There is a lot to be said for trying to round each turnpoint so it can
later be counted as either a cylinder or sector turnpoint. It might
save your flight if you make a small error on one of the turnpoints or
finish. It did for my gold distance - and that was a tough flight
involving a near landout and ridge soaring for a while to get out of a
hole, so I really wanted it to count.

Darryl


On Jul 19, 9:24 am, Marc Ramsey wrote:
wrote:
I understand the characteristics of the Sector OZ and the Cylinder OZ,
and for my badge flights, I would prefer to use the Sector OZ. An RAS
thread back in 2000 (before I started flying) seems to indicate that
Cambridge FRs are "hard wired" to the Cylinder OZ. I have a 302A CFR.
Does that mean I'm stuck with Cylinder OZ's, or can you "declare"
intent to use Sector OZs in some way when making badge flights?

Nothing is "hard wired" into the flight recorder itself. The
determination whether you were using cylinder or sector OZs occurs
during post-flight analysis of the IGC file. What can cause confusion
is that some flight recorders will provide a signal during flight
indicating that one has "arrived" or entered an OZ. The GPS-NAV display
provides this signal when one passes within a pre-determined distance of
the currently selected turnpoint, which is why some believe that
Cambridge flight recorders only support cylinders.

If you have moving map software that is driven by the 302A, just fly
through the displayed sector OZ, and you should be fine. In any case, a
little practice will help make sure that you don't manage to miss an OZ
on your big day...

Marc