Hey ari, thanks for your work ans thoses rules of thumbs ! For thoses who wants a more precise vidéo on speed to fly i would highly recommand this french pwc pilot : kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fbGZppCmvcm5hYU.html PS : there are the exact number for an en C and for an Enzo

And your remark, " that's just how I fly" it resounds as something that a viking would say if they were alive today. Just beautiful!

Watch videos, never give a thumbs-up, never turn on notifications. This activity that you are deep in is gorgeous and beautiful and what humans are born for. Awesome! It brings me out of the pocket and excites me. Something not generally achieved. There is a fusion between traveling, flight, a craving for experience... for beauty, that moves me in this activity. Call it gobsmacked, but with all of the things that I have done previously... it's in my wheelhouse and it's beautiful

Good job Ari!

I would add another level of complexity: The Cycle :P. It's better to get into lift before it's dead. And another one: "The Minimum lift to take". Some lifts are not worth taking (even in flatlands, I'm flatlander) and it depends on what's "avarage day strenght" and current altitude - when it's strong day and I'm high I'm not taking 1m/s, just flying slower to minimize sink and go for another, better one. You can calculate your "day strenght" by: gained altitude / time (seconds) for searching the lift + time spent climbing + time for exit the thermal = avarage day strenght. So after getting 1500m in 20 minutes (1200 seconds) I know that avarege thermal strenght right now = 1,25m/s. Climbing in everything lower than that is not worth the time cause it will take too much time. Of course I would take anything when I'm at 500m AGL ;).

This was extremely useful. About to start a thermalling course! love from India

Super video!!!

Very good! Thanks 😊

Great video, I need to learn to make use of it more. Now i know how and when in a logic way. Thanx a lot man👌 I will be in the Alps soon and hopefully i can use it in practice for some nice and long XC flight

Best StF video out there!

Great explanation! Thank you 👌

Great explanation well done and thankyou.

Thanks, so helpfull !

Just finished a 2 hour flight. And ari comes out with another video... can a day get better ?

Arriving lower than your buddy might not sound too bad. However if the thermal is drifting, it will be super hard to find it looking at someone above you. There is a good chance you'll miss it and fall behind a lot, or even land.

Thanks Ari for your videos. Can you add into equation the turbulence? Never ending question for competition flying - you are flying full bar (or 80%), how to distinguish two situations : 1) turbulence or lift where you can still control the wing with C risers without releasing the bar and 2) upcoming collapse where you are supposed to release the bar immediately to prevent this. Could you speak on that subject please?

Hey Ari, thanks so much for sharing your knowledge! I have a question, something you said I just dont get. You were describing a situation when it is beneficial to use your speed bar to get your ground speed equal to your trim speed in headwind. The way I understand it that your trim speed (in the air) is when your glide ratio is the best, and so you will glide the furthest. And so using your speed bar to get that extra speed in headwind shouldn't increase your glide distance, on the contrary, it will shorten it. Am I missing something? thanks for reply, cheers man

Isn't the Speed to Fly the same as developing a "Polar curve" for your wing/weight? Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I think you missed something there. A very wise cross country pilot said he who glides slowest glides farthest. Your trim speed is not your best slide angle 1 in per day above the stall speed is the best glide angle.

third!

gold tip 4 m/s lol 33th

Speed to fly is easy. Are you in a comp or hunting personal bests? No - enjoy the flight only use the speedboat to get out of sink or nasty/windy places. Yes: 1/3rd bar per 5kmh headwind. 1/3bar per 1m/s of additional sink. Then I look on XCtrack and try to opimize my glide around the setting. Important: a long average for the calculation.

So annoying. On a recent viral video Bruce Goldsmith said that if its 2ms/-1 just go full speed bar. Ari says 4 ms/-1. Add your Full Barr Speed Below:

Love the vid… However you are wrong, the answer can’t be 4, since the correct answer is 42 🥴

FIRST!!!

Second