Safety Altitude

During last WGC at least club class leaders consistently took 200+ meters safety altitude even close to home, and over not very hostile terrain. So it should not be accepted as a fact that there is different set of safety margins during competitions, no matter what the level.

On Tuesday, October 4, 2016 at 6:49:51 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
During last WGC at least club class leaders consistently took 200+ meters safety altitude even close to home, and over not very hostile terrain. So it should not be accepted as a fact that there is different set of safety margins during competitions, no matter what the level.

It's completely different when your "destination" is a 1 mi radius circle 800' higher than the hosting airport, which is typical of US comps.

Glad some WGC guys are (finally) wising up. Hasn't always been that way.

-Evan

I used to fly with a built in margin, I have now set it to 0. I think it was set to 800ft, so a normal pattern could be flown when I got home. Then on day my final glide got washed out (literally in the rain) and I really needed to know the correct arrival height. Was it 700ft reserve, 1000ft, what did 300 under glide realy mean? Now when I most needed the correct info, I was doing mental math. I switched that day.

Now on my kobo, I have set my ground clearance height to 1000ft, so my landing amobea shows a ring with reserve, but the arrival is shown correctly.

Lastly, everyone I know that uses a reserve (including me when I used it) would think something like this "I have a thousand over a thousand to the airport".

It seems that a feature that was supposed to reduce pilot workload, was only increasing it.

RR

I set mine at 1,000' above the center of the airport so when I see
1,500' above glide slope I just ignore it because I know that I'll hit
sink enroute and it really means nothing. I seem to get palm-sweatingly
low during the final glide but there's always a bunch of lift closer
in. It always works that way... Except when it doesn't.

Bottom line for me is that, though I jump through all the computer hoops
to get that great feeling of knowing exactly where I stand energy-wise,
deep down I know that it's not a perfect airmass and so I trust my eyes,
not the computer.

On 10/4/2016 5:32 AM, RR wrote:
I used to fly with a built in margin, I have now set it to 0. I think it was set to 800ft, so a normal pattern could be flown when I got home. Then on day my final glide got washed out (literally in the rain) and I really needed to know the correct arrival height. Was it 700ft reserve, 1000ft, what did 300 under glide realy mean? Now when I most needed the correct info, I was doing mental math. I switched that day.

Now on my kobo, I have set my ground clearance height to 1000ft, so my landing amobea shows a ring with reserve, but the arrival is shown correctly.

Lastly, everyone I know that uses a reserve (including me when I used it) would think something like this "I have a thousand over a thousand to the airport".

It seems that a feature that was supposed to reduce pilot workload, was only increasing it.

RR

--
Dan, 5J

On Tuesday, October 4, 2016 at 7:32:34 AM UTC-4, RR wrote:
I used to fly with a built in margin, I have now set it to 0. I think it was set to 800ft, so a normal pattern could be flown when I got home. Then on day my final glide got washed out (literally in the rain) and I really needed to know the correct arrival height. Was it 700ft reserve, 1000ft, what did 300 under glide realy mean? Now when I most needed the correct info, I was doing mental math. I switched that day.

RR

A good friend and tremendous wit, Tony Benson used to have a great saying. "When the magic reads zero, I open the canopy and step out." His point was exactly yours Rick - trying to remember what margins/cushions etc he had set up sometimes required math at the least convenient times.

FWIW, I have the two glide amoebae (amoebas?) on the Clearnav set at 0 feet (Kellerman calls it the Crash Line) and 1,000 feet. So, I can instantly get a feel for where every known landable field sits relative to those two values.

P3

On Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 7:56:45 PM UTC-7, Papa3 wrote:
On Tuesday, October 4, 2016 at 7:32:34 AM UTC-4, RR wrote:
I used to fly with a built in margin, I have now set it to 0. I think it was set to 800ft, so a normal pattern could be flown when I got home. Then on day my final glide got washed out (literally in the rain) and I really needed to know the correct arrival height. Was it 700ft reserve, 1000ft, what did 300 under glide realy mean? Now when I most needed the correct info, I was doing mental math. I switched that day.

RR

A good friend and tremendous wit, Tony Benson used to have a great saying.. "When the magic reads zero, I open the canopy and step out." His point was exactly yours Rick - trying to remember what margins/cushions etc he had set up sometimes required math at the least convenient times.

FWIW, I have the two glide amoebae (amoebas?) on the Clearnav set at 0 feet (Kellerman calls it the Crash Line) and 1,000 feet. So, I can instantly get a feel for where every known landable field sits relative to those two values.

P3

Ah...
"The Basic Benson", as Captain Staubach would call him.
Too bad neither are around to defend themselves.
When in doubt, resort to Look Out The Window Dot Com.
Jim