Common speaker for vario and radio

Bob Kuykendall wrote:
Has anybody on this forum ever, ever looked at the OAT guage and said,
hey, it's too cold here, I'd better dump water or descend?

Yes.

Given how effective composite sandwich construction can be as an
insulator, it seems to me that what they _should_ be requiring is a
ballast temperature guage...

The main problem is the tail tank, which is a relatively small volume of
water, isn't all that well insulated, and will freeze in a matter of a
few hours if the outside temperature is low enough. In at least one
case, the expansion of the ice caused the vertical fin to split open...

Marc

"Bob Kuykendall" wrote in message
ups.com...
Earlier, Marc Ramsey wrote:

The OAT meter is required for
certification of German gliders
equipped with water ballast...

[slight thread hijack]

Has anybody on this forum ever, ever looked at the OAT guage and said,
hey, it's too cold here, I'd better dump water or descend?

Given how effective composite sandwich construction can be as an
insulator, it seems to me that what they _should_ be requiring is a
ballast temperature guage...

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com

I did exactly that.

I contacted unexpected wave from thermal lift at the Alamogordo Soaring
Fiesta last June. To climb in wave, I descended below the freezing level
and allowed the skin of the glider to warm and then dumped ballast. When
the water was gone, I found the wave again and made it up to 22,000 feet.

I knew there would be some water left in the tanks but not enough to be a
concern.

Alamogordo rocks!

Bill Daniels