Flying Condor at Mifflin

I am a beginner Condor pilot. If this post should be posted somewhere else please let me know. I would like to race at Mifflin on Condor about three days per week between now and the Sports Class Nationals. I would like short tasks that I could finish in about an hour and a half. I would like for the races to be within a 100 miles of Mifflin, but the tasks do not need to all start or finish at Mifflin.

Bill Snead
6W

Bill,

US Nightly Soaring is currently flying one Mifflin task per week. We
alternate Mifflin with Appalachia every week on Thursdays and those are
ridge tasks with tricky transitions. On the Appalachia week, we fly a
thermal TAT in Mifflin on Wednesday or Friday. The Miffling TATs have a
minimum time of 1 hour 15 minutes. Both tasks are generally realistic and
substantial in difficulty. The Mifflin TAT task is usually in Club Class.

Regards,
Daniel Sazhin


At 04:01 13 March 2013, wrote:
I am a beginner Condor pilot. If this post should be posted somewhere
else=
please let me know. I would like to race at Mifflin on Condor about
three=
days per week between now and the Sports Class Nationals. I would like
sh=
ort tasks that I could finish in about an hour and a half. I would like
fo=
r the races to be within a 100 miles of Mifflin, but the tasks do not
need
=
to all start or finish at Mifflin.

Bill Snead
6W

Bill

Daniel does a great job with building challenging tasks that are about an hour long. This is great for me because I do not have a pilot relief system for my computer desk.

If I don't have the time to fly I usually copy the flight plan to try it later.

Tom

On Mar 13, 10:27*am, "Tom K (ES)" wrote:


Daniel does a great job with building challenging tasks that are about an hour long. This is great for me because I do not have a pilot relief system for my computer desk.


I might add that the "tasks are about an hour long" IF you know what
you are doing. There are many little tricks in Condor that it helps to
know, like fly with full water bags in your wings. I typically finish
the Mifflin tasks in 2 to 3 hours if I get to finish them at all. I
have given up on being anywhere near competitive. Too much screen time
required. My hat is off to all of you that are good at this!

As others have noted, the USNS series has done quite a few races out of Mifflin. I see you did two USNS races in February, but I'm not sure which ones. I only started doing the USNS races four weeks ago, but in that timeframe February 14/21/22/28, and March 7/8 were all out of Mifflin or Appalachia.

You can download and replay previous races from www.gliderracing.com. If the race was an AAT task, the top pilots (at least) will have .ftr or .icg files available, which you can use to replay the race in Condor. I've done that for a few races, and it was HIGHLY instructive to be able to replay the race while leeching off the eventual winners.

A few gotchas about replaying the races:

1. You have to download the .fpl to your Condor\FlightPlans directory, and the (unzipped) .ftr/.icg files to your Condor\FlightTracks directory.
2. In the NOTAM tab of the flight, make sure you select any available flight tracks as ghosts. I like to change the "plane icon range" so I can reconnect with folks if I lose them, but in doing so I have to mess with the filters dropdown box to allow Condor to see the Ghosts.
3. I can't find a way to hurry the start, so you have to mill around the start area for a while before the ghosts begin their flights. I generally practice my start a few times, then start leeching the ghosts before they start.
4. I strongly suspect that the thermal model in Condor allows/encourages lower thermal hookups than in real life. I got my last thermal of the February 14th race below treetop level. If you intend to fly Mifflin in real life, be careful about Condor rewarding risky behavior .

