On Mar 29, 5:14*pm, Frank wrote:
At the risk of having my ignorance exposed (again), is there any way a
reasonably competant (another problem in my case) can determine
"optimum" flap settings for the most commonly used speeds/
configurations, without resorting to a full-blown Johnson-style test
program?

I have been flying my new (to me) Ventus 2bx for a year now, and am
reasonably comfortable with the following flap settings (speeds in
kt):

40-60 Flaps L, +2, +1 dep on thermal characteristics
60-80 Flaps 0
80-100 Flaps -1
100+ Flaps -2, only happens on badly planned final glides or with
ballast.

However, I'm not sure how efficient these values are for my glider.
Should I stay with 0 all the way to 90kt, or maybe switch to -1
earlier? *I mean, I've already give everyone else a big lead just due
to the IQ drop I experience immediately after release, so I'd hate to
think that I'm costing myself even more with poor flap settings!

I have played around some with watching the vario in cruise (TE) mode
to see if it makes much difference between 0 and -1 at say, 70kt, but
it's awful hard for me to tell. *Anything else I should be looking
for?

TIA,

Frank (TA)

I ran my own series of L/D, sink rate and flap/speed tests on my
DG808B using a gps waypoint grid and a PDA moving map. Each control
setting was flown with a straight glide for a distance of 5.8 miles in
both directions to cancel out the effect of wind. The tests were run
early morning before any noticeable thermal activity and performance
was then calculated from the gps log.
Any test has the possibility of errors from uncontrolled factors but I
believe the results are more accurate than the factory manual.