Badge evidence question

I'm planning my Silver distance flight. After reading the Sporting Code and
several guides, I still have a question.

I'll be using a Volkslogger, and I'll be winch launching. My planned Finish
Point is lower than my Start Point, so I have to very be careful about the
1% rule. The guides talk about notching a barogram to make the release point
clear (when aerotowing). Is that necessary with a flight recorder and a
winch launch? I really don't want to lose 200' to create a notch, if I'm
releasing fairly low off a winch launch. Would a tight turn or circle right
after release from the winch be evidence of the Start Point, rather than a
loss of altitude? Or is it even necessary, since the cessation of climb
(from 45 degrees up, to level flight) should be pretty obvious?

Roger Worden wrote:
I'm planning my Silver distance flight. After reading the Sporting Code and
several guides, I still have a question.

I'll be using a Volkslogger, and I'll be winch launching. My planned Finish
Point is lower than my Start Point, so I have to very be careful about the
1% rule. The guides talk about notching a barogram to make the release point
clear (when aerotowing). Is that necessary with a flight recorder and a
winch launch? I really don't want to lose 200' to create a notch, if I'm
releasing fairly low off a winch launch. Would a tight turn or circle right
after release from the winch be evidence of the Start Point, rather than a
loss of altitude? Or is it even necessary, since the cessation of climb
(from 45 degrees up, to level flight) should be pretty obvious?

Assuming you are in the US, a tight circle immediately following release
is considered acceptable for flight recorder documentation. In
practice, if you dive down 200 feet, you'll probably get back at least
150 when you pull up, but I've known people who've managed to notch
in-between fixes so it doesn't show in the IGC file, circling avoids
this possibility. You must either notch or circle...

Marc

On Apr 18, 10:54 pm, Marc Ramsey wrote:
Roger Worden wrote:
I'm planning my Silver distance flight. After reading the Sporting Code and
several guides, I still have a question.

I'll be using a Volkslogger, and I'll be winch launching. My planned Finish
Point is lower than my Start Point, so I have to very be careful about the
1% rule. The guides talk about notching a barogram to make the release point
clear (when aerotowing). Is that necessary with a flight recorder and a
winch launch? I really don't want to lose 200' to create a notch, if I'm
releasing fairly low off a winch launch. Would a tight turn or circle right
after release from the winch be evidence of the Start Point, rather than a
loss of altitude? Or is it even necessary, since the cessation of climb
(from 45 degrees up, to level flight) should be pretty obvious?


Roger:

You would do best to ask .
It has been a coon's age since I was a badge lady, and now I don't
personally recall
reviewing any ground launched badge traces.

Your application should have a statement from the observer about your
launching
method. The observer can contribute his/her point of view about
release height from
the flight record, and the information about length of line used
stretched prior to launch,
and any other matter they feel pertinent to establishing a clear
departure from the
launch for Judy Ruprecht.

Your winch driver is also your "tow pilot" for the purpose of the
application,and attests to
location of the winch (by lat long information) but not release
altitude.

Based on the number of flight records she has seen over the recent
years, I would bet
you will have little difficulty having the observer and the staff
understand where your
departure occurred. If you have lovely weather and a nice immediate
climb, you will
also have created the "circle notch" for the beginning of climb.

Just be certain that you have the Volkslogger set to an appropriately
small interval
between samples, like three or four seconds, or even two seconds, if
you have
cleared the memory to avoid the nasty little nagging beeps. That will
help establish a clear
start to soaring performance.

Good luck !

Cindy B

http://www.fai.org/sporting_code/sc3.asp

Set your Volkslogger to record every 2 or 3 seconds, depending upon
how long you expect your flight to last. This will almost immediately
make it start the "low memory" beep, so turn that off before you
takeoff. Once off tow complete your right turn all the way around
(try not to climb immediately) and you are set - you will have more
than enough resolution in your GPS trace to know exactly when you got
off tow - there is no need to notch the trace. Good luck!

A mechanical barograph is an analog instanteously recording device.
Thus a quick 200ft notch is sure to be registered.

Howerver with electronic devices, you might not get a clear recorded
event by performing a quick 200ft notch, as the recorder only records
once every XX number of seconds (XX depends on the recorder and the
settings). Bascially the recorder could miss the notch altogether.

You could set your recorder to take a measurement down to 1 second to
ensure capturing that notch, however this means that the entire flight
will be recorded at this higher resolution. This is not necessarily a
bad thing if the recorder has enough memory to store enough captures
for a long multi-hour flight. The new EW Microrecorder can record
down to 1 second intervals and can capture 30 hours at that rate. The
Cambridge 302 can record for 25 hours at 1 second intervals. However,
the Volkslogger is only good for 2.5 hours at 1 second intervals.

I think that you have two choices.

* Notch - I believe that all FAI loggers have some capability to
record "pilot events". These are recorded at the highest rate
possible for that device. This feature is typically used when you
enter a turnpoint to guarantee that you have taken a reading but can
be used for capturing the notch. Reading from the Volkslogger manual
"Activates (default) or deactivates the acoustical signaling of the
fast recording (1 second interval, Fast Fix). The fast fix mode is
triggered by pressing Key (3)," Key three is bottom right. Click
just before the notch and then just afterwards.

* Circling - I don't know exactly what the rules are on this but I
believe that performing a tight circle (which cannot be done on tow)
verifies that you are off tow. I do this.

Of course during contests this is a mute point as the "start" is
marked by leaving the invisible start cyclinder or line, not by the
other methods shown above.

Good Luck, John

"Roger Worden" wrote in message
. ..
I'm planning my Silver distance flight. After reading the Sporting Code
and several guides, I still have a question.

I'll be using a Volkslogger, and I'll be winch launching. My planned
Finish Point is lower than my Start Point, so I have to very be careful
about the 1% rule. The guides talk about notching a barogram to make the
release point clear (when aerotowing). Is that necessary with a flight
recorder and a winch launch? I really don't want to lose 200' to create a
notch, if I'm releasing fairly low off a winch launch. Would a tight turn
or circle right after release from the winch be evidence of the Start
Point, rather than a loss of altitude? Or is it even necessary, since the
cessation of climb (from 45 degrees up, to level flight) should be pretty
obvious?


Notching is more for height gains It would be very obvious that your track
would show a winch launch with a rapid climb.

It would then show you turn and thermal a bit hard to do with a winch wire
attached.

http://www.mals.net/bunyan04/pages/Picture%20001.htm see the first notch
that is the release I then made sure I was in good lift.

I then pulled the airbrakes while still in the wave and put a good notch
into the trace.