On Mar 9, 11:08*am, John Cochrane
wrote:
But I can think of all sorts of great things to do
with traces if I could only get them in my computer easily. Hot spots,
statistical evaluation of glide probabilities, analysis of tactics,
"near miss" analysis, analysis of course deviations, how to make
transitions,... many winters could be spent productively.


I've used flight traces to analyze "near misses" on several occasions,
including for a safety talk using a multii-media projector that
elicited sharp intakes of breath from the assembled pilots when two
blips appeared to merge briefly. I also emailed my trace to another
pilot with a copy of his to explain why I'd gotten a little agitated
one day. And on more than one occasion I've replayed situations where
sailplanes appeared rather suddenly to see what I'd missed and how I
could have avoided being surprised. This doesn't tell you what a pilot
was looking at or whether the sun was reflecting off the canopy or if
it was hazy that day but it does help explain the events that led up
to one or more pilots briefly experiencing a rapid heart rate. And all
of this can help lead to greater awareness of how to avoid becoming a
statistic of a different sort.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.