Flight

So what is it like inside a glider cockpit during a race? I'll try and describe what goes on during a typical racing flight.

You get into your glider about 10 minutes before the launch and get yourself strapped in and comfy. Glider cockpits are very small and mine in particular is a snug fit, you could say put my glider on rather than get into it. The time before the launch can be quite nervy, particularly if you really care about the day's result or if the weather is difficult. You try to relax and go through the plan, look at the task on the map, make sure all the instruments and various flight computers are set and operating correctly. You feel your mind sharpening and focusing, now you just want to get on with it.

During launch the priority is safety, you just want nice and event-less launch. Once above say 1000 feet you start looking for other circling gliders, marking lift. You get dropped at about 2000 feet, raise the undercarriage and now the priority is to find a climb, any climb and get high. If you on the front of the grid you  may have 45 minutes to an hour before the start gate is open. You spend that time finding your team mates, trying to relax, getting a feel for the weather, sampling clouds and lift, and most importantly, eyeing up the opposition. The start line is 10 km long so on a cloudy day it can be tricky finding your rivals. If the weather is difficult or blue then the pre-start period is much more stressful. Sometimes you are just trying to stay in the air.

The few minutes just before the start are very critical and you feel the stress levels shoot through the roof. Ideally you want to start just behind a good group or at the very least, with them. Sometimes if you mis-judge the times you find yourself all alone, trying to climb up to start height with everyone gone, very stressful.

OK, so you crossed the line, you're on your way, sigh of relief to finally get going. You put your foot down to cruise speed, try and work the energy lines ahead and look for the first climb. Ideally you want the first run after the start to be as long as possible to get away from anyone starting behind you. At some point after the start you also radio down your start time to your team captain who will relay this to the officials. You have 30 minutes to do that and the team captain will hold on to you start time until the last minute. You don't want other pilots knowing that you made a start.

Let's assume the day is a reasonably good day, with cumulus and cloud base going up to 5000 feet with climbs between 300 to 600 feet per minute. In an ideal world you will stay as high as possible, staying high means you have a lot of options, you are relaxed and you can make good decisions without worrying about possible land-out. However, things are never ideal.

Couple of things to bear in mind about climbs before we continue:

1. Climbs are narrow and difficult low down and get wider as you go up
2. Climbs are strongest in the middle and get weak very quickly as you approach cloud base
3. It takes time, typically 1-2 minute to find the best part of the climb (centre)

So you want to take fewer climbs as possible, centre as quickly as possible, climb the maximum possible height, and leave as soon as the climb rate drops, well below cloudbase.

As you glide, you lose height, normally around 1000 feet for each 10-15 km. So 15 km down track, you are now down to say 3800 feet and you find a 300 feet per minute climb. You know there are 600 feet per minute climbs out there, that's twice the climb rate. Do you stay or do you go???

Let's say you are feeling confident and you decide to push on, you glide another 15 km, you are now down to 2500 feet and you find a 400 feet per minute climb, do you take it or wait for the 600 per minute climb? Possibly, you now have less options ahead because you are lower. Let's assume you decided to climb, you climbed up to 3500 feet and the climb rate dropped to 350 feet per minute, do you stay or do you push on??

Now you see gliders circling ahead, 30 degrees left of track, a single glider climbing dead on track and a really good looking clouds slightly right and downwind of track, which way do you go? Go with the safety of the pack, upwind (good) but close to airspace (bad), do you go with the single glider that looks like she's climbing really well, or do you go on your own to the right, great looking cloud but down wind of track??

This conundrum / dilemma / decision making process is relentless and is the heart of gliding racing. The great guys are very good at this process and also very good at ignoring decisions that went wrong and just getting on with the next decision cycle.

More later.