Using new variometer technology to display real time lift coefficient?

At 16:24 07 February 2017,
wrote:
On Monday, February 6, 2017 at 10:56:51 PM UTC-5,

wrote=
:
A question respectfully submitted to the pundits who lurk
in these halls:
=20
Please forgive me if this topic has been covered before;
I have done a
=
general search on this forum and have found no mention of
it anywhere.
=20
Having been away from Soaring for about 35 years, and
having just come
ba=
ck last summer, I have been slowly re-immersing myself.
Some things have
n=
ot changed all that much, but wow, have varios ever
changed a lot!
=20
My question:
=20
With the new generation of varios out there, specifically
those that
inco=
rporate inertial sensors, would it not be advantageous for
these varios
to=
offer the possibility to the pilot of displaying the
sailplane=E2=80=99s
r=
eal time lift coefficient, CL? It would seem to me that while
thermalling,=
this display would be useful as a =E2=80=98lift reserve
indicator=E2=80=99=
, directly related to AOA. No extra sensors would be
required, since
these=
new generation varios have all the inputs necessary to
calculate CL (i.e.
=
total pressure, static pressure, g force, with the aircraft
mass and wing
a=
rea presumably entered on the ground, before the flight).
Granted, the
pil=
ot would have to know his max CL for different flap
settings, but that=E2=
=80=99s it!
=20
Would not such a display be desirable?
=20
Has this been implemented already, and I am not aware
of this?

Sounds like you are trying to find a use for stuff in the
instruments.
My question would be what are you trying to accomplish?
UH

Doesn't an extra "yaw string", mounted on the vertical side
of the canopy, tell you the angle of attack (roughly)? I think
it's all explained on the DG website. No electronics involved.

Also did that. Works great, and shows nice things during spins!

I think audio aoa makes most sense, but you also have the audio vario.
Somehow intuitively providing feedback on attitude/velocity during thermalling might improve the tendency to thermal with a too shallow bank angle,or flying the incorrect velocity for the bank angle.

Too much audio - too many distractions. How about a vibrating seat
cushion? It could be programmed to increase the frequency and amplitude
of the vibrations as AoA increased and give you an electric shock just
before the critical angle is reached. Of course, if you have a sore
back, you'd be flying around at too high an AoA just for the good
vibrations... =-O

On 2/7/2017 11:15 AM, wrote:
Also did that. Works great, and shows nice things during spins!

I think audio aoa makes most sense, but you also have the audio vario.
Somehow intuitively providing feedback on attitude/velocity during thermalling might improve the tendency to thermal with a too shallow bank angle,or flying the incorrect velocity for the bank angle.

--
Dan, 5J