Previous Next Contents

9. Soaring Software

9.1 Glider Performance

Glider Performance is a Microsoft Excel 5.0 spreadsheet that allows the user to estimate the performance of a sailplane. The data inputs required are readily available for almost all sailplanes (all up weight, wing area and span, best L/D and stall speeds). Glider Performance is intended to be used as an instructional tool for pilots of all skill levels. Among the key outputs are the rate of sink and turn radius for different bank angles. The results of these calculations should provide the pilot with insight that can be applied while flying. You will need a word processor that can read the Microsoft Word format, the companion documentation is written in this format.

Author:

Chuck Smith <csmith9@vivanet.com>

Latest Release:

1.0, May 14, 1995

Copyright:

Freely Distributable

Requires:

Excel compatible spreadsheet application

Source Code:

ftp://csrp.tamu.edu/pub/software/glidperf_xls.zip

Documentation:

ftp://csrp.tamu.edu/pub/software/glidperf_doc.zip

Comments:

From the editor: "Worked for me using the spreadsheet from the Applixware suite. However, there appeared to be a small bug in the formula in cell A14. It erroneously checks cell F13 for a value of 'Y' or 'n', should check for either 'Y' or 'N' (both upper case)."

9.2 IGCview

IGCview is a Java application designed for soaring pilots who want to display and analyze GPS log files in the International Gliding Commission or Gardown formats. Both formats contain simple ASCII records of time stamped latitude and longitude values. The IGC format also contains altitude information (pressure and/or GPS) and the task (route). IGCview can also import Gardown format files and export them in IGC format.

The program is oriented wholly towards looking at the GPS log traces produced by glider flights. You can examine other traces, but the analysis will not be particularly useful. It can compute quantities such as: start to finish, average task and individual leg speeds, climb rates, L/D, etc. It can also read and compare multiple flights in detail making it a very useful learning tool for cross country and competition oriented soaring pilots.

Authors:

Ian Forster-Lewis <Ian.Lewis@cl.cam.ac.uk>,

Ruud Holswilder <hwl@multiweb.nl>

Latest Release:

Mar 1998

Copyright:

Freely Distributable

Requires:

Java 1.1 JVM

Home Page:

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/1850/igcview/

9.3 Soaring Task Map

Soaring Task Map is a Tcl/Tk script designed to simulate a soaring task flight to a declared goal. Thermals of random size, strength and position are created at the beginning of the flight. Controls are provided for making air speed adjustments and for steering the glider while flying the task.

Author:

Alexander S. Caldwell M.D. <alcald@psnw.com>

Latest Release:

21 Feb 1999

Copyright:

Freely Distributable

Requires:

Tcl/Tk

Home Page:

http://www.psnw.com/~alcald/map.html

9.4 tpedit

The tpedit program is designed to edit the turn point data distributed by the British Gliding Association. It takes as input a structured text file and can output the data in the same structured text, as an html table (similar to the one the BGA has on their web site), or in tpgps format. The tpgps format is used by the "tpgps" program which has not been distributed to the public yet.

Since tpedit was written in Perl, it can easily be modified to handle databases with fields that differ from the BGA set. It requires the Xforms and Xforms4Perl packages, both are freely available.

Author:

Richard J. Middleton <dickm@cheerful.com>

Latest Release:

22 Mar 1999

Copyright:

GNU General Public License

Requires:

Xforms >= 0.88, Xforms4Perl >= 0.8.4

Home Page:

http://home.onet.co.uk/~lingbrae/dick/

Comments:

From the editor; "According to Dick's web site, he is currently working on a software package for task planning called TPGPS that will run under Linux. Last time I checked, it was not ready for public distribution yet."


Previous Next Contents