MacCready in the Mountains

As opposed to speed to fly the decision on when to leave a thermal is easy

'Climb only high enough in the current thermal to reach a better one or the
finish line'

Works in or out of the Mountains

"Todd Pattist" wrote in message
...
Andy Blackburn wrote:

I looked at several flight traces from ASA contest
days in Arizona this year and found that the pilots
who flew farther between taking thermals (and used
broader altitude bands as a result) had higher average
climb rates and better achieved X-C speeds than those
who stayed higher. That is, they kept pushing farther
(and lower) to get the better thermals.

Even if they weren't pushing on for a better thermal (and
they probably were), there is often some time lost centering
each thermal, and that's pure lost time. Working a narrower
band means more thermals and more of those centering losses.
I just wish I could convince myself to work the broader band
more :-)

Todd Pattist - "WH" Ventus C
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