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| Volume 3, Issue 5 |
June, 2004
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BEGIN WITH SMALLER TRIANGLES British glider pilot Alan Purnell wrote in 1977 about the importance of building confidence before flying cross-country, and he proposed a plan to work at it. This confidence is based on real skill developed by practicing cross-country without leaving the home airport. The idea is to develop a triangular course such that at no time is the glider too far from the airport, and the pilot can always come back safely if he still has at least 2000ft AGL altitude. How far is "not too far"? Well, 2.5 miles would do fine. Flying this small triangular path, one can develop the same kind of skills required for the larger cross-country triangles. The trick is to keep increasing the level of difficulty by trying to fly it faster, clockwise and counterclockwise, taking pictures of turning points, circling as little as possible, etc. Although the triangle is "small", the length of the perimeter is about 13 miles, and the pilot who flies around this path 3 times in one flight has effectively flown about 39 miles, which is more than the silver distance of 32 miles! Routinely flying around the triangle 3 times amounts to routinely flying silver distance. Fly it 17 times and you have done gold distance! I have found a triangle around our Airport in Alexandria that is even visible from the air. One side lays on the railroad track that travels northeast-southwest through Alexandria. Another side lays on the big road that travels north-south from Alexandria to Anderson. The third side just connects the two turning points not shared by the other two sides. Click on the image on the right to see an enlarged picture of the proposed triangle. Every turning point is at most 2.5 miles from the airport, and can be seen from every point on the triangular path. If you would like to join me in the learning experience, let's start trying the tiny triangle, compare notes and keep track of our progress. Before you know it, the tiny triangle will feel really tiny. Mario Lazaga |
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