The team’s foreword

The series continues with this second post of Alain, which is also the logical continuation of the first. Here, he no longer studies a few circles, but thermal climbing as a whole, based on flights made during famous days. We learn more about the specificities of the wind, and the importance of the chosen method to understand the phenomena of the air mass.

The team’s foreword

With the XC Analytics team, we would like to offer a tribune to pilots, researchers, instructors, and all the specialists in Free Flight and Sailplane’s community, to bring their insights and expertise and on topics that fascinate them, and we hope, will fascinate you too. To start this series of the XC Lab, Alain Arnaud, retired engineer and paraglider pilot, will reveal his methodology for tracklog’s analysis, and the lessons he learns from it.

Introduction

One of the main questions in the preparation of a paragliding cross-country flight is the estimation of the minimum cross country start time for a given day. This time is quite difficult to estimate. But it allows us to rely on a suitable arrival time on site. And it is better to arrive at the right time, because:

Through articles dedicated to research and analysis, the XC Analytics team will present here its latest findings, to which you are invited to participate ! And for starters, how to take your first steps with the app...