Total energy and the stick thermal

Pull back on the stick and a plain vario shows a climb that is only your speed turning into height: the stick thermal. A total energy vario counts height and speed together, so it shows the air, not the stick, as long as its probe sits in clean air.

What you learn

• Read a variometer: climb or sink in m/s, by needle and by ear
• Explain the stick thermal: 150 to 100 km/h buys about 50 m
• Say what total energy is, and why a TE vario ignores the stick
• Check that a TE probe or electronic compensation tells the truth

In playlists

• Aircraft and systems
• Gliding and soaring

Also on

• Video course: Soaring