Condor

Autopilot should really be limited in my opinion too, once task is started. Maybe 5 min. or so. One should have a really good excuse for using it during long glides, otherwise it is close to cheating. Obviously, the primary function of the AP is to be able to manage your "necessities" during flight. Using it for every single cloud transition and even when riding the ridge is too much. It is just weird to be honest.

No cheating, because it flies much worse than a real pilot.
I think changing anything in this relationship would be not worth it.

There should be an option to forbid the autopilot in competitions or give penalty points. Flying a competition over an hour or two should work without going to the bathroom. Otherwise stop drinking beer while flying. There are all the discussions about flutter speed etc but there is a tool that is so far away of reality. There are so many people using the autopilot for every transition. This way is much more effective than flying by hand despite other say.

Hello!

I am reading this thread with increasing curiosity and it is strange to me that you blame 'autopilot in competitions' as unrealistic and unfair but not for instance 7 km icons or Vne start/finish, or Australian weather in north countries etc etc. Those are IMHO more interesting doubts of present C2. Agree - it could be as an option: on/off/penalties/time etc, why not? More options - more flexibility for tasksetting, but very likely, even with autopilot off, those winning guys will not be slower and you'll not faster. BTW - I don't think it would be common on servers to turn it off. Anyway it is nice to see there new pilots who are more into realism.

Take care!
P.

JShieck If you say that on this mode the glider flies way worse why people are using it for all their transitions? I bet no one uses airbrakes for their transitions, so why they would choose to worsen their glide ratios with this function..

I checked one pilot's streams from a few years back and so he is flying like this for years. Anyways, I think nothing will change and we just need to put up with the idea that some pilots are competing "by sitting on a potty" during at least half of their flight time

With Autopilot on you have no stickfeeling and can't feel to fly more right or more left. You loose an really good option helping you to follow energy lines. Great competition pilots will agree: You don't fly from one thermal to the other always in a direct way. Often there are energy lines. Even if it's blue and the line is not marked by a cloudstreet shouting "HERE I AM, FOLLOW ME!" there is often a line of upwinds or a line with a lower sinkrate. However, these lines are not alwas straight ahead. You are definetly not able to follow these lines with Autopilot as good as you would be if you fly by hand.

Except these energy lines are not in Condor except for mountain ridges.