Instrumentation ergonomics

"Mike Borgelt" wrote...
"tango4" wrote:
I'm leaning towards the following solution, track is laid down in a single
colour and where a 'significant patch' of lift is detected simply pasting a
lift symbol over the trace, the same for sink areas. In the smaller scales
making a selection of plus and minus signs or alternative colours.

If this is intended for use in flight how about deleting that feature
so thata the pilot looks outside more.


I've implemented this feature in my PDA software, and found that it is
essentially worthless for thermalling, which is the most likely scenario for
head down flying. What it is invaluable for is returning quickly to areas of
lift, and in particular, for working patches of wave. In either case, an
occasional glance is all that is required to make sure one is heading in the
right direction.

In my case, I use fixed size (2x2) dots for the track, black for climb less than
0, increasing intensities of green for 0 to 5 knots, and full intensity green
for over 5 knots.

Marc