© Flytec USA, 2003
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Required glide to destination: ratio in order to reach the chosen destination from the present position.
L/D req
. - Distance to the waypoint divided by the height difference to the waypoint.
A7.7 Altitude above targets
A.7.7.1 Altitude above best glide line (Alt a. BG)
The user field
Alt a. BG
displays the pilot’s current altitude above (or below) the best glide path to the next turnpoint
or goal if you are on final glide. When the altitude over best glide becomes positive (the pilot could just make goal at
best glide speed) the
Alt a. BG
user field will inverse (white numbers on a black field). The altitude above best glide is
also the altitude that he/she can lose during the final glide and still make it to goal. The
Alt a. BG
can be continuously
displayed in a user-field and its’ value is identical to
Alt a. WP
when the pilot flies at best glide speed.
A.7.7.2 Altitude above waypoint (Alt a. WP)
The user field
Alt a. WP
displays the pilot’s current altitude above (or below) the McCready glide path to the next
turnpoint or goal if you are on final glide. When the value of
Alt a. W
becomes positive the user field will inverse
(white numbers on a black field). This indicates that you have gained sufficient altitude to fly to goal at the optimum
McCready speed ring setting.
A.7.7.3 Altitude above Goal (Alt. A Goal)
The user field
Alt a. Goal
displays the pilot’s altitude above (or below) best glide to goal around the remaining course.
This value takes the calculated or the manually entered wind into account for each leg of the course. This feature is
particularly useful when the pilot has gained sufficient altitude to round the last turnpoint (or last few turnpoints in a
tight course) and make goal. However, it is not possible for the 5030 to anticipate a change in the windspeed
/direction along the course which will affect the accuracy of this value.
A8 Best Glide Speed
On the right side the analog speed scale there is a black arrow (labeled in Figure 1 as
Best Glide Speed
), which
informs the pilot of the airspeed for best glide. This arrow points at your current best glide speed, which is dependent
on the polar of the glider, the wind strength and direction, and the sink rate of the surrounding air. When racing
(flying to cover the most distance in the least amount of time) a pilot will generally fly faster than the best glide speed
the indicator is recommending, unless every foot of height is essential (survival mode). The true value of the best
glide speed will increase with increased altitude, however, it does not matter if the pilot has chosen to display true or
indicated airspeed, as the 5030 compensates for this on the various displays. For more information please see
sections
E3 -True or Indicated Airspeed and E4 -Polar curves and best glide speed.
A9 Average Thermal Climb Indicator
There are good and not so good thermaling days, and, on any given day, the average climb rate varies throughout
the day. Your climb rate is generally higher at midday than in the morning or late afternoon. The 5030 has a hollow
pointer on the left side of the vertical bar analog vario display that will assist the pilot in determining the climb rate for
an entire climb. If the 5030 has been configured for the dial display the
Average Thermal Climb
will be shown as a
shaded band in the outer ring of the dial. In this case, the value for the thermal average is the point on the ring that
the shading has filled to. The
Average Thermal Climb
is the average climb rate over a user-selectable time period
and is solely influenced by the climb, and shows the average thermal strength (climb rate) for the last 0.5-10 minutes
of climbing. You are gliding optimally when you control your airspeed so the active McCready pointer points to the
value of the
average thermal climb indicator
. The time period over which the climb is averaged can be set under
Menu>Basic Settings>Average Thermal Climb.
Also see section E5 -McCready Theory.
A10 McCready Indicator
The solid black arrow on the far left of the vertical analog vario scale (marked McCready Indicator in Figure 1) shows
the speed ring setting that you are currently flying (i.e., the climb rate for your next expected thermal based on your
current airspeed). The position of this arrow is dependent on the polar of the glider, the wind, the vertical speed of
the rising or sinking air mass that you are currently flying in and, above all, the flight speed. If the dial display has
been selected the McCready pointer will appear as a radial line in the climb section of the analog dial. In the example
the pilot is flying with a speed ring setting of 2m/sec (400 ft/min.). If you are flying too slow for the given conditions a
negative McCready pointer will appear in the analog sink sector of the dial display. In the second example the pilot is
flying 50 km/h which is too slow given the amount of sink, therefore the negative McCready pointer is seen in the sink
sector of the dial display. If the McCready sounds are
on
the pilot will hear a rapid interval deeper tone telling the
pilot to speed up. The pilot should immediately speed up so the negative McCready sound stops and the negative
McCready pointer, at least, progresses to 0 (best glide). If a pilot wants to complete a competition task in the shortest
