{"id":3693,"date":"2020-03-26T17:45:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T15:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stodeus.com\/?page_id=3693"},"modified":"2025-10-29T11:12:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:12:35","slug":"paragliding_variometer_explained","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.stodeus.com\/en\/paragliding_variometer_explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Variometer: why do we need it for paragliding?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The audio variometer: the indispensable companion for paragliders<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Beginners, intermediates, experienced pilots, competitors, tandem pilots: everyone wants to stay in the air as long as possible (even acrobats!). This is the primary function of the variometer: to indicate vertical speed (in metres per second in the paragliding world, in feet per minute in aeronautics).<\/p>

This indication of the rate of climb (positive values) helps the pilot to find ascents, and to roll into them better, but also to 'float' better and move through the air mass, to lose as little altitude as possible, staying around the best possible rate of climb.
Finally, the sink rate (negative values) is used to measure the speed of descent \"downwards\". If the sink rate is too high, then the air mass is not favourable at this point, and you need to get out of this zone by finding a better route and\/or accelerating.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Why fly with a vario?<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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For human beings, flying is of course unnatural and has no dedicated sense of evolution in 3D. As soon as we lose our visual reference to the ground, it's very difficult to know whether we're going up or down.<\/p>

However, in the harness, I can feel when I'm entering or leaving a lift.<\/em><\/p>

Our brains use three senses to tell us whether or not we are moving: the inner ear, proprioception and vision.
The brain then mixes these 3 pieces of information precisely to find out where you are in space, in what rotational movement, and at what acceleration.<\/p>

Unfortunately, we lack 'absolute' speed information: it's impossible to tell how fast a plane or train is going if the curtain is down.
Even our senses can deceive us, for example: when you're in a TGV at the station and the train next to you starts up, you get confused, and your brain has trouble knowing whether you're really moving or not until you turn your head to see the station platform standing still on the other side.<\/p>

When you're in an established thermal, there's no acceleration even though you're still climbing, and if you're far from the terrain, with no visual reference, it's very difficult to know whether you're actually in the thermal.<\/p>

The variometer provides us with this missing information and the response is immediate, so we know whether we're going up or down, and at what speed!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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If paragliders could have a 4th natural sensor: real-time altimeter\/barometer.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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How does a vario work?<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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If paragliders could have a 4th natural sensor: real-time altimeter\/barometer.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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As we saw earlier, the human body naturally has \"3 sensors\" for situating itself in space:<\/p>