Know your instruments

Knowing your instruments can make for more enjoyable, safer and less stressful flying.

The beginning of Spring is a good time to brush up on ALL aspects of gliding.

The focus here is on glider instruments. How well do you know the instruments in the glider(s) you will likely be flying this upcoming season? If you are flying club gliders then it is likely that you will need to know about different instruments in different gliders. The rear seat of 2 seat gliders can also have different instruments. Learn as much as you can about gliding (including instruments) while you are on the ground, not in the air. There should be an instruction manual for each instrument in a glider. If a glider you are flying doesn’t have a manual then one might be available from the internet. If it’s a club glider then it’s a good idea if the instruction manual is available on your local web site.

Radios

Selecting a transmit / receive frequency.

Know the difference between active and standby

Memories. Know how to access them and how to store frequencies in different memories

Dual watch (Listening to a secondary frequency while operating on a primary frequency)

Flight Computer

Cruise / climbing mode: Know which mode the instrument is in and be aware of remote switches that can change this – like a small switch on the control stick. Know how to get back to the home screen. Sometimes turbulence can make you bump the wrong button and take you to a place you don’t want to be.

Multiple needles: (Vario, Averager, Netto, Speed to Fly), know which is which.

Macready settings: (how does changing the Macready setting affect the way the instrument displays).

Profile: Does this instrument support multiple profiles? Which profile are you using?

QNH Setting: Not setting this correctly can give you false information for a final glide.

Polar Curve: Is the right one selected for the glider.

Safety altitude: What is this set at and – how does it affect final glide.

Waypoint database selection: Is the correct waypoint database loaded and selected. Beware of say a club glider that has come back from a competition in another area and still has the remote database loaded.

Firmware updates: When was the last one of these done. They should be done annually to make sure you are running the latest version with any previous bug fixes.

Airspace files: Is the latest airspace file uploaded. Updated airspace files in NZ usually come into effect at the beginning of Nov.

Tasks: Know how to set up racing and assigned area tasks.

Waypoint: Know how your instrument highlights landable waypoints within reach. Know how to select waypoints (especially for outlanding) in the air.

All Instruments

How do your instruments behave if there is a power disconnection and have to say swap batteries? Are all the settings retained, which ones need to be changed? The more you can practice and learn on the ground, the more time you can spend looking out the cockpit for other gliders, enjoying the scenery and having fun.

Murray Wardell

GNZ National Coach