G'Day Mark, A great idea and well done.
Not sure if you are aware but the GFA owns a very good instrument for determining Temp Traces and the analysis there of. The device is called a Cu-Sonde. The Cu-Sonde is used at most competitions these days as it makes the weather analysis allot easier. I am very familiar with this instrument and have used it on several occasions. It is extremely accurate in the determination of the Temp traces and also the analysis of the data. The Cu-Sonde collects the data from the temp flight and then uses a software program to analyse the data and produce the Traces and thermal analysis. I wrote an article for AG last year on the issue of weather forecasting at competitions, I included some of the Cu-Sonde traces in a competition briefing sheet sample. The accuracy of the data gathered is probably as accurate, if not more so, than the Balloon flight by the BOM. The only problem is that the cu-sonde can not measure the wind velocity and only measures the data to the level that the temp flight is flown. Wind data is widely available so not important in this instance. Upper level temperatures and wind data are available from the CASA Pilot Briefing site. At this stage the Cu-Sonde is only used during competitions or events where it is hired from the GFA. However if it were possible, it would be terrific if the Cu-Sonde data could be incorporated into your Temp Trace site. Unfortunately I am not as computer literate as I would like to be so I am not sure if the Cu-Sonde data files are compatible with your program. I can send you a Cu-Sonde file for your info. I feel that what you have put together is terrific and has great potential to be a central weather data site for the soaring enthusiast to visit. If it were possible to load temp traces flown from different commercial sites such as Benalla, Tocumwal,Waikerie and others, I feel that pilots wishing to do long cross country flights would be better able to plan their flights. Great work Mark. If you want to talk to me direct then send me a note via [EMAIL PROTECTED] Regards Miles Gore-Brown -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
