New Butterfly Vario

On Feb 11, 7:52*pm, (Alan) wrote:
In article 26927612.551.1329006666807.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@pbbmq9 writes:
Massive trolling aside on this thread.... Hank, let them use the AH. Darwin=
ism will kick in. There is a very good chance (as Richard and others mentio=
ned earlier) that inexperienced and/or untrained IFR pilots going into thes=
e conditions will probably exit the clouds in a wingless glider. Lawn dart =
material. Problem solved. We won't have to read their comments any more. ;-=
)

* If they are IFR pilots, they have had training, and some level of experience,
rather far more than a newly minted glider pilot without other ratings.

* I seem to recall folks telling how strong gliders actually were.

* Now this *is* part of a pretty good answer to the claims that new pilots
should learn to fly gliders before power. *Clearly, it is not so, as the casual
attitude of the gliding community towards busting clearance minimums from
clouds, not knowing how to set their altimeters legally, etc., is a demonstration
that pilots should start with power with a good instructor, so by the "principle
of primacy" they would learn the proper habits first, and retain them.

Speaking of "trolling", I've seen no suggestion by anyone on this
thread that they want to have their high tech artificial horizon so
that they can go cloud flying when they feel like it, nor are they
suggesting that prohibition against cloud flying in US contests should
be eliminated. Some, rightly or not, want such a device in case they
find themselves in a cloud unintentionally. Others, like myself,
wonder whether requiring changes to one device before allowing its use
in contests make any sense in a world where just about every new phone
is or will soon be capable of implementing a fully functional
artificial horizon using a $5 off the shelf app. Meanwhile, people
find plenty of ways to kill themselves without entering IMC at all...

Marc