Required L/D to target tells you what you need to achieve. It makes no
sense to fold wind into that, its just the distance divided by the
difference in height. Achieved L/D tells you what you are getting
obviously with wind affects as well, all without any assumptions about
polars, mass, bugs, or wind. That is the beauty of working with L/D
required and achieved.

But even better than asking on r.a.s. can you find a local
accomplished XC pilot(s) who can mentor you on all this stuff?

Darryl-

Darry is spot on. I would go a little further and dispense with the
Achieved L/D - I just use L/D required and watch for the trend: if it
is getting better (lower L/D required) then you are gaining on the
glide and can either speed up or relax more. If it's getting worse,
or not changing and looks a bit high (say more than half your
published L/D), then you need to stop and get some altitude. That
takes care of the wind, bugs, etc.

Totally agree with getting rid of all the navboxes that are "info
only" - unless your PDA is hooked up to a 302 and getting air data,
using GPS for fancy speed to fly info is a distraction. Use it as a
digital sectional, with your task, airspace, and landable fields (with
L/D required) on it, and in most cases turn off the terrain (exception
is in ridge country where the terrain can be really useful). Less is
more!

Cheers,

Kirk
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