Papa3 wrote:
Hi Don,

I'm an active Blipmap/Spot user. It's a great tool, but it's not a
Composite Index. It's really a graphical representation of the
underlying data. Even the Univiewer, which aggregates multiple
parameters in one view, requires one to make a a lot of correlations to
come up with the big picture .

Unless you fly where you have homogenous weather over a broad area for
most of the day, it's hard to imagine a single number is worth anything.
From our airport (Richland, Washington, USA), the homogenous area is
maybe a 10 mile radius circle. With the usual cloudbase, that's only 30%
of a final glide. Beyond that, picking the right direction to go
determines the quality of the flight, and not the weather around the
airport.

Also, the weather changes during the day, with marine air intrusions,
overdevelopment, rising cloudbases, changing winds, shear lines, etc.
So, even the pilot that stays close to the airport can have a day that
differs remarkably as it progresses.

And then there is the problem of different pilots in different gliders:
a beginning XC pilot flying a Ka-6 will have different criteria than an
experienced XC pilot in an ASW 27.

So, we have weather that change with time and location, and pilots that
differ greatly in what is worthwhile rigging for. My suggestion: if you
are going to stay close to home, look at the Blipspot (mini or
otherwise) for your airport; if you want to go a long distance, spend
the 5-10 minutes it takes to digest the Blipmaps. Hey, you are looking
for a five hour flight, the drive time to the airport, plus rigging and
derigging, so what's 10 minutes figuring out when and where to go?

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA