TopTask Seminar in Boulder, May 8, 2006

Colorado Soaring Pilots

The Soaring Society of Boulder will be hosting a seminar at 7:00 PM,
May 8, 2006 before the regular monthly meeting of the Soaring Society
of Boulder. All interested soaring pilots are welcome. The subject will
be:

A SYSTEM FOR PLANNING AND ANALYZING SOARING FLIGHTS IN COLORADO.

Edward (Ward) Hindman
The City College of New York, New York City, NY USA
Visiting scholar (2005-06), Colorado State University, Ft.
Collins CO USA

Stephen Saleeby
Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO USA

Olivier Liechti
Analysen and Konzepte, Winterthur CH

William Cotton
Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO USA

Summary

Currently, USA glider pilots do not have an on-line, interactive system
to plan flights like their European counterparts. In Europe, a glider
pilot
can determine the most feasible flight for a given day by essentially
"flying" through the predicted weather. This determination is
accomplished through the TopTask algorithm nested in the on-line pilot
briefing system called pc_met of the German Weather Service. To
experiment with this capability in the USA, the Regional Atmospheric
Modeling System (RAMS) at the Colorado State University has been
coupled
to the A & K TopTask Competition (TTC) algorithm.

The first test of the RAMS-TTC system analyzed Colorado Soaring
Association (CSA) On-line Contest (OLC) flights from Owl Canyon
Gliderport(OCGP), Wellington CO in 2004 and 2005. On average, the
system predicted a task speed of 119 kph while the actual speed was 104
kph. Closer predicted and actual task speeds are expected from the
system using results from a competition, as has been shown for Viking
Glide 2005 by Liechti using the TTC system in pc_met.

CSA Camps are planned for OCGP in April and May 2006 and at Salida CO
in
July 2006. At this workshop, the RAMS-TTC system will be taught to all
pilots planning to fly at these camps. Also, CSA OLC and recreational
pilots interested in learning to use the RAMS-TCC system to plan and
analyze their flights are invited to the workshop. Please, all
participants bring to the workshop a Windows-based personal computer.


I attended the meeting Ward had in Ft.Collins on April 27 and was
impressed. This program, TopTask, will be used to set the tasks at the
next worlds in Sweden.

Ward is planning his forecast area to cover from the North Platte River
to the south of Salida. It would be great to have some folks from down
south take advantage of this.

I know this is short notice, but (again) this will take place May 8, at
7:00 PM in the main meeting room at the NCAR Castle on Table Mesa
southeast of Boulder. Here is how to get to NCAR
http://eo.ucar.edu/visit/directions.html. You'll have to sign in at the
front desk. Bringing a laptop computer is optional and not a
requirement. It would be nice and to your advantage.

The SSB with have its regular business meeting following Ward's talk
which should last about an hour and a half or so.

This might be a chance to put a few faces with some of the chatter on
the radio you hear from Boulder. How about doing a flight to a goal and
ending up in Boulder then coming to the seminar?

Hope to see a few new faces.

Gunnar Blanke


Please feel free to pass this on to anyone who might be interested!
Black Forest, High Flights, Denver Soaring Counsel, Colorado Soaring
Asc. Chaffee County, Mile High Gliding, any independents, you are all
welcome. Who did I forget?