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required LD versus required MC to make it home ??
snip
For typical days where there is lift available and as you become more comfortable with thermaling I would encourage you to try to start with Mc near 1. Mc == 0 means you really are in desperation mode and don't really plan to go anywhere. See the discussion in Reichman about this. Mc=0 quickly becomes a kind of boat anchor dragging on you. If you are dialing the Mc into a flight computer (or STF ring on a winter vario) it also starts giving you a feel for how excess Mc helps you if you run into worse conditions than you expect. You can increase the Mc setting you fly at up from there as you gain confidence, but dont' go crazy with it. A rule of thumb often used especially for new XC folks it to set the Mc conservatively at 1/2 to 1/3 of what you think your next average climb will be - and even then its just to give you an idea of average speed to fly, don't go chasing it. Sounds like you have a good approach as is. The last thermal average climb stats in SeeYou Mobile can be interesting to check, it will often be much less than you think, and even then it often misses time wasted mucking around trying to find lift. This brings up something I may have overlooked as I described how I get home safely. I use MC more as a way to judge my wiggle room to my home airport rather than STF. If my SeeYou is showing 10mc to get home based on winds and safety altitude, I generally don't fly that MC unless I'm very close and can see I have it made. Instead I fly conservatively within 10kts of best L/D and use that high required MC as my safety margin. Sort of like always being within half your best L/D to your target airport. akiley BTW details of wind effects and Mc may not be obvious, search for past r.a.s. postings by John Cochrane and others on this. [snip] Darryl |
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