Is Glideplan still relevant?

[Matt Herron Jr.]

Given the level of moving map sophistication in the cockpit these days I am wondering what use, if any, Glideplan is to the soaring pilot. If you use it, where does it add value for you? Safety? training? XC planning or in flight navigation? Competition? Any stories o share?

Thanks,

Matt Herron

[Dan Daly[_2_]]

On Tuesday, December 23, 2014 6:46:35 PM UTC-5, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> Given the level of moving map sophistication in the cockpit these days I am wondering what use, if any, Glideplan is to the soaring pilot. If you use it, where does it add value for you? Safety? training? XC planning or in flight navigation? Competition? Any stories o share?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Matt Herron

Works great if the electrons rebel... Also very useful for task-setting at contests. I used it to prepare a map of the authorized tow-out fields for aero retrieves for the tow pilots (length, freq, orientation, etc).

Dan
2D

[John Godfrey (QT)[_2_]]

On Tuesday, December 23, 2014 6:46:35 PM UTC-5, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> Given the level of moving map sophistication in the cockpit these days I am wondering what use, if any, Glideplan is to the soaring pilot. If you use it, where does it add value for you? Safety? training? XC planning or in flight navigation? Competition? Any stories o share?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Matt Herron

I like to use it to make maps for contests.
If I taught, I would use it to help students plan early cross country flights.
QT

[Tom (2N0)]

Even with a ClearNav and a backup Oudie I still print out a copy of the map before flight.

[[email protected]]

Still use it, especially at contest.

Kevin
92

[Matt Herron Jr.]

I need to figure out a way to reach out to beginner XC pilots. Perhaps those that have just completed their bronze or silver. Unfortunately SSA doesn't provide a way to do this. And print ads are really too expensive. If we can help hook newly minted pilots on XC, they will be much more likely to stick with the sport.

Matt

[Papa3[_2_]]

Same response as others. I use it for contests - both as CD and as Competitor. I figure it saves me a couple of hours before I fly at every new site. Instead of having to tape together a bunch of sectionals, draw distance rings (poortly) with the calipers I had in middle school, then find all of the turnpoints.... I just load a couple of fonts and print out a perfect, current map.

It's also a nice way to brief people new to a site (contest or otherwise).

P3

[Andy Blackburn[_3_]]

On Wednesday, December 24, 2014 1:59:03 PM UTC-8, Papa3 wrote:
> Same response as others. I use it for contests - both as CD and as Competitor. I figure it saves me a couple of hours before I fly at every new site. Instead of having to tape together a bunch of sectionals, draw distance rings (poortly) with the calipers I had in middle school, then find all of the turnpoints.... I just load a couple of fonts and print out a perfect, current map.
>
> It's also a nice way to brief people new to a site (contest or otherwise)..
>
> P3

Agree. Even the large format moving-map displays are not as good for overall task area situational awareness at-a-glance. This is critical for MAT tasks and useful for AATs. It's not as helpful for ASTs, but no one calls those anymore (Yes, I'm trolling. Don't take the bait, it's Christmas!) ;-)

With the new tool for merging sectionals Lynn Alley put together GlidePlan is useful again. New XC pilots and OLC pilots should like the more cockpit-friendly size versus sectionals.

9B

[John Seaborn (A8)]

There is no single item in the cockpit that provides the level of area awareness than a printed map especially in contests. The area, turn point orientations and task details are mostly lost on a tiny screen. Glideplan makes it easy to just print out the sectional with the turnpoints and landing points overlaid, slap on the clear shelf paper and your good to go. So my 2 cents are that Glideplan is relevant for all the XC, training, flight planning, inflight nav and competition.

Stories? When you are trying to figure out which side of the turn area to go or how deep and need how those cu up ahead sit in relation to the edge of the cylinder a printed map is by far the best.

One day in a nationals we are coming back late into the wind and its going blue. A single cu forms and sticks about 20 degrees off course. The lead bunch head off towards the cu but in looking at my Glideplan map I divine the cu is just past the edge of restricted airspace and go straight - and make it. Very, very handy.

John Seaborn

[Larry Suter]

Matt,

I use Glideplan regularly when doing introductory cross-country training. We also used last year at Air Sailing's Thermal Camp and will be using it again this coming year. I consider it to be a great tool.

