Andy Durbin wrote:
(Kirk Stant) wrote in message

Not the same as max performance low altitude turning (thermalling),
which are definitely NOT ground reference maneuvers.

Thermalling close to the ground is not intended to be a ground
reference maneuver, but the visual feedback from the ground can have a
strong influence on control inputs. It is very important to keep
airspeed in the scan and not to be influenced by ground speed. The
input from ground reference can be very compelling, and misleading,
when thermalling low in a strong wind.

We had this discussion before. If the thermal is coming from a
stationary ground source, and the best performance is
zero sink in the thermal, doing it exactly as a ground
reference manuever (shallow upwind, steep tailwind) is correct.

Otherwise one is blown downwind of the thermal.

This was well discussed in threads about a year ago.

If one starts at 60 degree banks on the upwind, with
10+ knots of wind and zero sink, trying to core the thermal
on the downwind will be exciting...
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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA