrate attention on the gliders you can
here. Accidents have happened - to powered aircraft as well - when
pilots assumed that what they could hear was what they could see,

Ian

Ian wrote:


I find the radio useful for expanding awareness of those things which
are not readily visible.

It also has a tendancy to concentrate attention on the gliders you can
here. Accidents have happened - to powered aircraft as well - when
pilots assumed that what they could hear was what they could see,


I very nearly included a reference to that in a recent response to you.
I'm glad you mentioned the fallacy of believing that those you hear are
those you see, or that there is no one whom you do not hear. Yours is
not an argument for discontinuing radio monitoring, however.

Your position seems to be that removing as many inputs as possible will
insure a focus on flying the final approach safely. Again, I believe
that expanding your awareness and prioritizing your responses in real
time is far safer than pre-determining what you wish to know and what
you can afford at any cost to ignore.

Admittedly, as I get older I also wish to reduce the cacophony of
stimuli, but I also believe there is a limit beyond which we must not
cocoon ourselves. Better to keep pushing our limits outward, even as we
might wish to do otherwise.

Fortunately, or otherwise, I have some small experience in very complex
piloting situations, including urgent life-or-death dialogs on three
different radios--each on a different frequency band--in a rather
challenging combat environment. I don't expect others to have a similar
need ever to operate near their true limits. But it does color my views
of the topic of awareness, processing, and prioritizing cockpit information.

Enjoy the new season, and always be safe.



Jack

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 03:58:11 -0600, J a c k
wrote:
[snip]
Have you literally heard an aircraft you didn't first see?

I certainly have, and it was another glider. I don't recommend it.

When you do,
you may wish you had had some indication of its location prior to your
close encounter.

Bloody well right I did...

rj

On 21 Dec, 09:58, J a c k wrote:
Ian wrote:

Seeing other aircraft is often aided by hearing radio transmissions.
Have you literally heard an aircraft you didn't first see?

Are you remembering that in the UK we have a very limited range of
frequencies, and that it is quite possible to be able to hear calls
from gliders at several different airfields at once? I have on
occasion wasted time trying to see the glider which has just called
downwind at an airfield ten miles from the one I am about to land at.

Ian

Ian wrote:

Are you remembering that in the UK we have a very limited range of
frequencies, and that it is quite possible to be able to hear calls
from gliders at several different airfields at once?

As we do here in the USA. When airborne, we hear calls from multiple
glider organizations, other skydiving activities in addition to the one
based at our field, as well as the other calls associated with each of
the respective airport's operations. The FAA has determined that we will
use a particular frequency from a very limited range of available
frequencies, when operating to or from the airport.


I have on occasion wasted time trying to see the glider which has just called
downwind at an airfield ten miles from the one I am about to land at.

You're a poster-child for proper radio procedure, if not for turning off
the radio. Why not set a better example for them?


Jack

On Dec 21, 10:42*pm, Ian wrote:
On 21 Dec, 09:58, J a c k wrote:

Ian wrote:
Seeing other aircraft is often aided by hearing radio transmissions.
Have you literally heard an aircraft you didn't first see?

Are you remembering that in the UK we have a very limited range of
frequencies, and that it is quite possible to be able to hear calls
from gliders at several different airfields at once? I have on
occasion wasted time trying to see the glider which has just called
downwind at an airfield ten miles from the one I am about to land at.

Ian

Gliders at our airfield prefix their downwind call with 'XXX Traffic'
so there is no doubt who they are addressing. OK. sometimes we get
'XXX Base' but it's still unambiguous.