Larry

[Eric Greenwell[_4_]]

Tom (2N0) wrote on 12/24/2014 6:31 AM:
> Even with a ClearNav and a backup Oudie I still print out a copy of the map before flight.

I now carry my iPad mini with Foreflight, which has a moving map on
sectionals. That makes it a good backup to the ClearNav. Most the use
for the iPad/Foreflight combination is planning airplane style trips in
my Phoenix, so the backup use is "free".

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorgliders/publications/download-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

[N2]

At 23:46 23 December 2014, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
>Given the level of moving map sophistication in the cockpit these
days I
>am=
> wondering what use, if any, Glideplan is to the soaring pilot. If you
>use=
> it, where does it add value for you? Safety? training? XC planning
or in
>=
>flight navigation? Competition? Any stories o share?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Matt Herron
>

Matt,

Love it, need it , push it on newbies. A must for the big picture. Its
the quickest best map over hours of old school map making. Learning
xc, Contest, new site flying are all complimented by it.

What I've seen as an examiner in styles of xc planning the instructors
who teach with it and the people who use it or make there own maps
like this old school realy understand whats going on and by using this
style of map have the intimate feel for the location they need to feel
comfortable venturing xc into.

Al

[N2]

At 23:46 23 December 2014, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
>Given the level of moving map sophistication in the cockpit these
days I
>am=
> wondering what use, if any, Glideplan is to the soaring pilot. If you
>use=
> it, where does it add value for you? Safety? training? XC planning
or in
>=
>flight navigation? Competition? Any stories o share?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Matt Herron
>

Matt,

Love it, need it , push it on newbies. A must for the big picture. Its
the quickest best map over hours of old school map making. Learning
xc, Contest, new site flying are all complimented by it.

What I've seen as an examiner in styles of xc planning the instructors
who teach with it and the people who use it or make there own maps
like this old school realy understand whats going on and by using this
style of map have the intimate feel for the location they need to feel
comfortable venturing xc into.

Al

[John Cochrane[_3_]]

More agreement on the general theme. Many aspiring XC pilots want to know if they should get a clear-nav or an LX9000.... in order to do a silver flight! The answer is "a map!"
Though I must admit, at Perry last year, when the computer went on the fritz for half an hour or more at a time, going back to map in that terrain made me really appreciate the good old days! OK, now, what is that town down below me?..
John Cochrane

[WaltWX[_2_]]

I concur with John Seaborn, John Cochrane and the rest...

GLIDEPLAN is a valuable tool and the only practical way to make up paper maps for the glider cockpit with landout/TPs marked up. Even with my moving map on a Vertica V2 and LK8000, the paper maps provides outstanding situational awareness and pre-flight guidance to task planning (backup to electronics is also a good idea).

With Lynn Alley's geo-referenced jpg files(http://www.soaringdata.info/aviation/sectionalTab.html), Matt Heron doesn't have to spend the tedious amount of work to stitch together custom regions. Lynn, I hope that maintaining a reasonable selection of sectional regions and custom areas doesn't consume too much time. If a small subscription service to a web site is needed, I would subscribe.

BTW, don't plan on "whipping up" a custom map with tailored font sizes, colored waypoints and the such in 15-20 minutes. Every year, I have to relearn the GLIDEPLAN user interface well enough to customize my map. There are enough choices for things like map scale and the number/location of pages to print... that it takes me an hour or two to get it right. If I used the program regularly, this wouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for you work Matt... I hope that GLIDEPLAN lives on.

Walt Rogers WX

[Ron Gleason]

