Enviado: Qui Jan 24, 2013 1:41 pm
Importante ler.
Dica de Bruno Pavani.
-----------------------------
Hi Ken,
Some tips...
Here are some things I have learnt over the years (mostly from trial and error and from other pilots like Joe Wurts, Carl Strautins, Alan Mayhew, Jim Houdalakis, Tim Lennon, Hugh Blackburn, Tim Mellor and many others) that make a huge difference, and it all applies to what I saw at the World Champs!
Tip 1, 2 & 3, Learn to read the air. In F3K there is not much time to make the right decision so you need to improve your chances of finding a thermal as quickly as possible. Joe won because he was the best air reader there (and some would say in the world).
Tip 1. Ground signs.
1. Get out with some (3) streamers on a pole and start to watch the air change. Start to predict where the thermals are and validate/unvalidate it with a launch and see if you were right. Do it a million times, then another million.
2. Find the 'Vector method' on the web. Read it, learn it and do it.
3. Practice
4. Trees, bugs, grass, flags, birds, dust, other planes. If there is abnormal activity then there is usually a thermal there.
5. Practice
6. Did I mention practice
Tip 2. Plane signs
1. Learn to read the air around your plane.
2. Tail up is lift, tail down is sink.
3. A yaw to the right means a thermal is pulling your plane to the left so turn left.
4. If the plane speeds up then the thermal is in front of you, slows down and it is behind you.
Tip 3. Thermals and Meteorology
1. Get the Radio Carbon Art DVD 'Thermals' and learn about the air around us.
2. Learn what adiabatic lapse rate is and how the air forms when the air is moist or dry. Cold or hot.
3. Learn how thermals form on the leeward side of large objects.
4. Learn that thermals are likely to 'pop off' over a row of trees or some tents.
5. Learn about inversion layers (there can be 3 different layers of air evident at the same time).
6. Learn to visualise the thermal and the air that is passing over you. What has the air been doing over the last few minutes and what does that mean for the air down wind of you?
Tip 4: Find a friend who has the same thirst for knowledge as you do, because it makes it heaps easier. Bounce ideas off each other, analyse your thought process and validate your ideas.
Tip 5: Flying techniques
1. Learn to be agressive and fly faster than best l/d to get to a thermal.
2. Learn to centre a thermal properly. Don't overpull the back side of a thermal or add flap during the downwind leg of a thermal turn because you will fall out the front of the thermal. Get the book 'Old Buzzards Soaring Book' and learn about the river of air.
4. All the top pilots fly on the downwind side of a gaggle and are often the highest in the thermal. I watched it happen a dozen times at the Worlds.
Tip 6: Learn the taks
1. One thing we found 'wanting' in the Aussie team was our lack of practice with 5x2min or Poker because we do not fly them very often. It is simply practice, practice and more practice. Fly all the tasks in your local competition.
2. Get the Master Class DLG video series from Radio Carbon art and Bruce Davidson (in #3 I think) talks a lot a strategy and task management along with a lot of other great tips and info.
Tip 7: Spend more time worried about Tips 1-6 than Tip 8 and you will be a lot better off
Tip 8: Planes.
I saw two trains of though with planes and both worked.
1. Joe Wurts had a plane for the different conditions. A super slow 'Black Magic' for the 'almost dead' conditions because it had great handling and could hook the tiniest thermal. He had a Concept Extreme 2 for the nice conditions. Then he had a Stobel V3 for the active conditions because sink rate means nothing. He flew it because it has a great l/d at speed and this means he could get to the lift faster and punch home through the sink better. Because the section was slippery he carried a minimal amount (45g) of lead.
2. Martin Herrig had one plane to do everything, the Salpeter. A great plane in the light to moderate conditions but it is not so good in the windy conditions, so his solution was to ballast it to 130g. Geroge (2nd) and Mike (3rd) both used this type of scenario successfully with the Concept Extreme 2 and Twister 2 respectively.
3. Both scenario's work and so fly as many different planes as you can to find a fit that works for you. If you are starting out then choose a single plane and fly the pants off it in every conition. For the more advanced, try a few different planes and find a good fit.
4. My take (others will have a different opinion) on planes from floaty to racy are:
Floaty: Black Magic, Twister 2, Salpeter, Stobel V2
All around: Concept Extreme 2, Polaris, Blaster 3.
Racy: Stobel V3, Steingeisen
As a friend of mine once said..."there is a good start! Come back when you have finished and I'll give you some more!!!"
