Hi All,
Don’t usually give free plugs but Mike’s B700 is about as good a backup or main
vario as it is possible to obtain. It has the works. A back up battery and a
good audio, averager and vario. About the same cost as a manual vario but many
times better. I have an expensive bells and whistles vario but the needles move
in unison with Mike’s modestly priced B700,
Harry Medlicott
From: Mike Borgelt
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2015 5:32 PM
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] varios, redundancy
At 08:14 AM 27/04/2015, you wrote:
Thereâs no need for a winter backup now
Maybe not a Winter vario as backup but you should have a backup. Adam's advice
is probably the silliest thing I've read in a long time.
The only time you may reasonably want to rely on one vario is in a motorglider
if you are prepared to start the motor and fly home if the single vario fails.
Too bad if you are half way round a 500km triangle and set to win the Nationals
if you do reasonably this day.
For the paleo engineless gliders you are likely to risk an outlanding with its
attendant hazards. Pretty stupid to risk breaking your glider or yourself over
lack of a backup.
If you are serious about competition you should be equipped to cope with single
failures of equipment. Most people carry two flight recorders for good reason.
A main navigation system and some reasonable backup is also necessary. Hint:
fly with the backups working. The time to find out they have failed is NOT when
you've had another failure.
The backup vario may also have a different speed of response and will likely
just display TE vario. Your primary should be showing netto (airmass) or
relative netto ( airmass offset down by the sink rate in circling flight - this
means it always shows the rate of climb you would get if you slowed down and
circled, no matter your current airspeed). The two varios may show slightly
different information without changing modes which can be useful.
We've all had even modern electronic equipment fail. Phones, PC's GPS , etc
etc. It is pretty good nowadays but anyone doing what Adam says is tempting
fate, Murphy's Law and what a physics teacher of mine called "the innate
cussedness of inanimate matter".
When you decide to use a backup you might like to consider that the Winter
doesn't have an audio or an averager. Do you really want to be sharing thermals
with other gliders without an audio? If flying cross country you would find you
would miss the averager.
If you have a backup electronic vario it should have its own independent backup
power supply. While a glider electrical system can be fused properly so that
the radio for example developing an internal short doesn't take out the main
battery fuse (and if everything dies because of this or similar , are you going
to simply flip the switch to battery 2 and take out *its* fuse also?) I suspect
many aren't.
If you decide to join the 21st century for your backup vario get in touch and
I'll sell you something you'll be happy to fly with when you need it.
Mike
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Borgelt Instruments - design & manufacture of quality soaring instrumentation
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www.borgeltinstruments.com
tel: 07 4635 5784 overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784
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