Gliderpollas wrote:Hi guys! do you use any kind of gauges to measure your heigth??
Gliderpollas,
The newer variometers have altimeters inside, which report the height of the unit. Almost any altimeter will be accurate enough to provide basic information. If the numbers are so close to the safety limits that a very accurate instrument is needed, it would be far too risky to fly at that site, because the air may be lifting or sinking as you glide.
To "explore" flying sites via Internet, GoogleEarth can show you aerial views of these places. There is a distance-measuring tool (the yardstick icon) to find the distance between the launch point and the landing field. There is a digital readout at the bottom of the screen that gives you the elevation (height) of the ground where the cursor is located. You can get these numbers as Metric or Imperial units.
If the launch point is 1,300m high, and the landing field is 300m high, and the distance between them is 2 km, then you will need a glider that can glide at least 4:1 to get to the field safely. Wind conditions and lift/sink areas can
change this basic requirement, so
it is most important to your safety that you have experienced HG pilots with you to evaluate the site and conditions, before anybody flies there on any day. The quality of any flying site literally changes with the weather, so there is much to be learned, to fly safely.