Cheers,
-Mark Rebuck

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1:31:41 PM UTC-5, wrote:
As others have noted, the USNS series has done quite a few races out of Mifflin. I see you did two USNS races in February, but I'm not sure which ones. I only started doing the USNS races four weeks ago, but in that timeframe February 14/21/22/28, and March 7/8 were all out of Mifflin or Appalachia. You can download and replay previous races from www.gliderracing.com. If the race was an AAT task, the top pilots (at least) will have .ftr or .icg files available, which you can use to replay the race in Condor. I've done that for a few races, and it was HIGHLY instructive to be able to replay the race while leeching off the eventual winners. A few gotchas about replaying the races: 1. You have to download the .fpl to your Condor\FlightPlans directory, and the (unzipped) .ftr/.icg files to your Condor\FlightTracks directory. 2. In the NOTAM tab of the flight, make sure you select any available flight tracks as ghosts. I like to change the "plane icon range" so I can reconnect with folks if I lose them, but in doing so I have to mess with the filters dropdown box to allow Condor to see the Ghosts. 3. I can't find a way to hurry the start, so you have to mill around the start area for a while before the ghosts begin their flights. I generally practice my start a few times, then start leeching the ghosts before they start. 4. I strongly suspect that the thermal model in Condor allows/encourages lower thermal hookups than in real life. I got my last thermal of the February 14th race below treetop level. If you intend to fly Mifflin in real life, be careful about Condor rewarding risky behavior . Cheers, -Mark Rebuck

i agree with your last point Mark but i'm also pretty sure the trees in condor are a LOT taller than real life trees

"I got my last thermal of the February 14th race below treetop level. If you intend to fly Mifflin in real life, be careful about Condor rewarding risky behavior "

Ridges have a whole different thermal dynamic than flatland. It is not uncommon for thermals to kick off a ridge, even down low and be very solid. It's different thermalling out from crest or even slightly below a ridge that is 400ft above a valley and thermalling out from 400ft over flatland...

It isn't quite like some of the 10 knot thermals you hit in ground effect in some sceneries in the sim.

Regards,
Daniel Sazhin

On Thursday, March 14, 2013 10:29:38 AM UTC-5, wrote:
"I got my last thermal of the February 14th race below treetop level. If you intend to fly Mifflin in real life, be careful about Condor rewarding risky behavior "



Ridges have a whole different thermal dynamic than flatland. It is not uncommon for thermals to kick off a ridge, even down low and be very solid. It's different thermalling out from crest or even slightly below a ridge that is 400ft above a valley and thermalling out from 400ft over flatland...



It isn't quite like some of the 10 knot thermals you hit in ground effect in some sceneries in the sim.



Regards,

Daniel Sazhin

It's also common at Mifflin for there to be zero lift once you're 20 feet below hilltop. Pull out the landing gear, you're going to need it. Ask me how I know...

John Cochrane

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 12:01:39 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I am a beginner Condor pilot. If this post should be posted somewhere else please let me know. I would like to race at Mifflin on Condor about three days per week between now and the Sports Class Nationals. I would like short tasks that I could finish in about an hour and a half. I would like for the races to be within a 100 miles of Mifflin, but the tasks do not need to all start or finish at Mifflin.



Bill Snead

6W

yeah, be careful with this. Mifflin is an incredibly technical soaring site.. i would recommend condor for area familiarization, and route planning for ridge flights, and that's about it. Having flown both the mifflin scenery in condor and real life, i can tell you that your in for a different ball game. the transitions usually require more altitude, streeting along ridges plays a big part in tactics (but isn't present in condor) and your not likely to find thermals in the valleys below 1000ft.
the list goes on, i'll leave it at this: use condor to become acquainted with where you are, where you're going, and ridge routes. but please also discuss this with an expert, because there are a few intimidating areas in the contest site, and a few you shouldn't be in whatsoever.

-ND

On Thursday, March 14, 2013 11:29:38 AM UTC-4, wrote:
Ridges have a whole different thermal dynamic than flatland. It is
not uncommon for thermals to kick off a ridge, even down low and be
very solid. It's different thermalling out from crest or even slightly
below a ridge that is 400ft above a valley and thermalling out from
400ft over flatland...

Reminds me of the time (1985 ?) when the guy above me in a
thermal hit a tree...

That was upsetting.