On Friday, 26 December 2014 21:17:24 UTC-7, WaltWX wrote:
> I concur with John Seaborn, John Cochrane and the rest...
>
> GLIDEPLAN is a valuable tool and the only practical way to make up paper maps for the glider cockpit with landout/TPs marked up. Even with my moving map on a Vertica V2 and LK8000, the paper maps provides outstanding situational awareness and pre-flight guidance to task planning (backup to electronics is also a good idea).
>
> With Lynn Alley's geo-referenced jpg files(http://www.soaringdata.info/aviation/sectionalTab.html), Matt Heron doesn't have to spend the tedious amount of work to stitch together custom regions. Lynn, I hope that maintaining a reasonable selection of sectional regions and custom areas doesn't consume too much time. If a small subscription service to a web site is needed, I would subscribe.
>
> BTW, don't plan on "whipping up" a custom map with tailored font sizes, colored waypoints and the such in 15-20 minutes. Every year, I have to relearn the GLIDEPLAN user interface well enough to customize my map. There are enough choices for things like map scale and the number/location of pages to print... that it takes me an hour or two to get it right. If I used the program regularly, this wouldn't be an issue.
>
> Thanks for you work Matt... I hope that GLIDEPLAN lives on.
>
> Walt Rogers WX

Walt and others, while Lynn does not use a subscription model he does accept donations. You can find it at http://soaringdata.info/aviation/donate.html

Lynn is a great asset to the soaring community and donates much time and energy to the local soaring scene via instructing, tow plane access, weather guessing and mentoring.

If possible donate what you can to show your appreciation for the valubale resource.

Ron Gleason

[WaltWX[_2_]]

On Saturday, December 27, 2014 2:42:18 AM UTC-8, Ron Gleason wrote:
> On Friday, 26 December 2014 21:17:24 UTC-7, WaltWX wrote:
> > I concur with John Seaborn, John Cochrane and the rest...
> >
> > GLIDEPLAN is a valuable tool and the only practical way to make up paper maps for the glider cockpit with landout/TPs marked up. Even with my moving map on a Vertica V2 and LK8000, the paper maps provides outstanding situational awareness and pre-flight guidance to task planning (backup to electronics is also a good idea).
> >
> > With Lynn Alley's geo-referenced jpg files(http://www.soaringdata.info/aviation/sectionalTab.html), Matt Heron doesn't have to spend the tedious amount of work to stitch together custom regions. Lynn, I hope that maintaining a reasonable selection of sectional regions and custom areas doesn't consume too much time. If a small subscription service to a web site is needed, I would subscribe.
> >
> > BTW, don't plan on "whipping up" a custom map with tailored font sizes, colored waypoints and the such in 15-20 minutes. Every year, I have to relearn the GLIDEPLAN user interface well enough to customize my map. There are enough choices for things like map scale and the number/location of pages to print... that it takes me an hour or two to get it right. If I used the program regularly, this wouldn't be an issue.
> >
> > Thanks for you work Matt... I hope that GLIDEPLAN lives on.
> >
> > Walt Rogers WX
>
> Walt and others, while Lynn does not use a subscription model he does accept donations. You can find it at http://soaringdata.info/aviation/donate..html
>
> Lynn is a great asset to the soaring community and donates much time and energy to the local soaring scene via instructing, tow plane access, weather guessing and mentoring.
>
> If possible donate what you can to show your appreciation for the valubale resource.
>
> Ron Gleason

Thanks Ron... After reviewing Lynn's web site I saw the donate button and sent in my contribution.

Walt WX

[Andy Blackburn[_3_]]

On Wednesday, December 24, 2014 3:32:02 PM UTC-8, John Seaborn (A8) wrote:

> Glideplan makes it easy to just print out the sectional with the turnpoints and landing points overlaid, slap on the clear shelf paper and your good to go.

As an alternative to shelf paper, I use one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/TECHKO-LM1915-LQ-15-LAMINATOR--/dp/B00BJAKHLM/ref=sr_1_18?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1419876980&sr=1-18&keywords=15%22+LAMINATOR

It takes 30 seconds to laminate a chart - no bubbles, rigid or flexible depending on the laminating pouch thickness and pre-cut to most standard printer paper sizes. I generally print on two sides of 28 lb legal paper. They mark up easily with a Sharpie that won't rub off easily in the cockpit. Cleanup with a little nail polish remover or 5 minutes of elbow grease.

9B

[Matt Herron Jr.]

Thanks for all the great comments and support!

As a reminder, Glideplan and SeeG remain on sale for just 4 more days (through Jan 2nd). At over 60% off, Its a great time to pick up a copy of Glideplan for the coming season. Response has been very good to the sale so far.. Visit www.GlidePlan.com for more info or to purchase a copy.

Cheers,

Matt Herron