'No PDA' Tasks

Nooo! You can’t take my PDA away from me.. 😳 Yes they can, and actually it can be a really good thing.

But to successfully complete these tasks there are some things you need to know.

Starting and turning turnpoints (TPs)

For flights with no PDA, there is a specific screenshot required to start the flight, and at each turnpoint. This is not required in the finish sector - you just have to cross the line.

Think of this as the direct equivalent of a ‘turnpoint photo’ of days gone by.

In order to start, or to successfully turn a TP, you need to:

• Press J [turnpoint helpers] to see the TP

• Ensure the race clock has started (i.e. you’ve heard the 3 pips)

• Position your glider within the sector (the easiest way to do this is to position yourself to the right of the pole).

• Look 90° to your left, and bank your glider to have your left wing DIRECTLY AT OR BELOW THE TP POLE BASE on the screen

• Press S key (to take a screenshot)

If all points above are correct, you’ll see the confirmation message "xxx has started task", or “xxx has turned yyy” TP.

Do not proceed unless you get this message. You may need to circle back again or manoeuvre to make this work.

If you only see the message "Screenshot xxx saved", you will have to try again.

If you have enough buttons on your joystick, it’s a good idea to map ‘S’ [take screenshot] to a convenient button.

This helpful video was created for Condor 1, but all the same principles apply in Condor 2.

This is a training task (in WestUK2 scenery) which allows you to practice turning multiple turnpoints in a short time, to get the hang of the technique: No PDA Training task

This video: No PDA demo flight demonstrates some of the techniques you can use to turn these points efficiently.

To use the spreadsheet:

Identify the waypoints and mark up the task to your chart. You will need a chart with the task marked on it to navigate in any case.

Then use a protractor and scale to obtain true tracks (degrees True) and distances (km) for each leg.

In a copy of the spreadsheet (select the tab with the correct number of legs) enter all the turnpoint names for the task in the first column.

Then enter the wind direction and speed at the top left. It’s assumed to be constant for the task, in this example 230/12 kts.

Then enter the overall average MC value that you expect to be able to achieve for the task - to the right of the wind values. This example assumes MC 5.1 (yes it's assumed to be a good day!).

The MC is the average climb performance you expect to achieve, from leaving cruise flight to being back in cruise flight again, and allowing for aborted thermal attempts etc. In practice don’t be too optimistic with this number. Again the number is assumed to be constant for the task.

Then take your measured distances and directions and enter them for each leg - where the red circles are in the above example.

The spreadsheet will calculate the headwind / tailwind components for all the task legs you enter. You can then read the wind component for each leg (the green box).

Then, open the Condor polar curve for the correct glider. Add a second pilot / any ballast if required. Enter the MC value - dial up the number - in this case 5.1. Then dial up the number closest to +12 knots for the first leg.

As you do this you will see the lines moving on the polar curve - which is what we want (you are shifting the ‘origin’ of the polar curve in accordance with wind component and speed required by our MC value).

With MC set and the wind as close as you can, we get the expected performance - the ‘speed to fly’ and the L/D - glide angle - directly from the polar curve.

Read the Lift/Drag ratio (L/D - which Condor calls E) and the corresponding ‘speed to fly’ from the top. These are the numbers circled in blue in the above example.

These numbers need to be put back in the spreadsheet (again in blue circles) - it then calculates everything else for you.

Now in this example you can read that for leg 1: You will need an average heading of 045 degrees magnetic, your target speed to fly is around 76kts (in vertically still air). You can also see that the groundspeed will be 88 kts; consistent with such a tailwind. (Also from the polar curve you can see that you will be descending at 2.92 kts at this target speed).

The leg should take you nearly 13 minutes, with 2400' of climbing. Your glide performance - at this speed and with this wind component - is about 110 ft / km. The climbing on this leg should take about 5 minutes (this makes the assumption you will start and end the leg at the same height - which may not be optimal).

Repeat the above process for the remaining legs, entering the tailwind (+) or headwind (-) component each time.

Unless the wind component is identical, each leg will have a different speed and L/D. Just enter the speed to fly and L/D into the spreadsheet for each leg - it calculates the rest.

When all speeds to fly and L/D values are populated the spreadsheet gives you total time and climb requirements for the task.

This is an example of a completed spreadsheet for a seven leg task.

You can see that for these conditions the recommended speed to fly increases as headwind increases, and the opposite as tailwind increases. This is what we expect from polar theory.

Over the ground, our glide angle varies from about 21.5 (into the headwind), to 30.5 (with the tailwind). Our glide performance - the height we will lose per km - varies from about 150 ft/km upwind to about 105 ft/km downwind.

You can also see that when the headwind/tailwind is small, and hence all the wind is crosswind, the average headings to steer are upwind by about 6 degrees - again as expected.

For this task we can expect to climb about 9300 ft, overall it should take about 55 minutes if we fly and navigate efficiently.

If cloudbase is high enough, you can also work out your final glide from the last turnpoint(s). Work back from the minimum finish altitude; then use the calculated ft/km on the last leg multiplied by the leg distance. This is the height you need to be at turning the last Turnpoint - to finish the task without further climb. Assuming the finish height on this task is 2000 ft QNH, and using the feet/km for the last legs, we can work out the that we should be able to turn 'TIE' at just above 2700 ft and still finish the task successfully without further climb.

The Performance Spreadsheet is available here - Condor XC Calculations

We are lucky that Condor has these polar curves in a very accessible and useable format. Without them you would need to refer to the glider's flight manual / technical data.

If you can use this spreadsheet and have some understanding of how it works - with the inputs from polar curves - you will have a good chance of explaining to an instructor how a flight computer works.