The bowling ball fallacy, it is just wrong

[Ty Marcucci]

 

[FLOYD CARTER]

Pattern distortion due to flying the surface of a sphere haqs been explained time and time again.  It seems to grab editors as something truly inspirational, but it is simply a re-hash of the same stuff.  I mean, I could write my own theory based on the geometry already presented.  And I'm not even a judge!

Floyd

[Bruce Perry]

even better use a transparent umbrella  comes in handy for lots of stuff.....

B

[Jim Thomerson]

Some years ago, Charles Mackey had an article in MAN using a transparent hemisphere.  Maybe Keith Trostle has done the same.  One needs two viewpoints: the view of the pilot from the inside of the circle, and the view of the judge outside the circle on the upwind side.  So a transparent hemisphere is needed. 

[phil c]

....The judges and the "pilot" do not see the pattern in this manner. They see it from INSIDE the dome, not the outside, thus the pattern shown is what a viewer on the opposite side of the pattern might see. A better way to show the pattern is to use the inside of a globe. They do exist, in clear plastic and are bigger than a bowling ball.......

or get a copy of Keith Renecle's pattern sim and you can see each maneuver from any position you want, in detail, right down to the 5 ft. corners.  Amazing, and should be in every judge's toolbox.

[Jim Thomerson]

Click top center on the home page.

[Pinecone]

If you want to be totally right, it isn't really a hemisphere.  Because your shoulder is above the ground.  From shoulder height and up, it is a hemisphere.  But below shoulder height is is part of the rest of teh sphere.

[Dick Pacini]

I mentioned this a while back...I was fooling around with my world globe, trying to figure out why square loops aren't square and why the top of the square is arced.  The Lat/Lon grid on the globe made it immediately clear why.  Take a look at a globe.  It's not just for geography anymore!