Cheers everyone and I hope this helps,
Marcus
_________________
Dica de Bruno Pavani.
-----------------------------
Hi Ken,
Some tips...
Here are some things I have learnt over the years (mostly from trial and error and from other pilots like Joe Wurts, Carl Strautins, Alan Mayhew, Jim Houdalakis, Tim Lennon, Hugh Blackburn, Tim Mellor and many others) that make a huge difference, and it all applies to what I saw at the World Champs!
Tip 1, 2 & 3, Learn to read the air. In F3K there is not much time to make the right decision so you need to improve your chances of finding a thermal as quickly as possible. Joe won because he was the best air reader there (and some would say in the world).
Tip 1. Ground signs.
1. Get out with some (3) streamers on a pole and start to watch the air change. Start to predict where the thermals are and validate/unvalidate it with a launch and see if you were right. Do it a million times, then another million.
2. Find the 'Vector method' on the web. Read it, learn it and do it.
3. Practice
4. Trees, bugs, grass, flags, birds, dust, other planes. If there is abnormal activity then there is usually a thermal there.
5. Practice
6. Did I mention practice
Tip 2. Plane signs
1. Learn to read the air around your plane.
2. Tail up is lift, tail down is sink.
3. A yaw to the right means a thermal is pulling your plane to the left so turn left.
4. If the plane speeds up then the thermal is in front of you, slows down and it is behind you.
Tip 3. Thermals and Meteorology
1. Get the Radio Carbon Art DVD 'Thermals' and learn about the air around us.
2. Learn what adiabatic lapse rate is and how the air forms when the air is moist or dry. Cold or hot.
3. Learn how thermals form on the leeward side of large objects.
4. Learn that thermals are likely to 'pop off' over a row of trees or some tents.
5. Learn about inversion layers (there can be 3 different layers of air evident at the same time).
6. Learn to visualise the thermal and the air that is passing over you. What has the air been doing over the last few minutes and what does that mean for the air down wind of you?
Tip 4: Find a friend who has the same thirst for knowledge as you do, because it makes it heaps easier. Bounce ideas off each other, analyse your thought process and validate your ideas.
Tip 5: Flying techniques
1. Learn to be agressive and fly faster than best l/d to get to a thermal.
2. Learn to centre a thermal properly. Don't overpull the back side of a thermal or add flap during the downwind leg of a thermal turn because you will fall out the front of the thermal. Get the book 'Old Buzzards Soaring Book' and learn about the river of air.
4. All the top pilots fly on the downwind side of a gaggle and are often the highest in the thermal. I watched it happen a dozen times at the Worlds.
Tip 6: Learn the taks
1. One thing we found 'wanting' in the Aussie team was our lack of practice with 5x2min or Poker because we do not fly them very often. It is simply practice, practice and more practice. Fly all the tasks in your local competition.
2. Get the Master Class DLG video series from Radio Carbon art and Bruce Davidson (in #3 I think) talks a lot a strategy and task management along with a lot of other great tips and info.
Tip 7: Spend more time worried about Tips 1-6 than Tip 8 and you will be a lot better off
Tip 8: Planes.
I saw two trains of though with planes and both worked.
1. Joe Wurts had a plane for the different conditions. A super slow 'Black Magic' for the 'almost dead' conditions because it had great handling and could hook the tiniest thermal. He had a Concept Extreme 2 for the nice conditions. Then he had a Stobel V3 for the active conditions because sink rate means nothing. He flew it because it has a great l/d at speed and this means he could get to the lift faster and punch home through the sink better. Because the section was slippery he carried a minimal amount (45g) of lead.
2. Martin Herrig had one plane to do everything, the Salpeter. A great plane in the light to moderate conditions but it is not so good in the windy conditions, so his solution was to ballast it to 130g. Geroge (2nd) and Mike (3rd) both used this type of scenario successfully with the Concept Extreme 2 and Twister 2 respectively.
3. Both scenario's work and so fly as many different planes as you can to find a fit that works for you. If you are starting out then choose a single plane and fly the pants off it in every conition. For the more advanced, try a few different planes and find a good fit.
4. My take (others will have a different opinion) on planes from floaty to racy are:
Floaty: Black Magic, Twister 2, Salpeter, Stobel V2
All around: Concept Extreme 2, Polaris, Blaster 3.
Racy: Stobel V3, Steingeisen
As a friend of mine once said..."there is a good start! Come back when you have finished and I'll give you some more!!!"
Cheers everyone and I hope this helps,
Marcus
_________________