4 years ago
How high (low) do you train over ground, when the box is almost over your landing field?
Last season I was at Gelitzen and would stop the manouvers at about 300m, this allowed me to just reach the (alternative) landing field a couple of times when I miscalculated or messed up. But this year I'm flying at different locations due to time and budget constraints, and often reach the "box" with under 400m.
I see a lot of Acro pilots do tricks until almost the ground, and have the feeling that I'm being too conservative and not training enough because I still chicken out if I'm not sure I can finish with 300m safety height over ground.
The same goes when there is a dynamic soaring wind or thermals over a ridge, but the AGL is relatively low.
How much reserve height do you calculate in?
Is it different if over a ridge above take off or over the landing field?
I'm not referring to learning new tricks, but practicing ones I've done before (though they mightn't be perfect yet).
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Better being too conservative than not conservative enough. I usually end my runs rather high (even above water) and always put the most dangerous ones (the ones where you pass over the glider = risk of falling in) at the top.
I sometimes also feel too conservative when I see people doing helis just above the beach in Olu. It goes right in almost all of the cases, but just a few days ago i saw a really low reserve toss ending on the roof of a beach bar. It's not because the pros can do it relatively safe, that I can do it too
I usually calculate the height where i stop by imagining what could go wrong, how much altitude it would take to exit and add 200m safety margin to that. I do make exceptions for tricks I am very confident at (ex: I don't have a problem to exit a SAT at 150m but you won't see me do a misty flip at that altitude)
I know I'm not fully answering your question, but that's because I'm still learning myself. Having said that, one thing I do is I put the stuff I'm still less confident in at the top of the run. Then I do things I've really mastered toward the bottom of the run.
I look forward to more guys answering this.