Navigation

Fly around the course as quickly as possible. Altitude is at your discretion but note:

  • the START HEIGHT limit of 6000 feet MSL.
  • the TASK AREA height limit of 7500 feet MSL. If you exceed this you will FAIL the mission.

There are 3 turnpoints you must fly to in sequence between the start and finish lines. The turnpoint zone is radius 500 meters i.e. you must be within 500 meters to register as reaching the turnpoint.

Start

The start line extends a kilometer either side of the runway centerpoint, up to 6000 feet MSL. Passing over the start line higher than this will not record a start.

TP 1

The first TP, Cumberland Airport, is a loonnngg way to the Southwest but you should be able to use ridge most of the way. As on the earlier tasks, use your start height to clear the high ground to reach the start of the ridge to the Northwest.

TP 2

After Cumberland, the task is designed to take you along the classic ridge route to the Northwest, all the way back to Lock Haven Airport. The ridge list should be good most of the way but you will have a couple of tricky gaps to get across.

TP 3

After Lock Haven, you simply follow the ridge to Kettle Reservoir and then home.

Finish

After Kettle Reservoir, you have to cross over South to the ridge to take you home and make sure you have enough height to clear the high ground to get back to Mifflin. But, having done so well earlier in the competition, you are an expert at this now...

After crossing the finish line, you can land at Mifflin Airport, although this does not count as part of the mission.

You can navigate in this mission by following the Mission Compass and Mission Pointer. However, for a more challenging experience try removing the compass and pointer and flying by the glider instruments, map and gps (press "U" to toggle mission compass and "Shift +3 to activate GPS).

Task Advisory

Cloudbase is 6000 feet, Wind is 17 knots from the North-West, heading 310. You should avoid the sink expected in the lee of the hills on the North side of the valley. The good news is the ridges on the South sides of the valleys are expected to be working. Reasonable thermals are expected.

Communications

Your ground crew will communicate with you via radio. Your callsign is "Yankee November."

Suggested Reading

To learn more about the skills you'll use in this mission, see the following articles in the Learning Center:

  • "DG-808S Competition Sailplane Aircraft Information"
  • "Soaring"