It took a little longer than expected, but I now have the Montague 2009 data files posted for public consumption. I'm posting both IGC and Google Earth formats so you can open up all the flights and compare/contrast to your heart's content! Specifically for the pilots, I highly encourage opening your own flight and trying to figure out what terrain features were producing the thermals you were using and how you went about centering them.
Typical to the Cal Valley flight data, several folks' data starts well down the course. I understand Montague will attempt scoring next year using GPS logging devices ... I have a couple suggestions specifically for the teams having looked at EVERYONE's data in some detail:
GPS Logger suggestions for next year
- I suggest running the GPS logger on a separate battery pack, independent of any onboard systems. The unit is designed to plug into a servo channel directly, and this totally works. However, with a separate pack, you turn the logging on just as the winches open (or before, who cares?) and you this way you can ensure that you have a GPS lock for the entire day. I see too many teams (myself included) taking off without giving the logger enough time to acquire and lock onto the GPS signal. The SkyTrace in particular has 100hr of memory, so there is no reason not to run the unit for an entire flying day. Yes, this method will make some more headache for start/finish times if there are multiple flights ... I'm sure this will need to be addressed somehow. Perhaps the ruling will actually be to cycle power on the unit. In this case, I suggest mounting the logger in a very accessible area so you can look and confirm the green LED is solid (aka NOT blinking). This means the unit is locked and recording.
- Be absolutely sure you actually go around the turn point. It is obvious from some logs that some teams didn't quite circle the turn point, though often they actually went much further than necessary too. No finger pointing by any means; the spirit of the law was followed in all cases of this I have seen and an extra 100ft cutting a turn is completely meaningless in a 30 mile task. My advice is to actually physically sit at the turn point and make sure the plane flies around the outside of the car. If it feels like it might have cut the turn, chances are that it did. 90deg overhead is a higher elevation angle than your head probably realizes!
- Mount the logger in a sky-visible location. GPS signals travel a LONG way and are very weak. Fiberglass is typically considered RF transparent, but carbon fiber is decidedly not. A good mounting location for the GPS antenna is under the wing hatch cover on the SBXC because there is only a thin layer of FG for the GPS signal to penetrate and there are no wires above/nearby. This is also a great spot for quickly removing the hatch and ensuring the green LED is solid. Other planes may not have this mounting location, but any place that is high inside the fuselage near the top with the antenna mounted "flat" should be good.
- Go practice. If you're being scored with the logger, then knowing how to use it is as important as flying well. I would recommend a few flight sessions flying with the unit installed and check it afterwards for completeness. Not only might you learn something about your flying, but you definitely will figure out quickly the quirks of the logger and might just save your best competition run ever from being lost!
Like last time, I split up one flight per file. I also only uploaded the cross-country flights (they're the interesting ones). If a team only has one flight listed, that was their only XC flight. I did miss several logs on Saturday, quite likely due to me taking care of clean-up of my own stuff.... if you have a log I missed, I would be most grateful if you would send it to me!
Friday's Task: Open Distance
- Team 039 (Matt Brady): IGC KMZ
- Team 048 (Dudly Dufort) - Flight 1: IGC KMZ
- Team 048 (Dudly Dufort) - Flight 2: IGC KMZ
- Team 221 (Paul Gradwell): IGC KMZ
- Team 273 (Dean Gradwell): IGC KMZ
- Team 364 (Dan Edwards [ALOFT]): IGC KMZ
- Team 424 (Jim Rolle): IGC KMZ
- Team 460 (Rich Speiser): IGC KMZ
- Team 461 (Greg Norsworthy): IGC KMZ
- Team 511 (Jim Thomas): IGC KMZ
- Team 555 (Culmsee) - Flight 1: IGC KMZ
- Team 555 (Culmsee) - Flight 2: IGC KMZ
- Team 561 (Rich Beardsley): IGC KMZ
Saturday's Task: 2hr minimum, speed task
- Team 039 (Matt Brady): IGC KMZ
- Team 221 (Paul Gradwell): IGC KMZ
- Team 273 (Dean Gradwell): IGC KMZ
- Team 364 (Dan Edwards [ALOFT]): IGC KMZ
- Team 424 (Jim Rolle) - Flight 1: IGC KMZ
- Team 424 (Jim Rolle) - Flight 2: IGC KMZ
- Team 460 (Rich Speiser) - Flight 1: IGC KMZ
- Team 460 (Rich Speiser) - Flight 2: IGC KMZ
- Team 461 (Greg Norsworthy): IGC KMZ
- Team 511 (Jim Thomas): IGC KMZ
- Team 555 (Culmsee): IGC KMZ
- Team 561 (Rich Beardsley): IGC KMZ
Sunday's Task: 13.09mi specified course, speed task
- Team 039 (Matt Brady): IGC KMZ
- Team 039 (Matt Brady): IGC KMZ
- Team 195 (Mike Gervis) - Flight 1: IGC KMZ
- Team 195 (Mike Gervis) - Flight 3: IGC KMZ
- Team 195 (Mike Gervis) - Flight 4: IGC KMZ
- Team 221 (Paul Gradwell) - Flight 1: IGC KMZ
- Team 221 (Paul Gradwell) - Flight 4: IGC KMZ
- Team 221 (Paul Gradwell) - Flight 5: IGC KMZ
- Team 273 (Dean Gradwell): IGC KMZ
- Team 460 (Rich Speiser): IGC KMZ
- Team 461 (Greg Norsworthy) - Flight 1: IGC KMZ
- Team 461 (Greg Norsworthy) - Flight 2: IGC KMZ
- Team 511 (Jim Thomas): IGC KMZ
- Team 555 (Culmsee): IGC KMZ
- Team 561 (Rich Beardsley): IGC KMZ
The supplied Google Earth files are created using the IGC file and a converter I wrote that uses the KML generation tool supplied on: : http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/. Thanks to those guys for making it easy!
Additionally, I created a file with the Montague turn points (they don't seem to change from year to year, so these are probably good next year too): Montague turn points (Google Earth file).
Dan
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